Washington – On her first day as President Trump, President Trump, Pam Bondi promised to remove politics out of criminal persecution and to restore them “Integrity and credibility” of the Ministry of Justice.
She founded an “weapons working group” to identify cases in which “the behavior of the department apparently seems to have achieved political goals”.
But it took less than a week for her top representative to send the opposite message: This policy, not the law, asked the dismissal against the New York Mayor Eric Adams for allegations of corruption by a Grand Jury.
The incumbent deputy general prosecutor, Emil Bove, did this in correspondence with prosecutors in New York, when he wrote that the Trump government did not question the strength of evidence or the legal theories on which the case was based, but that he is necessary “, but that this is necessary” the help of the mayor in his approach to illegal immigration.
The order, which triggered an extraordinary rebellion and the resignation of seven corrupt anti -correction lawyers, placed a spotlight on how the new government was able to politicize the Ministry of Justice.
The Senate Democrats of the Justice Committee called for an investigation by the department's general inspector.
“The American people cannot afford that the Ministry of Justice is arming its extensive public prosecutor to force civil servants to support the political project of a president,” said Sen Richard Durbin (D-il.).
Conservative legal analysts were also sharply critical. Ed Whelan described Danielle Sasso's resignation, the US lawyer in New York, “an act of courage and integrity” in a social media contribution. “Emil Bove couldn't have abused this if he had tried it.”
A public prosecutor of the experienced Ministry of Justice, who was not mentioned, said: “The long -term damage to doj will be (incalculable).”
Prosecutors are anxious and insecure what to do. “Good people who are interested in the public service will no longer address a career at Doj,” he said.
Two of the prosecutors who cancel in protest have strong conservative references and wrote devastating resignation.
“I understand my duty as a public prosecutor to enforce the law impartially,” wrote Sassoon, a former legal clerk for a conservative icon, the judiciary of the late Supreme Court Antonin Scalia. It does not mean releasing a case if he “was politically advantageous for the defendant, or for those who have appointed me,” she continued.
Hagan Scotten, the senior public prosecutor in the case, was a veteran of the army with three combat tours in Iraq, a graduate of the Harvard right and former lawyer for judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and Supreme judge John G. Roberts Jr. President was appointed.
He said that law enforcement measures are not an instrument to help political allies or punish political enemies.
“I assume that at some point you will find someone who has enough of a fool or a coward to submit your application” to reject the case against Adams, he wrote to Bove. “But it would never be me.”
On Friday, a long -time lawyer of the Ministry of Justice agreed to sign the dismissal in order to save further blessings and resignations.
The application for dismissal of the case is now in front of the US district judge Dale HO to decide how to proceed.
BOVE represented Trump last year in his New York trial for silent money payments and was appointed deputy attorney in general as deputy attorney in General when Trump was sworn in.
He triggered the revolt on February 10 when he sent a letter in which the federal lawyers in New York announced.You are directed “ reject the upcoming charges against Adams.
“The upcoming public prosecutor has inappropriately restricted the ability of the mayor of Adam to devote full attention and resources for the illegal immigration and violent crimes, which escalated according to the guidelines of the former administration,” wrote Bove.
He continued: “The achievement of the immigration goals determined by President Trump and Attorney General Bondi predominates the need to pursue criminal proceedings.
It would have been less surprising if Bove had questioned the case for legal reasons. The Supreme Court lifted public corruption judgments if an official received gifts and favors, but did not take any significant “official acts” as an answer.
The indictment said that Adams acted as President of Brooklyn Borough, he had undertaken luxurious international trips, which had paid for Turkish officials and received illegal campaign contributions from foreigners. It was less clear what Adams had done as an answer. The indictment submitted in September said that the mayor put the city's fire brigade under pressure in 2021 to open a new Turkish consular building on time without a fire inspection.
In an eight -sided letter to Bondi, Sassoon said that a lawyer of Adams met on January 31 with BOVE and the prosecutors and “repeatedly demanded what was in consideration”, in which the mayor “only helps with the enforcement priorities of the department could be dismissed if the indictment was rejected. “
On Friday, the New York mayor in Fox News performed Trump's border zar Tom Homan, who apparently confirmed that they had done a deal.
“If he doesn't get through, I'm back in New York City and we won't sit on the couch. I will be in his office, his butt and say: “Where to the hell is the agreement we came to?” Said Homan.
Bove accepted Sassoon's resignation and angrily accused her of ignoring her duty to loyalty to the president and the Attorney General.
“The Ministry of Justice does not tolerate the insubordination and the obvious misconduct that is reflected in the approach that you and your office has persecuted”, ” He wrote.
In his second letter, the indictment against Adams was referred to as “politically motivated law enforcement”, apparently because it occurred under the bid administration.
In her opening memo to restore integrity into the Ministry of Justice, Bondi called for a return to the “basic values” of the department and said: “Nobody who acted with a just spirit and only have intentions.”
But on Friday afternoon her chief of staff Chad Mizelle said that the dispute over the case of Adams had the need to survive dissidents in the department.
The dismissal of the indictment shows: “This doj will return to his core function of persecution of dangerous criminals and not pursue politically motivated witch hunts,” he said in an explanation.
“The fact that those who have accused the case and pursued a criminal law that refused to follow a direct command is further evidence of the disorganized and rear -born motifs of the prosecutors,” he wrote. “Such people have no place at the Doj.”