The Department of Justice has descended into what appears to be civil war after President Trump decided to dismiss the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams by Biden's legal hit squad in the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. So far, the main combatants are acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove on one side, and on the other, the Department of Justice's so-called Public Integrity Section and the staff of the SDNY attorney's office.
This is how it started. In August 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending illegals to New York City and other smug, heavily-blue localities by the bus- and plane load. This was brought on by Joe Biden's resolute refusal to make even a modest attempt to control immigration on our southern border. As they say, everyone was having fun until someone got punched in the throat. That was Mayor Eric Adams. The toll on NYC began to rise, and Adams crossed the line by beginning to question the financial and social costs to NYC of going along with Biden — with Biden's highly politicized Justice Department, this was a bad move. In November 2023, the FBI let it slip to the media that they had seized Adams's electronic devices and he was under investigation for receiving foreign campaign contributions. That investigation was managed by the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York.
On September 25, 2024, as the empty husk of Joe Biden was galumphing about the Oval Office and we were in the midst of "brat summer," Adams was indicted by a federal grand jury,
BACKGROUND
BREAKING: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Indicted on Criminal Charges, Expected to be Arrested – RedState
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Gives Defiant Remarks While Facing Federal Indictment – RedState
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Says He Will 'Reign,' Not Resign As Federal Indictment Looms – RedState
When the charges against Adams were revealed, he was accused of big stuff...like taking airline upgrades and helping the Turkish embassy navigate NYC's byzantine building code system; see BREAKING: We Now Know the Charges Against New York Mayor Eric Adams – RedState. The charges were framed to look big time, but they were eerily reminiscent of the hit jobs done on Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, where normal activities were mutated into federal felonies by lawyers out to get a scalp.
A sea change happened when Adams defended Trump at a press conference in the last days of the election: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Breaks With Dems Over Despicable Rhetoric: Trump Not a 'Fascist,' 'This Is America' – RedState.
Shortly after the election, Adams appeared with Trump at a rally at Madison Square Garden.
RELATED
Is New York City Mayor Eric Adams a Friend or Foe? – RedState
There was some speculation that Trump might pardon Adams; that didn't happen, but Trump did order DOJ to dismiss the charges against him; New: Trump Justice Dept. Directs Prosecutors to Dismiss Federal Corruption Charges Against Eric Adams – RedState. That's when the fun started.
This led to a lively exchange of letters on Wednesday. The acting US Attorney for SDNY, Danielle Sassoon, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi that she refused to drop the case; see Read Danielle Sassoon’s Letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Annotated. She tendered her resignation unless she got her way. Deputy Attorney General Bove fired back, reminding her that she was not in charge, accusing the SDNY office of unethical conduct in their investigation; see Read The Letter From Emil Bove Accepting Danielle Sassoon’s Resignation, Annotated, and, oh, by the way, you're fired. Bove then turned to the Public Integrity Section in DOJ to file the dismissal. Five supervisors resigned in solidarity with Sassoon rather than sign the filing.
The left is making a lot of hay over Sassoon being a conservative and having clerked for Scalia. SPOILER ALERT: The Biden DOJ did not hire conservatives for important and politically sensitive positions. Even if she were a hard-core conservative, she responded to the situation like a spoiled brat. If she felt that strongly about the situation, she still didn't have to make a public spectacle of it because the decision to prosecute a case is not hers to make.
Sassoon's firing left the office under the leadership of Hagan Scotten, another guy who is supposedly a conservative. He decided to go out with a bang; see Read the Resignation Letter From Hagan Scotten.
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.
I'm sure he'll have a show on MSNBC by next month.
Then, the plot thickened.
RUMOR: DOJ about to clear the deck at Public Integrity.
— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) February 14, 2025
This just keeps getting better and better.
Valentine's Day massacre? pic.twitter.com/waVexcGi0L
After that meeting, the filing dismissing the case against Adams was submitted.
The motion, filed in a New York court, was signed by acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove; Edward Sullivan, a veteran public corruption prosecutor; and Toni Bacon, acting chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division, after seven other Justice Department lawyers had refused and resigned in protest.
This did not happen without more sturm und drang.
At first, the lawyers agreed they would all resign rather than endorse the dismissal of the Adams corruption case, two people briefed on the session said. But then Sullivan, who is nearing retirement, proposed that he could sign the motion to avoid a mass firing of prosecutors and allow his colleagues time to seek jobs elsewhere, these people said.
The group agreed to accept Sullivan’s offer. But some were upset, believing that their section could still face retaliation and that it would be more principled for everyone to refuse to seek to drop the charges.
This shootout is nowhere near over. Bondi and Bove are still surrounded by disloyal and hostile staff. The judge in NYC is bound to do something other than accept the filing; otherwise, he'll be a social pariah. Ultimately, a judge can't force the government to prosecute a case it wants to dismiss.
It is good that this first battle came this early and over a fairly trivial issue. A lot of unreliable staff have been identified and are no longer employed. The attorneys who came to work for DOJ as a government service and not as a political commissar should now feel more comfortable knowing they have the support of the DOJ leadership team.
Pam Bondi wrote to DOJ on her first day in office, “Any attorney who because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law.” There is no doubt she is serious.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member