Top DOJ officials, Manhattan federal prosecutor resign after receiving orders to drop Eric Adams case
Manhattan’s top career federal prosecutor resigned after attorneys in her office were directed to drop their criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.
Danielle Sassoon stepped down from her role as acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on Thursday, days after a top Justice Department official ordered her office to dismiss corruption charges against the mayor.
On Monday, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo instructing prosecutors in Manhattan to abandon the five-count indictment that was filed in September.
“You are directed, as authorized by the Attorney General, to dismiss the pending charges,” Bove wrote, adding that the department “reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based,” and “in no way calls into question the integrity and efforts” of the prosecutors who brought the case.
Bove also cited Adams’ “restricted” ability to help the Trump administration enforce its immigration policies, and the case was to be dropped with prejudice, so the charges could be revived at a later time.
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi and reviewed by CBS News, Sassoon offered her resignation and said the request to drop Adams’ case “raises serious concerns that render the contemplated dismissal inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.”
Pushing back on Bove’s directive to dismiss the mayor’s case, Sassoon wrote she was “baffled” by the process and argued the basis behind the orders was not valid. And she alleged Adams was engaging in an “an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case.”
Sasson’s letter to the attorney general alleged that during a meeting with Justice Department officials last month, Adams’ attorneys “urged what amounted to a quid pro quo,” allegedly offering the mayor’s cooperation with Trump administration priorities in exchange for the dismissal of the charges. Bove and Adams’ legal team both rejected this assertion.
“It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams’s opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment. Nor will a court likely find that such an improper exchange is consistent with the public interest,” Sassoon wrote. She also argued Bove’s characterization of the timing of the indictment against Adams as politically motivated was wrong.
“The Department of Justice correctly concluded that bringing charges nine months before a primary election was entirely appropriate,” Sasson wrote in her letter, which was sent on Wednesday. She added that “dismissing the case will amplify, rather than abate, concerns about weaponization of the Department.”
Sassoon wrote that federal prosecutors proposed adding a new charge against Adams, accusing him of allegedly destroying evidence and providing false statements to the FBI. She said those charges were never filed.
Bove sent a strongly worded response to Sassoon Thursday, which was also reviewed by CBS News. He rejected many of Sasson’s allegations and accepted her resignation as acting U.S. attorney. He accused her of losing sight of her oath and said that under Sassoon’s leadership, “the office has demonstrated itself to be incapable of fairly and impartially reviewing the circumstances of this prosecution.”
Bove admonished Sassoon for not following the directive. “The Justice Department will not tolerate the insubordination and apparent misconduct reflected in the approach that you and your office have taken in this matter.” He said that he and Justice Department leadership stood by the decision to drop Adams’ case and Sassoon’s refusal to comply interfered with the “interests of justice.”
“As a result of the pending prosecution, Mayor Adams is unable to communicate directly and candidly with City officials he is responsible for managing, as well as federal agencies trying to protect the public from national security threats and violent crime,” Bove wrote. “My directive to you reflected a determination by the Justice Department that these public safety risks greatly outweigh any interest you have identified.”
The line prosecutors who worked on Adams’ case have been placed on paid leave, pending investigations into Sassoon’s conduct, Bove’s letter also revealed.
In response to Sassoon’s new allegations against Adams and his legal team, Alex Spiro, an attorney for the mayor, told CBS News, “The idea that there was a quid pro quo is a total lie. We offered nothing and the department asked nothing of us.”
“We were asked if the case had any bearing on national security and immigration enforcement and we truthfully answered it did,” Spiro said.
Bove also rejected Sassoon’s claims of a quid pro quo, writing, “You have also strained, unsuccessfully, to suggest that some kind of quid pro quo arises from my directive. This is false, as you acknowledged previously in writing. The Justice Department is charged with keeping people safe across the country. Your office’s job is to help keep the City safe. But your actions have endangered it.”
The acting heads of the Justice Department’s criminal and public integrity divisions, Kevin Driscoll and his deputy, John Keller, also recently resigned from their posts at Justice Department headquarters in Washington in the wake of the Adams case, according to three separate people familiar with the moves.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Bove also cited Adams’ “restricted” ability to help the Trump administration enforce its immigration policies. The case was to be dropped without prejudice until the mayoral election later this year, pending a review by the U.S. attorney’s office. So it’s possible the charges could be revived at a later time.
Adams was set to go to trial on the charges — which included bribery and campaign finance violations — in April. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Despite the Justice Department’s order, federal prosecutors in Sassoon’s office had not yet complied with the directive on Thursday, a signal of a potential conflict between the office that filed the charges against Adams and the Trump administration’s new leadership.
Driscoll and Keller’s departures also point to a growing rift within the Justice Department over the handling of the case.
During a press conference on Wednesday, when the Justice Department announced a civil lawsuit against New York State officials, Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was unaware that prosecutors in the Southern District of New York had not yet complied with Bove’s order.
Sassoon was appointed interim head of the office while President Trump’s pick to be Manhattan’s U.S. attorney, Jay Clayton, makes his way through the Ssenate confirmation process.
Sassons’s departure came after a number of Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys from across the country were fired from their positions this week, multiple sources confirmed to CBS News. Changes in top federal prosecutor jobs are customary and expected around the time of presidential transitions.
The U.S. attorneys received notes in their inboxes informing them of their terminations, which sources said was a departure from past practice in which they were asked to submit their resignations.
The exact number of affected offices remains unclear.
Michael Kaplan and
contributed to this report.
