Departing US Attorney
In her Wednesday letter refusing an order to drop a corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Manhattan’s chief federal prosecutor’s use of one Latin phrase drew a particularly strong response.
Interim Manhattan US Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who resigned on Thursday, wrote that, in a Jan. 31 meeting also attended by her Justice Department superiors, Adams’ defense lawyer offered “what amounted to a quid pro quo.” According to Sassoon, they said “Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.”
Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro vehemently denied there was any quid pro quo in a Friday statement.
“We offered nothing and the department asked nothing of us,” he said. “I don’t know what ‘amounted to’ means. We were asked if the case had any bearing on national security and immigration enforcement and we truthfully answered it did.”
The expression means literally “this for that,” and quid pro quo exchanges involving official acts are crimes expressly prohibited under federal anti-corruption laws.
Sassoon’s account, as well as the string of resignations that followed hers, could all be fodder for a judicial investigation of the Justice Department’s handling of the case. She said in her letter that she thought it was likely that US District Judge Dale Ho, who’s been presiding over Adams’ case, would likely insist on a lengthy and rigorous inquiry and could reject as improper any prosecution motion to dismiss.
In the Monday order over which Sassoon resigned, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the criminal case against Adams was politically motivated and was hindering the mayor’s cooperation with President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. Bove also stated in a footnote that he had said at the Jan. 31 meeting that “the government is not offering to exchange dismissal of a criminal case for Adams’ assistance on immigration enforcement.”
He further suggested that prosecutors from Sassoon’s office had subsequently acknowledged his statement. Bove repeated this claim in his letter Thursday accepting Sassoon’s resignation.
“You have also strained, unsuccessfully, to suggest that some kind of quid pro quo arises from my directive” he wrote. “This is false, as you acknowledged previously in writing.”
A Justice Department spokesman pointed to the footnote in Bove’s Monday order but declined further comment.
On Thursday, amid the drama surrounding his criminal case, Adams announced he would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into New York’s Rikers Island correctional complex. Sassoon’s resignation has spurred calls by New York Democrats for Adams to step down. US Representative Nydia Velazquez pointed to Sassoon’s letter, saying it showed an “explicit quid pro quo.”
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