Pam Bondi’s actions this week have caused controversy among conservatives regarding the Justice Department’s attempts to influence prosecutors to dismiss charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.

Danielle Sassoon, aged 38, chose to resign from her position as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Thursday instead of complying with the directive to drop a corruption case against Adams.

The DOJ had signaled via a memo earlier this week that they intended to drop corruption charges against Adams, who was indicted in September. 

The Acting Deputy Attorney General, Emil Bove, provided two reasons for the dismissal order. One reason cited was that Adams was portrayed as a victim of political influence within President Joe Biden’s DOJ. The directive also suggested that prosecuting Adams could impede his cooperation in a crackdown on immigration, which is a key agenda for Donald Trump.

Sassoon, a member of the deeply conservative Federalist Society, is a rising star in legal circles. Six others are said to have stood down including Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten, another conservative legal hotshot and a Special Forces veteran.

In her resignation letter, Sassoon name-checked her former mentor Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon. She wrote: ‘Although Mr. Bove disclaimed any intention to exchange leniency in this case for Adams’s assistance in enforcing federal law, that is the nature of the bargain laid bare in Mr. Bove’s memo.’

Scotten, the lead prosecutor in the Adams case who worked for GOP-appointed judges John G. Roberts Jr. and Brett M. Kavanaugh, was more scathing in his letter, stating: ‘I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.’

The actions of Bove have set off alarm bells from conservative commentators, with several outlets publishing editorials condemning the Trump DOJ. 

The National Review’s Andrew McCarthy described it as being ‘political messaging masquerading as Justice Department legal deliberations’. 

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board said it ‘sent a rotten message’ to aspiring lawyers that ‘rather than exercise individual legal judgment, they’d simply better salute without cavil – or else the Administration will ruin their reputations.’

Despite the resignations, Bove and two other DOJ officials formally filed the motion after telling those who continued to resist his wishes that they could be fired.

Those who have spoken publicly about the order brought by Bove suggest a political quid pro quo is playing out. 

They argue the Trump administration dropped the charges against Adams in exchange for him joining in with Trump’s immigration crackdown in The Big Apple.

Bove had convened a call with the prosecutors in the Justice Department’s public integrity section, which handles corruption cases in the hours before the Friday filing. 

He gave them an hour to pick two people to sign onto the motion to dismiss, saying those who did so could be promoted, sources told the Associated Press. 

After the call, the consensus among the group was that they would all resign, before a veteran prosecutor stepped up out of concern for the jobs of younger people.

The filing ended a five day showdown between leadership in the DOJ in Washington and its Manhattan Office. 

After such public feuding amongst the DOJ, it it unclear at this stage if the court will actually move forward and agree to dismiss the case. 

Before resigning, Sassoon warned bosses she was confident that Mayor Adams ‘has committed the crimes with which he is charged.’

 

Sassoon had also sent a memo to newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi, seeking a meeting to discuss the matter. 

In it, Sassoon is said to have explained why it would be improper to dismiss the case based on the quid pro quo for policy cooperation by Adams. 

Bove followed up Sassoon’s resignation with a letter to her that threatened both her careers and others working the case, prompting the exodus. 

He said that the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Professional Responsibility would investigate, while the attorneys would be placed on leave.  

Scotten gave no quarter in his own resignation letter to Bove shortly after. 

The Harvard graduate said: ‘No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives.

‘Any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way.

‘If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.’

Trump’s Attorney General, Bondi, in her first day in office said that Justice Department lawyers who refuse to advance the administration’s legal arguments could be fired. 

On Friday afternoon, Adams denied their being any sort of bargain between him and the DOJ. 

He said: ‘I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never.’

Bove had said that continuing the prosecution of Adams would also interfere with his ability to govern. 

He said it posed ‘unacceptable threats to public safety, national security, and related federal immigration initiatives and policies’.

Adams pleaded not guilty in September to charges that he accepted over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks from Turkish nationals. 

Prosecutors said perks included expensive flight upgrades, luxury hotel stays and even a trip to a bathhouse.

The indictment said a Turkish official who helped facilitate the trips then leaned on Adams for favors.

This included asking him to lobby the Fire Department to let a newly constructed, 36-story diplomatic building open in time for a planned visit by Turkey’s president.

Prosecutors said they had proof that Adams personally directed political aides to solicit foreign donations and disguise them to help the campaign qualify for a city program that provides a generous, publicly-funded match for small dollar donations.

Though previously critical of President Trump in the past, Adams has moved to bond with him in recent times. 

Last month Adams visited Trump at his Florida golf club, with Trump also criticizing the case against Adams, who was a registered Republican in the 1990s, a pardon. 

Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro said Thursday that the allegation of a quid pro quo was a ‘total lie.’

‘We were asked if the case had any bearing on national security and immigration enforcement and we truthfully answered it did,’ Spiro said.

Trump has said he did not personally order the charges against Adams dropped.