Here are the DOJ officials who resigned over order to drop Adams case

Several Department of Justice (DOJ) officials resigned from their posts after receiving a directive to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D).

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent out a Monday memo ordering prosecutors to forgo its case against Adams citing integrity issues with the case and an interference with his ability to serve as mayor.

Bove said the department “reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.”

Here are a list of DOJ officials who resigned following the mandate:

Danielle Sassoon, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York

Danielle Sassoon raised concerns with the order in a Wednesday email to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“I have always considered it my obligation to pursue justice impartially, without favor to the wealthy or those who occupy important public office, or harsher treatment for the less powerful,” she wrote.

“I cannot fulfill my obligations, effectively lead my office in carrying out the Department's priorities, or credibly represent the Government before the courts, if I seek to dismiss the Adams case on this record.”

The U.S. attorney’s office confirmed Sassoon stepped down from her post the following day. It’s unclear if Bondi responded to Sassoon’s parting message. However, Bove did respond in his own letter rendering the official “incapable of fairly and impartially reviewing the circumstances of this prosecution.”

The Republican prosecutor’s resignation reverberated as a stark sign of resistance to President Trump’s agenda, which comes just months after her predecessor Damian Williams stepped down following Trump’s election win.

John Keller, acting head of Public Integrity Section

John Keller, who served as the acting head of the Justice Department's public corruption unit, a nonpartisan position, also informed the DOJ of his resignation following the controversy related to Adams’s deflated case.

When the Southern District of New York refused to drop the case, it was reassigned to the DOJ Public Integrity Section, according to NBC 4 New York.

Keller chose to resign after learning of the news.

He spent more than a decade serving in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section in roles spanning from trial attorney and deputy chief to acting chief, according to his staff profile.

Prior to joining the federal agency, Keller was an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of Iowa, an assistant federal public defender in the Middle District of Alabama and a judicial law clerk to Judge Barry G. Silverman on the United States Court of Appeals.

Kevin Driscoll, acting head of Criminal Division

Kevin Driscoll was also among the brigade of top officials who resigned in the fallout.

His division is charged with overseeing criminal investigations while aiding federal prosecutors, law enforcement and investigative agencies. Driscoll formerly served as the DOJ deputy assistant attorney general.

He held the same title for the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, according to his staff profile.

Hagan Scotten, assistant U.S. attorney with the Southern District of New York

Hagan Scotten resigned in a seething letter that accused the DOJ of impropriety after being placed on administrative leave for not complying with orders to drop Adams’s case.

In the email, Scotten said Sassoon never asked him to dismiss the Adams case, adding he never had an opportunity to refuse.

However, he supported Sassoon’s decision in his letter to Bove, which flamed Trump for a hand in the case’s dismissal, despite the president’s statements claiming he has not been involved.

“I can even understand how a Chief Executive whose background is in business and politics might see the contemplated dismissal-with-leverage as a good, if distasteful, deal. But any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way,” he wrote.

“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.”

The total number of DOJ officials who have resigned remains unclear at this time.

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