Justice, corrupted

To the editor:

There was good news for Eric Adams on Feb. 10. After five months on bended knees currying favor with the authoritarian Donald Trump, the Justice Department ordered corruption charges against the mayor dropped. Given the subsequent blowback, the bad news for the mayor was that on Feb. 10 the Justice Department ordered corruption charges against the mayor dropped. 

 Adams’ response was, “I never broke the law and I never would…. I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor.”

 This was decidedly not the view of Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. She and at least six other high-ranking Justice Department officials resigned after refusing to dismiss the charges against Adams. Sassoon, a member of the Federalist Society and a former clerk for the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, said dropping the case against Adams would result in her violating her duty to uphold the law fairly and consistently.  

She revealed that in addition to the five corruption charges that included bribery, fraud and the solicitation of illegal foreign campaign contributions, prosecutors had uncovered additional criminal conduct by the mayor. There was “evidence that [Adams] destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the FBI.” There would be “further factual allegations regarding his participation in a fraudulent straw donor scheme.” 

Sassoon also said there was a “quid pro quo.” If the indictment was dismissed, Adams would help the Justice Department’s immigration enforcement. He has recently agreed to implement an executive order allowing ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island, and said he favors loosening “sanctuary” policies. Sassoon concluded there was sufficient evidence to convict Adams in what would have been his April trial.

Howard Elterman