Several Democrats in both chambers of Congress celebrated the conservative U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York who resigned Thursday after the Department of Justice (DOJ) directed her to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D).
Manhattan U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon stepped down days after the DOJ told her office to dismiss corruption charges against Adams. In a memo, the Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the case hindered Adams’ ability to combat crime and illegal immigration in the city and that it “improperly interfered” with his reelection bid.
The memo did not object to the case’s strength or the legitimacy of evidence garnered against the mayor.
On Thursday and Friday, Democratic lawmakers publicly praised Sassoon for her integrity.
“Sassoon and Scotten showing courage, integrity and deep respect for the rule of law,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said in a Friday post on the social platform X., mentioning former Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten, who also resigned. “I’ve got 270 or so colleagues in the Congress who might pick up a tip or two.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called Sassoon’s resignation an “extraordinary development,” adding that Sassoon, a Yale Law School graduate who clerked for late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, quit a “dream job as acting head of SDNY U.S. attorneys office rather than do Trump’s bidding and drop criminal charges against the NYC Mayor.”
Adams was indicted in September last year, alleging he accepted bribes and other benefits as far back as 2014 from influential businessmen and at least one Turkish government official.
The mayor has continually denied any wrongdoing, arguing it was a political persecution for his criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of immigration.
Throughout the 2024 presidential election, Adams grew closer to President Trump and ended up meeting with him in Florida ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. He has discussed immigration with Trump and has not said if he would accept a pardon if one would come his way.
Adams said this week that he still has to work to regain the trust of his constituents and expressed gratefulness for DOJ’s “honesty.”
“Danielle Sassoon properly told Donald Trump he’s corrupt as f—,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) wrote in a Thursday night post on X. “ In case you’re wondering, this is what integrity looks like.”
Sassoon, who was the interim U.S. Attorney for SDNY and did not bring the initial indictment against the New York City mayor, said in a Wednesday letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that instead of being “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.”
“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 said.
Rep. Jaime Raskin (D-Md.) said to Bondi in Friday’s social media post that she should “halt now the threatened firing of the excellent lawyers in the Public Integrity Section.”
“You have no right to fire public servants defending public integrity in order to override the decisions of US Attorney Sassoon and a Grand Jury to prosecute a politician for corruption,” he wrote on X.
Despite the resignations in the New York office, Bondi said Adams’ charges will be dismissed on Friday.
“Yes, Martha, I’m on a different time zone, but it’s my understanding it is being dismissed today,” Bondi told Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Friday.
Similarly to Democrats on Capitol Hill, New York officials praised Sassoon, including Manhattan’s Borough President Mark Levine who called her on Thursday an “American hero.”
