The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York resigned on Thursday, in protest of a Department of Justice order to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Danielle Sassoon wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this week, saying that the order from acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove was “inconsistent with [her] ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor." She also accused Adams' attorneys of seeking a "quid pro quo" and indicating "Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.”
Sasson is a member of the Federalist Society and formerly clerked for conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In her resignation letter, obtained by the New York Times, she said “It has been my greatest honor to represent the United States and to pursue justice as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York.”
Two D.C. Department of Justice officials asked to help kill the case stemming from Adams’ alleged corruption also resigned. Per the Times, Kevin O. Driscoll and John Keller quit their positions in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section.
Bove admitted the directive to drop the five-count indictment – alleging Adams took “straw donations” to abuse public campaign matching programs and accepted bribes from the Turkish government – came “without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.”
Adams has made strides to align himself with the Trump administration politically, meeting with Border Czar Tom Homan on Thursday and instructing city workers not to interfere with ICE raids earlier this week, per local publication The City.
Sassoon had been the acting U.S. Attorney for the district since January when the Trump administration picked her to hold the seat as Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee for the job, sought confirmation.
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