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Inside the drama at the DOJ: the Eric Adams case is withdrawn [1]
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Date: 2025-02-14
The Washington Post is reporting that an official motion to drop all charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams has finally been filed with Judge Dale E. Ho of the Southern District of New York. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove had ordered on Monday that the case be dismissed in exchange for Adams’ assistance with implementing the Trump deportation agenda in Manhattan. As of Thursday night, the charges had still NOT been dropped, and seven US attorneys had resigned in protest.
Meanwhile, Adams has prepared an Executive Order that allows federal immigration agents access to the prison at Riker’s Island, in direct violation of NYC City Council regulations.
But OMG, there is so much more to this story.
Have you ever been walking down the hall at work and tried to duck into a restroom when you spotted your boss coming? Just imagine the atmosphere when Emil Bove called an emergency meeting Friday morning among the remaining prosecutors at the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ.
Bove, meanwhile, summoned the roughly two dozen remaining members of the public integrity unit and ordered them to figure out who would file the dismissal motion. He made clear that lawyers not willing to do so could be fired and those who were could be promoted, according to multiple people in communication with lawyers at the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose what was said.
So Bove leaves the room, and asks the team to pick a sacrificial goat. Who among us will sign the order? Who will suck up to the new administration? Who will acquiesce and join this illegal move? Sign and be promoted. Refuse to sign and be fired. Fun times.
In case anyone is wondering, it is a violation of legal ethics for a prosecutor to withdraw a grand jury indictment in exchange for favors from the defendant. It’s called a quid pro quo. It’s illegal. Lawyers have been disbarred for less.
So what did the team decide?
At first, the lawyers agreed they would all resign rather than endorse the dismissal of the Adams corruption case, two people briefed on the session said.
Wait, what? More resignations? But then,
[Edward] Sullivan, who is nearing retirement, proposed that he could sign the motion to avoid a mass firing of prosecutors and allow his colleagues time to seek jobs elsewhere, these people said. The group agreed to accept Sullivan’s offer. But some were upset, believing that their section could still face retaliation and that it would be more principled for everyone to refuse to seek to drop the charges.
A few hours later, the motion was on Judge Ho’s desk, signed by Sullivan, Bove, and and Toni Bacon, acting chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division.
One attorney present told a colleague at Justice that the discussion was “gut-wrenching” and “not anything any of us ever expected to see in America,” the colleague told The Washington Post.
It’s not clear if Judge Ho will dismiss the case, or possibly hold a hearing to discuss the motion. It’s pretty hard to hold a trial when there is no one sitting at the prosecution table.
This is how Trump’s DOJ is operating now. Welcome to America.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/14/2303877/-Inside-the-drama-at-the-DOJ-the-Eric-Adams-case-is-withdrawn?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
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