The Justice Department is in turmoil after an order to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams led to a wave of resignations.
Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, along with five high-ranking Justice Department officials, resigned Thursday after Sassoon refused to comply with the directive.
Sassoon, a Republican serving as interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused the department of engaging in a “quid pro quo” by dropping the case in exchange for Adams’ cooperation with Trump’s immigration agenda. She insisted she was “confident” the Democratic mayor had committed the crimes detailed in his indictment—and more. Prosecutors had been preparing to charge Adams with destroying evidence and instructing others to do the same, she revealed.
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“I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached,” Sassoon wrote in a letter to Trump’s new attorney general, Pam Bondi, on Wednesday which AP obtained a copy.
The acting deputy U.S. attorney general, former Trump personal lawyer Emil Bove, had ordered the case dropped on Monday. In a letter accepting Sassoon’s resignation, Bove accused her of being “incapable of fairly and impartially” reviewing the circumstances. He also placed case prosecutors on administrative leave and said they would face internal investigations.
Bove’s letter, also obtained by the AP, stated that the Justice Department in Washington would file a motion to dismiss Adams’ charges and bar “further targeting” of the mayor. However, as of Thursday evening, the case remained active, with no new filings.
The Justice Department’s public integrity section, which had been asked to take over the case, also saw a wave of resignations.
The acting chief, three deputy chiefs, and a deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division overseeing the section resigned, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously.
The resignations mark a sharp rebuke of the department’s leadership just days after Bondi, a close Trump ally, was sworn in as attorney general. With Trump’s second term barely three weeks old, the department has already been shaken by firings, transfers, and resignations.
Adams, who pleaded not guilty in September, was accused of accepting over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel perks—including first-class flights and expensive hotel stays—while serving as Brooklyn borough president. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Federal agents were also investigating members of Adams’ administration, but the fate of those inquiries remains unclear.
In a memo on Monday, Bove directed Sassoon to dismiss the case “as soon as practicable,” so Adams could focus on Trump’s immigration crackdown and campaign for reelection without criminal charges. Adams faces multiple challengers in June’s primary.
For two days, Sassoon’s office took no action or made public statements. Then, on Wednesday, Bondi said she would “look into” the delay. That same day, Sassoon sent an eight-page letter to Bondi, outlining her objections to dropping the case.
Sassoon alleged that Adams’ lawyers proposed a “quid pro quo” during a meeting with Justice Department officials in Washington last month—suggesting the mayor’s assistance with immigration policy in exchange for the case’s dismissal.
“It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams’ opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment,” she wrote.
Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, dismissed the claim as a “total lie.”
“We offered nothing, and the department asked nothing of us,” Spiro wrote in an email to the AP. “We were simply asked if the case had any bearing on national security and immigration enforcement, and we truthfully answered that it did not.”
The dueling letters between Sassoon and Bove underscore the deepening rift between career prosecutors and political appointees in one of the Justice Department’s most high-profile public corruption cases.
The fallout not only threatens to fracture the Justice Department’s relationship with the prestigious Southern District of New York but also fuels concerns that the administration is politicizing law enforcement.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, often called the “sovereign district,” has a long history of prosecuting Wall Street fraud, political corruption, and terrorism.
Matthew Podolsky, a veteran prosecutor in the office, was named acting U.S. attorney after Sassoon’s departure. He had been appointed as her deputy just days ago.
Bove’s directive to dismiss the case was particularly striking given his own history as a prosecutor and supervisor in the Southern District. Historically, department leaders have been reluctant to interfere in cases where charges have already been brought. Before rejoining the government, Bove served as a defense lawyer for Trump.
His memo made no mention of the legal basis for the dismissal. Instead, he focused on political considerations—an alarming departure from Justice Department norms, according to career prosecutors.
Sassoon, a former clerk for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, was not the original prosecutor on the case. That was former U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who stepped down after Trump’s reelection.
Sassoon was appointed interim U.S. attorney on Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration. Trump has nominated Jay Clayton, former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to permanently lead the office.
This marks the second major Justice Department standoff in five years between Washington and the Southern District of New York. In 2020, during Trump’s first term, then-U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman was ousted in a surprise nighttime announcement. Berman initially refused to resign but stepped down after being assured his investigations into Trump’s allies would continue.
Prosecutors in Adams’ case say they have evidence that he personally directed aides to solicit and disguise foreign campaign donations to qualify for a public matching funds program. Under federal law, foreign nationals are banned from contributing to U.S. election campaigns.
As recently as Jan. 6, prosecutors indicated their investigation was ongoing, writing in court filings that they continued to “uncover additional criminal conduct by Adams.”
