A top federal prosecutor in Manhattan resigned after alleging that the Department of Justice (DOJ) pressured her office to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams "in exchange" for his support of Trump administration immigration policies.
In September 2024, Adams was indicted on five counts related to bribery and campaign finance violations, with a trial initially set for April 2025, CBS News reported.
However, on Monday, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove directed federal prosecutors in Manhattan to dismiss the case, citing concerns that the legal proceedings restricted Adams' ability to cooperate with federal agencies. This directive, issued without assessing the strength of the charges, sparked immediate controversy within the DOJ.
Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned in protest, claiming that Adams' legal team had allegedly proposed a quid pro quo: the dismissal of his case in return for his help enforcing federal immigration policies.
"It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams's opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment. Nor will a court likely find that such an improper exchange is consistent with the public interest," Sassoon wrote in a letter obtained by the New York Times.
Bove and Adams' attorneys denied the accusation, but the controversy led to further turmoil within the DOJ.
Following Sassoon's resignation, other high-ranking officials, including Kevin Driscoll and John Keller from the DOJ's criminal and public integrity divisions, also stepped down.
The Justice Department placed several prosecutors involved in Adams' case on paid leave and opened an internal investigation into Sassoon's handling of the case. Meanwhile, critics accused the DOJ of political interference, while Adams continued to deny any wrongdoing.
The charges against him were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could potentially be reinstated later.
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