3 federal prosecutors assigned to Eric Adams case resign, say they won't admit to 'wrongdoing'
Three federal prosecutors who worked on the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams resigned Tuesday -- while they were on administrative leave -- instead of agreeing to "preconditions" on them returning to the office, sending a sharp letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and accusing him of pressuring them to falsely "express regret and admit some wrongdoing" in the case.
"The Department placed each of us on administrative leave ostensibly to review our, and the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office’s, handling of the Adams case," the trio of prosecutors assigned to Adams' case, Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom, wrote to Blanche. "It is now clear that one of the preconditions you have placed on our returning to the Office is that we must express regret and admit some wrongdoing by the Office in connection with the refusal to move to dismiss the case. We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none."
The three lawyers were part of a group in the Justice Department who refused to sign off on the dismissal of the bribery case against Adams in February. They were placed on administrative leave last month as an investigation played out.
"We have served under Presidents of both parties, advancing their priorities while pursuing justice without fear or favor," the three prosecutors wrote. "The role of a career prosecutor is not to set policy. But a prosecutor must abide by the oath to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States and the rules of professional ethics set by the bar and the courts."
They later added, "Now, the Department has decided that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our legal and ethical obligations in favor of directions from Washington. That is wrong."
The fallout from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove's request that the Southern District of New York dismiss charges without prejudice began in mid-February. Danielle Sassoon, then-acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned from her position Feb. 13 after suggesting DOJ leadership, including Bove, were explicitly aware of a quid pro quo suggested by Adams' attorneys, saying Adams' vocal support of President Donald 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 wrote at the time. "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."
Five other DOJ officials would join Sassoon in resigning from the office in protest, while at least six top Department of Justice officials refused to sign onto the case's dismissal, sources told ABC News last month.
Adams was indicted last year in the Southern District of New York on five counts in an alleged long-standing conspiracy connected to improper benefits, illegal campaign contributions and an attempted cover-up. He had pleaded not guilty.
The dismissal paperwork was later signed by an attorney in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, leaving the decision to dismiss the case to a federal judge in New York.
On April 2, Judge Dale Ho officially dismissed the case, however, he did so with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be revived. The DOJ had asked for the charges to be dismissed without prejudice and said they could be brought against Adams again following the November mayoral election.
But three weeks later, the fallout continued with Tuesday's letter.
The three prosecutors ended their letter to Blanche: "Serving in the Southern District of New York has been an honor. There is no greater privilege than to work for an institution whose mandate is to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. We will not abandon this principle to keep our jobs. We resign."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
