Adams Dismissal Filed After 7 Resignations
The inevitable happened, inevitably.
Yesterday, Steven Taylor highlighted Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten, who resigned rather than comply with an order to file to dismiss the DOJ’s corruption case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams, signing off with, “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.”
Six others followed suit but, alas, the order was indeed eventually carried out.
WaPo (“Justice officials move to drop Adams case after 7 lawyers refuse, resign in protest“):
The Justice Department on Friday filed a motion to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, leaving it to a federal judge to decide the fate of a case that has ignited a dramatic standoff between the Trump administration and veteran prosecutors in two cities.
The motion, filed in a New York court, was signed by acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove; Edward Sullivan, a veteran public corruption prosecutor; and Toni Bacon, acting chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division, after seven other Justice Department lawyers had refused and resigned in protest.
[…]
The tensions only grew Friday, as the lead prosecutor on the case in New York, Hagan Scotten, submitted his resignation, calling any lawyer who would ask a judge to toss the charges a “fool” or “coward.”
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.
[…]
Lawyers from that office and Justice Department headquarters showed they were not just willing to resign over requests that they believed would violate their legal and ethical obligations, but also to rebuke Bove’s orders in writing on the way out the door.Their defiance, and the punitive response they received in return, has boosted concerns from outsiders over Trump’s long-term intentions for the department.
“I suspect many Americans have questions today about what’s going on at the Department of Justice and what this means for the rule of law,” said Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush.
[…]
Besides Scotten and Sassoon, those who resigned in protest this week included Kevin Driscoll, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s criminal division; and John D. Keller, acting chief of the public integrity section, which investigates public officials and election crimes.
[…]
Bove left the group alone to discuss how its members wished to proceed, saying he wanted an answer quickly, the people briefed on the matter said. 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.
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. But then 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.
Judging from this and other reports, then, Sullivan is neither a fool nor a coward. He made a pragmatic sacrifice to save his colleagues pain, knowing that Bove would find someone to sign the motion in due course.
While Scotten and others who have resigned on principle should indeed be lauded, it’s noteworthy that they will all soon find much higher-paying jobs in their profession. They have extraordinary credentials and their government experience only enhances their employability.
This is simply not the case for most of the federal workforce, with an average age of 47.5 (with 45 percent over age 50) and many jobs having no direct parallel in the private sector. A few dozen AUSAs will easily be absorbed into the economy. Tens, of even hundreds, of thousands of civil servants who are being purged will not.
Nixon eventually found Bork,, who lacked the integrity to do the right thing, and was probably guaranteed a SCOTUS nomination as part of the deal. In this case I hope it’s true about Sullivan and we dont find out he later has a surprise bonus.
Steve
The actions of prez felons administration are being compared to Stalinist collective guilt, which they are.
Adams was being investigated for a crime and they leveraged that to gain his cooperation (for that reason alone, Hochul should dismiss him), next we’ll learn that they opened an investigation, perhaps DoJ or maybe IRS to pressure some state/local official or businessperson to cooperated in some scheme.
While he is doing it for noble reasons, he is still playing the fool.
I shudder to think about what kind of people Trump will fill those vacated positions with.