Three older officials of the US Department of Justice, including the Supreme Federal Prosecutor in Manhattan, resigned on Thursday, instead of observing the order to reject corruption allegations against the mayor of New York, in accordance with the note of the Department of Internal Justice seen by Reuters and people familiar with this case.
The departure is a sign of resistance from the officials of the Career Department for the efforts of the US President Donald Trump about the renovation of the agency to end what she calls her weapon against political opponents. Critics say that Trump's changes are threatened with criminal progress of political whims.
Manhattan American prosecutor Danielle Sassoon, a recent selection of Trump's administration, to temporarily lead the office of New York Mayor Eric Adams, gave up her position on Thursday, in accordance with the memorandum of Deputy Prosecutor General Emil Bove, appointed by Trump.
Bove ordered Sassoon to reject the case on Monday, in what legal experts called the efforts of Trump administration officials to ensure control over the prosecutor's office, which has long boasted independence from politics. Adams, a democrat, established ties with Trump, a Republican.
In his Thursday note, Bove wrote that Sassoon refused to comply with what he called the establishment of his office, that the case against Adams was the “weapon” of the justice system.
“Your office has no right to challenge the weapon's finding,” wrote Bove, a former criminal defense lawyer of Trump. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate insubordination.”
Bove wrote that two main procedural prosecutors in the Adams case will be placed on vacation. He also said that his office would take over Adams and move to its dismissal, although on Thursday afternoon no formal application for release was submitted.
A spokesman for the Southern District of New York (SDDY) confirmed Sassoon's resignation. It was not clear who would take her place.
According to the person informed in this case, after Sassoon refused to comply with the directive on the rejection of the case, the Trump administration recommended John Keller, who was the head of the public department of the Department of Justice.
Keller also gave up on Thursday, told two people familiar with this matter. Kevin Driscoll, a senior official in the Department's Penalties, also resigned, said one of the people.
The official of the Department of Justice confirmed resignations.
The Mayor of New York and former NYPD officer, Eric Adams, was accused of five federal allegations related to the allegations that he accepted illegal campaign and bribe contributions from foreign citizens in exchange for a favor.
Comparisons to “Saturday night massacre”
Since Trump began his second term in the White House on January 20, the new administration dismissed a dozen or so prosecutors who implemented penalty charges against Trump in two cases in 2023, and ended some officials and FBI prosecutors who carried out cases against their supporters who attacked the US Capitol On January 6, 2021, to block Congress before the certification of his election loss.
The US Prosecutor General, Pam Bondi, on her first day of work last week, issued a directive stating that the lawyers of the Department of Justice, who refuse to appear in court or signing, would be disciplined and probably released.
Resignations caused comparisons of legal experts to “Saturday Night Massacre” in 1973When senior officials of the Department of Justice resigned after refusing to order President Richard Nixon in order to release a special adviser conducting an investigation by republican employees at the headquarters of the main democratic in the Watergate complex in Washington.
Juliet Sorensen, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, also said that resignations resembled Trump's decision in the first term about releasing the director of FBI James Comey about stopping the office before examining his presidential campaign in 2016.
“In both of these historical cases, as in today's events, you have the head of the United States, who exerts extreme political pressure by virtue of their high office against the staff of the non-political department of justice,” said Sorensen.
Half a dozen of former SDZDY prosecutors informed Reuters this week that an order from Bove, the former SDZDA prosecutor himself, raised questions about whether the office could remain independent of political pressure during the second term of Trump.
In September in September, the predecessor of Sassoon Damian Williams – the denominator of Biden – accused Adams of accepting bribes from Turkish officials.
Adams pleaded not guilty and argued that the allegations were brought as retaliation for the criticism of Biden immigration policy. Trump, whose two federal matters were released after the election victory, but was convicted of separate allegations at the state level, expressed compassion for Adams. In a conversation on Thursday with reporters in an oval office, Trump said he did not ask to drop the case against Adams.