Several senior Justice Department officials resigned in protest Thursday rather than comply with an order to drop a bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The acts of resistance came amid President Donald Trump’s effort to overhaul the agency, which he said has been weaponized against political opponents, Reuters reported.
The six resignations include Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, Trump’s pick to temporarily lead the office prosecuting Adams, who resigned her post on Thursday, according to the memorandum by Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a Trump appointee.
SENATE CONFIRMS PAM BONDI AS US ATTORNEY GENERAL
U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, via Southern District of New York
“I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached,” Sassoon wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Adams, a Democrat who said he was targeted by the Biden administration, has been willing to work with the Trump administration crackdown to curb illegal immigration. Adams pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted bribes from Turkish officials.
“Rather than be rewarded, Adams’s advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case,” Sassoon wrote to Bondi.
Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro said in an email to Reuters that the charges against his client are a “sham.”
“If SDNY had any proof whatsoever that the mayor destroyed evidence, they would have brought those charges—as they continually threatened to do, but didn’t, over months and months,” Spiro wrote. “This newest false claim is just the parting shot of a misguided prosecution exposed as a sham.”
In his Thursday memo, Bove wrote that Sassoon had refused to comply with what he called his office’s finding that the case against Adams amounted to weaponization of the justice system.
“Your resignation is accepted…you lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the DOJ,” he wrote.
“Your office has no authority to contest the weaponization finding,” wrote Bove, Trump’s former personal criminal defense lawyer. “The Justice Department will not tolerate the insubordination.”
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The seal for the Justice Department is photographed in Washington, Nov. 18, 2022. The Justice Department has announced three arrests in a complex stolen identity scheme that officials say generates enormous proceeds for the North Korean government, including for its weapons program. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
After Sassoon refused to dismiss the case, the Trump administration directed John Keller, the acting head of the Justice Department’s public corruption unit, to do so, according to people familiar with the matter.
Keller also resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with the matter said, as well as Kevin Driscoll, a senior official in the department’s criminal division.
Three other deputies in the Justice Department’s public corruption unit – Rob Heberle, Jenn Clarke, and Marco Palmieri – also resigned on Thursday over the Adams case, a person familiar with the matter said.
A Justice Department official confirmed Keller’s and Driscoll’s resignations, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the other three.
On Monday, president-elect Trump said he would consider a pardon for New York City Mayor Eric Adams. (Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House. Since taking office in January, Trump has fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors who pursued cases against him.
In a statement to Fox News, Bove said he concluded that the prosecution against Adams had to be dismissed in order to “prioritize national security and public safety over continuing with a case that has been tainted from the start by troubling tactics.”
“There is no room at the Justice Department for attorneys who refuse to execute on the priorities of the Executive Branch – priorities determined by the American people,” he said. “I look forward to working with new leadership at SDNY on the important priorities President Trump has laid out for us to make America safe again.”
Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.
