Former prosecutor: Adams’s attorneys ‘repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo'
The former acting U.S. attorney overseeing New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s corruption case said the mayor’s attorneys pushed for a “quid pro quo” ahead of the Justice Department (DOJ) ordering the case against him be dropped.
Danielle Sassoon, who resigned from her post Thursday over her refusal to drop the charges against the embattled Adams, said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi obtained by The Hill that the argument from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove “raises serious concerns” about the legitimacy of dismissing the case.
Sassoon said the memo Bove wrote directing the case be dropped makes clear Adams is being granted leniency in exchange for assisting the federal government with its immigration priorities, citing a meeting Jan. 31 that she, Bove, Adams’s attorney and members of her office attended.
“Adams's attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department's enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon said in the letter Wednesday.
The memo from Bove didn’t address the strength of the case against Adams but argued it “improperly interfered” with Adams’s 2025 reelection campaign and alluded to the Trump administration’s claims of the DOJ being weaponized against political opponents.
The memo also claimed the case “unduly restricted” Adams’s ability to address illegal immigration and violent crime that “escalated” under the Biden administration.
Sassoon said in her letter that the government doesn’t have a valid basis to dismiss the case, and she could not advance its arguments for dismissal in good faith. She argued that the idea of dismissing the case in exchange for assistance with immigration enforcement “violates commonsense beliefs in the equal administration of justice.”
“In your words, ‘the Department of Justice will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct,’” she told Bondi. “Dismissal of the indictment for no other reason than to influence Adams's mayoral decision-making would be all three.”
She said the government has no reason to doubt its evidence or the case overall, and dismissing it would only further raise concerns about the justice system being weaponized.
Sassoon said she would resign from her post if Bondi is unwilling to meet with her or reconsider the memo in light of the issues with it.
“I remain 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,” she said.
Adams rejected the idea that a quid pro quo occurred during an interview that he and Trump "border czar" Tom Homan gave Friday on “Fox & Friends." He called the accusation “silly” and said his attorney making this proposal would constitute a crime.
Adams has maintained his innocence since being indicted in September on five counts, including bribery, wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. Prosecutors had alleged Adams accepted and sought bribes — dating back to 2014 and continuing through his time as mayor — from wealthy businesspeople and a Turkish government official in exchange for political favors.
A Democrat, Adams has increasingly grown closer to Trump and Homan over the past few months. He has met with Homan multiple times and spoke with Trump shortly before Inauguration Day, then attended Trump’s inauguration.
He has also been hesitant to publicly criticize Trump, unlike most of his fellow Democrats, emphasizing the importance of having a strong relationship with the president. He has said his relationship with Trump is in the interest of his city's constituents.
But their ties raised questions as the 2024 election winded down and Trump was set to take office, spurring speculation Adams was seeking a pardon for the case. Adams refused to say whether he would accept a pardon, and Trump said he would consider it.
The decision from the DOJ to drop the charges wasn’t a surprise for most observers, but a judge still needs to sign off for the charges to be formally dropped.
Sassoon wasn’t the only DOJ official to resign over the directive to drop the case, as several others also stepped down as a result. That includes two top prosecutors based in Washington, D.C., multiple outlets have reported.
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