Prosecutor resigns after being ordered to drop NYC mayor case

The highest US prosecutor in Manhattan has resigned after refusing an order to drop a corruption case towards New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.

Danielle Sassoon, a conservative lawyer just lately promoted by President Donald Trump, mentioned dismissing the case would set a “breathtaking and harmful precedent”.

Sassoon’s departure – together with not less than two different prime justice division officers – is the newest signal of disquiet over sweeping modifications the Trump administration is making in federal regulation enforcement.

In an indictment final September, Adams is alleged to have accepted items totalling greater than $100,000 (£75,000) from Turkish residents in alternate for favours. He denies the fees.

The case was initially introduced by officers appointed by former President Joe Biden.

However on Monday, a Trump appointee, performing deputy legal professional normal Emil Bove, ordered Sassoon and New York prosecutors to drop the case, saying it “restricted” the mayor’s means to handle “unlawful immigration and violent crime” – a key purpose of Trump’s administration.

Bove didn’t tackle the deserves of the case and famous that the justice division would reserve the suitable to reinstitute the fees after New York Metropolis’s mayoral election in November.

Sassoon refused to drop the case, nonetheless, setting out her reasoning in a letter to Bove’s boss, Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi, on Thursday and saying she noticed no “good religion” motive for dropping the case.

“As a result of the regulation doesn’t assist a dismissal, and since I’m assured that Adams has dedicated the crimes with which he’s charged, I can not agree to hunt a dismissal pushed by improper issues,” she wrote.

Sassoon mentioned her workplace held a gathering with Bove and attorneys for Adams on 31 January during which the mayor’s representatives provided “what amounted to a quid professional quo”, saying Adams would be capable of assist with administration insurance policies “provided that the indictment have been dismissed”.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Adams, denied that there was any deal tying immigration enforcement with the dropping of the case.

He mentioned in a press release: “The concept that there was a quid professional quo [with the Trump administration] is a complete lie. We provided nothing and the division requested nothing of us.”

In a letter accepting her resignation, Bove accused Sassoon of trying to “proceed pursuing a politically motivated prosecution regardless of an categorical instruction to dismiss the case”.

He additionally mentioned that different prosecutors who labored on the Adams case can be positioned on depart and can be topic to an inner investigation – and that Sassoon would investigated as effectively.

Two different justice division prosecutors resigned on Thursday: John Keller, performing head of the general public corruption unit, and Kevin Driscoll, a senior official within the division’s felony division.

Afterward Thursday, US media retailers reported three extra prosecutors with the justice division’s corruption unit additionally resigned.

Sassoon, 38, joined the federal prosecutor’s workplace in Manhattan in 2016 and was a part of the group that prosecuted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Mayor Adams, a Democrat, has expressed a willingness to work with the Trump administration relating to the president’s hardline immigration coverage. On Thursday, after a gathering with Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan, the mayor agreed that immigration officers might re-establish an workplace on the metropolis’s Rikers Island jail.

In a press release, Adams mentioned: “I wish to work with the brand new federal administration, not struggle with them, to search out widespread floor and make higher the lives of New Yorkers.”

The New York mayor met with Trump in Florida days earlier than his inauguration, after which attended his swearing-in ceremony on 20 January. Adams denied on the time that he mentioned his authorized points with the incoming president.

On Thursday, Trump instructed reporters that he had not requested for the case towards Adams to be dropped.

Nevertheless, Bove’s letter described his directions to drop the case as “direct orders implementing the coverage of a duly elected President”.

Adams was indicted final autumn on expenses of wire fraud, bribery, and receiving marketing campaign contributions from foreigners.

Based on a 57-page indictment, the mayor allegedly accepted lodge stays, lavish meals and airline upgrades from Turkish nationals starting in 2016, when he was president of the New York Metropolis borough of Brooklyn.

In a single occasion, Adams is alleged to have paid $600 for a two-night keep at a luxurious lodge in Istanbul, a go to that was valued at roughly $7,000.

He has pleaded not responsible and denies any wrongdoing.