2024 Justice Department Resignations
2024 Resignation of US Attorneys refers to the resignation of six prosecutors, including the acting U.S. attorney in response to the Department of Justice's orders to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
On February 13, 2024, the interim U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Danielle R. Sassoon, and five other Justice Department prosecutors resigned rather than drop the case against Adams.[1]
In January 2025, President Donald Trump appointed Sassoon as the acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, pending the Senate confirmation of Jay Clayton.[2] The following month, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove instructed Sassoon to have lead attorney Hagan Scotten dismiss the federal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, claiming that it would allow Adams to focus on immigration enforcement.[3] One reason Bove citing being that the "prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime".[4] Bove stated that dismissal (without prejudice) was warranted "without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based".[4][5] On February 12, 2025, Sassoon sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi stating her intent to resign if forced to drop charges for explicitly political reasons.[3][2] Bove accepted Sassoon's resignation the following day, stating that her conduct would be investigated by the Office of the Attorney General, pursuant to Executive Order 14147.[6][7]
The following day, Hagan Scotten resigned, writing that "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."[7] He added: "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."[8][9] When asked, President Trump claimed he did not command the Justice Department to drop Adams' charges, later stating "I don't know if he or she resigned, but that U.S. attorney was fired".[7][10][11]
References
- ↑ Thrush, Glenn; Barrett, Devlin; Goldman, Adam (February 13, 2025). "Trump Official's Demand in Adams Case Forces Justice Dept. Showdown". New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Iyer, Kaanita (2025-02-13). "Who is Danielle Sassoon, the acting US attorney in New York who quit amid directive to drop Eric Adams corruption case?". CNN. Archived from the original on 2025-02-14. Retrieved 2025-02-13. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Read the Justice Department Memo About Eric Adams's Corruption Case". The New York Times. 2025-02-10. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2025-02-11. Retrieved 2025-02-11. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Reid, Paula; Pazmino, Gloria (February 10, 2025). "Justice Department directs prosecutors to drop federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams". CNN. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
- ↑ Reinstein, Julia; Katersky, Aaron; Faulders, Katherine (February 12, 2025). "Eric Adams speaks out after DOJ moves to drop case against him". ABC News. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
- ↑ Rothfeld, Michael (2025-02-13). "Read The Letter From Emil Bove Accepting Danielle Sassoon's Resignation, Annotated". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2025-02-13. Retrieved 2025-02-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "New York's top federal prosecutor steps down after being told to drop Mayor Adams case". ABC News. 2025-02-14. Archived from the original on 2025-02-14. Retrieved 2025-02-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednot - ↑ Ramey, Corinne, and Sadie Gurman, "Another Star U.S. Prosecutor Quits Over Eric Adams Case, Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2025. Retrieved 2025-02-14.(subscription required)
- ↑ Forkin, Jim; Mangan, Dan (2025-02-13). "Trump denies meddling in Eric Adams case as 6 top prosecutors quit over DOJ dismissal order". NBC Bay Area. Archived from the original on 2025-02-14. Retrieved 2025-02-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "President Trump Meets With Indian Prime Minister | Video | C-SPAN.org". C-SPAN. 12:27-12:53; 17:17-17:27. Archived from the original on 2025-02-14. Retrieved 2025-02-14. Unknown parameter
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