消息人士告诉ABC新闻，司法部放弃对纽约市长埃里克·亚当斯的刑事腐败起诉的惊人影响继续产生连锁反应，导致至少六名拒绝签署案件驳回的高级官员辞职。
消息人士称，撤销该案件的努力导致DOJ公共诚信部门至少三名高级监管官员辞职。这些官员现在加入了前曼哈顿代理检察官丹妮尔·沙宣(Danielle Sassoon)和该部门公共诚信部门的其他两名职业领导人，该部门的任务是起诉该部门追查的一些最具政治敏感性的腐败案件。
沙宣周四提交了辞呈，就在几天前，司法部试图结束针对亚当斯的联邦贿赂案。
在她辞职之前，沙宣周三致信司法部长帕姆·邦迪，一再敦促邦迪撤销对亚当斯的刑事腐败案，根据本周早些时候的一封信中的命令代理副司法部长埃米尔·博韦。
“博韦先生提出的驳回起诉的理由不是我可以真诚捍卫的，因为这符合公共利益，也符合指导我决策的公正和公平原则，”沙宣写道。
在信中，沙宣一再表示，包括博韦在内的DOJ领导层明确知道亚当斯的律师提出的交换条件，称亚当斯对特朗普移民政策的口头支持将通过撤销对他的起诉得到加强。
沙宣写道:“亚当斯的主张不应该被奖励，而应该被公开:不正当地提供移民执法援助，以换取他的案件被驳回。”“虽然Bove先生否认有任何意图来换取亚当斯在执行联邦法律方面的协助，但这就是Bove先生备忘录中揭露的交易的性质。”
特朗普在大选中获胜后，达米安·威廉姆斯(Damian Williams)辞去了纽约南区代理联邦检察官一职，沙宣于1月被唐纳德·特朗普总统任命为代理联邦检察官。特朗普领导南区的永久人选杰伊·克莱顿(Jay Clayton)还有待确认。
在沙宣辞职之前，曼哈顿的美国检察官办公室和司法部的领导人因以下问题关系紧张贿赂和竞选资金案对抗亚当斯。
周一，Bove发送了一份备忘录，告诉Sassoon，“根据司法部长的授权，你被指示撤销美国诉亚当斯案中的未决指控。”
迄今为止，该办公室尚未向法院提出驳回动议。
1月31日，沙宣在DOJ总部被卷入了一场关于案件未来的谈话。
沙宣的信详细描述了与Bove和市长顾问的会面，她说亚当斯的律师提出了“相当于交换条件的东西”，之后Bove“告诫了我团队中一名在会议期间做笔记的成员，并在会议结束时指导收集这些笔记。”
Bove声称，Sassoon建议Trump赦免市长，而不是要求DOJ撤诉。Bove说，该提案“揭示了你的办公室的不服从只不过是一种偏好，以避免一种你认为不愉快和政治上不方便的责任。”
Bove在信中说:“你对维护宪法的誓言不允许你用自己的政策判断代替总统或司法部高级领导的判断，你也没有资格建议总统行使他独有的第二条权力来让你的工作变得更容易。”
他反驳了沙宣所谓的“牵强附会”的暗示，即放弃对亚当斯的诉讼是一种“交换条件”。
“这是错误的，就像你之前书面承认的那样，”Bove说。“司法部负责保护全国人民的安全。你办公室的工作是帮助维护城市安全。但你的行为已经危及它。”
根据Bove的信，美国助理检察官“对此案负有主要责任”已被停职，等待司法部长办公室和DOJ职业责任办公室对他们的行为进行调查。他进一步指出，他们对电子设备的访问已被取消，他命令沙宣和其他出庭律师保留他们可能与此案有关的任何记录。
亚当斯有
不服罪
一份五项罪名的起诉书指控他接受多年的豪华旅行礼物，以此作为交换，除其他外，说服消防部门批准在曼哈顿开设新的土耳其领事馆——尽管检查员一直担心安全问题。
川普周四对局势进行了评估，声称没有任何细节或证据表明SDNY的代理美国检察官被解雇。
“我不知道他或她是否辞职，但那位美国检察官被解雇了，”总统在白宫的新闻发布会上告诉记者。
自选举以来，亚当斯和特朗普变得更加密切，市长与特朗普私下会晤了几次。在最后一刻，亚当斯取消了在纽约马丁·路德·金纪念日活动中的露面，去参加就职典礼。
市长否认他要求特朗普撤销指控或给予赦免。
当周四被问及他是否命令司法部放弃此案时，特朗普回答说，“不，我没有。我对此一无所知。”
据消息人士称，Bove周一在给纽约南区的一封信中质疑提出指控的时间，暗示此案是拜登政府司法部武器化的一部分。
消息人士补充说，Bove还表示，该案件对亚当斯帮助特朗普政府打击非法移民的能力产生了不利影响。
在纽约，亚当斯正面临越来越多的审查，有人呼吁他辞职。
副州长安东尼奥·德尔加多周四晚上要求纽约市长埃里克·亚当斯辞职，他写道
在X上的一篇帖子中
“纽约市应该有一个对人民负责的市长，而不是一个听命于总统的市长。亚当斯市长应该下台。”
与此同时，纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔说，她仍在处理和思考这一情况。周四晚上，当被MSNBC的雷切尔·玛多问及她会如何从理论上解除埃里克·亚当斯的职务时，霍楚尔称司法部的举动是“难以置信的前所未有的”...这不应该发生在我们的司法系统中。”
但她说，她不想对亚当斯采取任何具体行动。“这些指控极其令人担忧和严重。但是，作为这个州的州长，我不能像现在许多其他人所说的那样，做出下意识的、出于政治动机的反应——我必须聪明地做这件事。什么是对的?此时，我正在与政府中的其他领导人进行磋商。”
“这就发生了;我需要一些时间来处理这个问题，找出正确的方法，”她后来补充道。
2025年1月10日，在纽约市曼哈顿的纽约刑事法院，律师Emil Bove看着当选总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)远程出现在纽约州法官胡安·梅尔曼(Juan Merchan)面前进行判决听证会。Angela Weiss/POOL/法新社联邦检察官奉命不带偏见地驳回此案，这意味着它可能会再次出现。然而，Bove写道，在今年的市长选举之前，什么都不会发生。
尽管受到威胁，斯皮罗表示相信亚当斯不会被起诉。
“没有迫在眉睫的威胁，”斯皮罗在周三的新闻发布会上说。“这个案子结束了。”
任何驳回案件的动议都必须正式提交法院，由法官审查。
NY's top federal prosecutor, several DOJ officials resign over Mayor Eric Adams' case
The stunning fallout over the Justice Department's move to drop the criminal corruption prosecution of New York Mayor Eric Adams continues to have ripple effects, resulting now in the resignations of at least six top department officials who have refused to sign onto the case's dismissal, sources told ABC News.
The push to drop the case has led to at least three more top supervisory officials within the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section to resign, sources said. The officials joined now-former acting US attorney for Manhattan Danielle Sassoon and two other career leaders of the department’s Public Integrity Section -- which is tasked with prosecuting some of the most politically sensitive corruption cases pursued by the department.
Sassoon submitted her resignation Thursday, just days after the Justice Department sought to end the federal bribery case against Adams.
Prior to her resignation, Sassoon sent a letter on Wednesday to Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly urging Bondi to reverse course on dropping the criminal corruption case against Adams,as ordered in a letter earlier this weekfrom acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
"The reasons advanced by Mr. Bove for dismissing the indictment are not ones I can in good faith defend as in the public interest and as consistent with the principles of impartiality and fairness that guide my decision-making," Sassoon wrote.
In the letter, Sassoon repeatedly suggested DOJ leadership, including Bove, were explicitly aware of a quid pro quo suggested by Adams' attorneys, saying Adams' vocal support of Trump's immigration policies would be boosted by dismissing the indictment against him.
"Rather than be rewarded, Adams's advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case," Sassoon writes. "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."
Sassoon was appointed by President Donald Trump in January to lead as acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York after Damian Williams stepped down from the role following Trump's election victory. Trump's permanent choice to lead the Southern District, Jay Clayton, has yet to be confirmed.
Sassoon's resignation followed days of tension between the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan and leaders in the Justice Department overthe bribery and campaign finance caseagainst Adams.
On Monday, Bove sent a memo that told Sassoon, "You are directed, as authorized by the Attorney General, to dismiss the pending charges in United States v. Adams."
To date, the office has not filed a motion to dismiss with the court.
On Jan. 31, Sassoon was drawn into a conversation at DOJ headquarters in Washington about the future of the case.
Sassoon's letter detailed the meeting with Bove and counsel for the mayor, where she says Adams' attorneys put forward "what amounted to a quid pro quo," after which Bove "admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting's conclusion."
"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," Sassoon said. "Nor will a court likely find that such an improper exchange is consistent with the public interest."
Adams' lawyer balked at that notion following Sassoon's resignation, "The idea that there was a quid pro quo is a total lie. We offered nothing and the department asked nothing of us."
Sassoon's letter claimed that the U.S. Attorney's Office had already proposed seeking a superseding indictment against Adams under the new administration that would bolster the case with an additional obstruction conspiracy charge.
"We have proposed a superseding indictment that would add an obstruction conspiracy count based on evidence that Adams destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the FBI, and that would add further factual allegations regarding his participation in a fraudulent straw donor scheme," Sassoon said.
She noted that Bove's contention that dismissing the indictment against Adams is warranted because it has interfered in his abilities to enforce federal immigration laws "does not bear scrutiny."
"It does not grapple with the differential treatment Adams would receive compared to other elected officials, much less other criminal defendants," Sassoon said. "And it is unclear why Adams would be better able to aid in immigration enforcement when the threat of future conviction is due to the possibility of reinstatement of the indictment followed by conviction at trial, rather than merely the possibility of conviction at trial."
Sassoon closes the letter noting she remains "baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached, in seeming collaboration with Adams's counsel and without my direct input on the ultimate stated rationales for dismissal."
The failure to immediately heed the directive irked DOJ leadership, including Bove and Bondi.
"That case should be dropped. It was dead at the directive of Emil so that case should be dropped," Bondi told reporters on Wednesday.
The Justice Department planned to remove the prosecutors handling the mayor's case and reassign it to the Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C. However, as soon the Public Integrity Section was informed it would be taking over, John Keller, the acting head of the unit, and his boss, Kevin Driscoll, the senior most career official in the criminal division resigned, according to multiple sources.
It is now unclear who will take over the Adams case and how soon it might be dropped, the sources said.
The decision to drop Adams' case has led to an upheaval in the senior most ranks of an already embattled Justice Department.
Bove admonished Sassoon over her repeated refusals to sign off on the dismissal in a letter responding to her resignation.
"You lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the Department of Justice by suggesting that you retain discretion to interpret the Constitution in a manner inconsistent with the policies of a democratically elected President and a Senate-confirmed Attorney General," Bove said in the letter obtained by ABC News.
"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," Bove added.
Bove claimed that Sassoon had suggested that Trump pardon the mayor instead of asking DOJ to drop the case. Bove said the proposal "reveals that your office's insubordination is little more than a preference to avoid a duty that you regard as unpleasant and politically inconvenient."
"Your oath to uphold the Constitution does not permit you to substitute your policy judgment for that of the President or senior leadership of the Justice Department, and you are in no position to suggest that the President exercise his exclusive Article II authority to make your job easier," Bove said in his letter.
He disputed what he calls "strained" suggestions by Sassoon that there was a "quid pro quo" involved in dropping the case against Adams.
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks as she announces an immigration enforcement action during her first press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., Feb. 12, 2025.
Craig Hudson/Reuters
"This is false, as you acknowledged previously in writing," Bove said. "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."
According to Bove's letter, the assistant U.S. attorneys "principally responsible for the case" have been placed on off-duty administrative leave pending investigations of their conduct by the attorney general's office and DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility. He further noted their access to electronic devices has been revoked, and he ordered Sassoon and other trial attorneys to preserve any records they may have related to the case.
Adams hadpleaded not guiltyto a five-count indictment that accused him of accepting years of luxury travel gifts in exchange for, among other things, persuading the fire department to approve the opening of the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan -- despite the lingering safety concerns of inspectors.
Trump weighed in on the situation Thursday, claiming without any details or evidence that the acting U.S. attorney for SDNY was fired.
"I don't know if he or she resigned, but, that U.S. attorney was fired," the president told reporters during a news conference at the White House.
Adams and Trump have become more close since the election, with the mayor meeting with Trump privately several times. At the last minute, Adams cancelled his appearances at Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in New York to attend the inauguration.
The mayor has denied that he asked Trump to drop the charges or grant a pardon.
When asked Thursday if he ordered the Justice Department to drop the case Trump replied, "No, I didn't. I know nothing about it."
In a letter to the Southern District of New York on Monday, Bove questioned the timing of when the charges were brought, suggesting the case was part of the Biden administration's weaponization of the Justice Department, according to sources.
Bove also said the case adversely affected Adams' ability to help the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, the sources added.
In New York, Adams is facing increasing scrutiny and some calls to resign.
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado called Thursday night for New York City Mayor Eric Adams to resign, writingin a post on X, "New York City deserves a Mayor accountable to the people, not beholden to the President. Mayor Adams should step down."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, meanwhile, said she is still processing and thinking through the situation. Asked on Thursday night by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow about what she might do about theoretically removing Eric Adams from his position, Hochul called the Department of Justice's moves "unbelievably unprecedented... This is not supposed to happen in our system of justice."
But she said she did not want to commit to any specific action with Adams. "The allegations are extremely concerning and serious. But I cannot, as the governor of this state, have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction, like a lot of other people are saying right now -- I have to do it smart. What's right? And I'm consulting with other leaders in government at this time."
"This just happened; I need some time to process this and figure out the right approach," she added later.
Federal prosecutors were instructed to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning it could come up again. However, Bove wrote nothing could happen until after this year's mayoral election.
Despite that threat, Spiro expressed confidence Adams would not be prosecuted.
"There is no looming threat," Spiro said at a press conference Wednesday. "This case is over."
Any motion to dismiss the case would have to be formally filed in court and reviewed by the judge.
