Conservative lawyers are criticizing President Donald Trump after seven Department of Justice (DOJ) officials resigned in protest over an attempt to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Why It Matters
Adams was indicted in 2024 on charges of fraud and bribery after allegedly accepting more than $100,000 in luxury gifts and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials and businesspeople in exchange for opening a consulate in New York without proper fire inspections. He has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Last week, the DOJ ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan not to prosecute Adams. That prompted accusations on Wednesday that Adams agreed to support the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda in exchange for the charges against him to be dropped, accusations he has denied.
The scandal led seven DOJ officials to resign, as well as four of Adams’ top deputies.
AP
What To Know
According to acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, the charges against Adams should be dismissed because federal prosecutors behind the case “threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity” and “unduly restricted” the mayor’s ability to “devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”
On Thursday, during a closed-door meeting with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, Adams agreed to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to operate at New York City’s Rikers Island prison.
Homan has denied any quid pro quo, while Trump has denied that he had ordered the Justice Department to dismiss the indictment against Adams.
Democrats have decried the Justice Department’s move to drop corruption charges against Adams, with Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota calling the decision a “major assault on the justice system.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York called the situation “very disturbing,” while New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the allegations were “extremely concerning and serious.”
But Democrats are not the only ones who have expressed concern. Conservative columnist Ross Douthat, as well as lawyers David Lat, Andrew McCarthy and Ed Whelan, have also chimed in.
In a blog post on his Substack, Federalist Society member David Lat, described the resignations of DOJ officials as a “Thursday afternoon massacre,” referencing the “Saturday Night Massacre,” which was a chain of high-level resignations in DOJ during the Watergate scandal in 1973 following the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
“Did we just witness… a Thursday Afternoon Massacre?” Lat asked. He added that the DOJ officials who resigned “did the right thing.
“They resigned after being told to take a course of action that they viewed as unacceptable. Query whether other DOJ or Trump administration officials will do the same if pressured or directed to engage in improper, unethical, or illegal actions.”
In his column for the New York Times, Douthat argued that the Adams scandal highlights that the Trump administration values subservience over effective legal counsel after seven DOJ lawyers resigned, potentially undermining its ability to handle more significant legal battles later on.
“The Trump Department of Justice is picking a fight with its own lawyers… to keep an official of the rival party… in office for a very short amount of time,” he wrote. “All the Trump administration is getting from Adams is a promise to enforce existing immigration law — which… is probably not worth very much.”
Additionally, Andrew McCarthy, former assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, argued that the DOJ’s order to drop the charges against Adams was “explicitly political.”
“The Trump administration is dropping the case based on its political calculations,” he wrote. “Politicized law enforcement is always wrong. And it is not more attractive when it insulates a politician from what appears to be righteous law enforcement than when it targets a politician with what appears to be discriminatory law enforcement.”
Ed Whelan, who served as deputy assistant attorney general during the George W. Bush administration argued in a blog post that [interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle] Sassoon’s decision to resign was a morally and ethically responsible act, motivated by a commitment to upholding the integrity of the prosecution and resisting political influence in legal proceedings.
“A president has all sorts of authority to do things that are unethical. […] But that doesn’t mean that lawyers acting at his direction are obligated to engage in conduct that they regard as unethical. On the contrary, they have a duty not to do so,” Whelan wrote, adding: “Even if you think that Sassoon is wrong on this point, her position is certainly one that an intelligent person could hold in good faith. She has acted honorably in standing, and then resigning, on principle.”
Sassoon resigned on Wednesday after refusing to drop the case against Adams. Sassoon alleged that Adams’ legal team had “repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo,” where the mayor would support Trump on immigration in exchange for the case being dismissed. Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, denied the accusation, calling it “a total lie,” and saying, “We offered nothing and the department asked nothing of us.”
John Keller, acting head of the office, and Kevin Driscoll, a leading prosecutor, also resigned. Additionally, three deputies in the Public Integrity Section—Rob Heberle, Jenn Clarke, and Marco Palmieri—resigned on Thursday.
On Friday, federal prosecutor Hagan Scotten resigned, writing in a strongly worded letter: “No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives.”
Four of Adams’ top deputies also resigned—First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom; Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Chauncey Parker.
In a joint statement, Torres-Springer, Joshi and Williams-Isom said they were resigning because of the scandal.
“Due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families, we have come to the difficult decision to step down from our roles,” they said.
“I am disappointed to see them go, but given the current challenges, I understand their decision and wish them nothing but success in the future,” Adams said in a statement after accepting the resignations on Monday.
What Happens Next
On Friday, the DOJ formally filed a motion to dismiss the corruption cases against Adams. It is now up to a judge whether to grant the motion.
