Three Eric Adams prosecutors resign, say DOJ pressured them to admit wrongdoing

MANHATTAN (CN) — Three federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have resigned after refusing to admit to wrongdoing in their handling of the criminal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to a Tuesday email.

In the email, sent to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the prosecutors say they were placed on administrative leave after they bucked orders from officials in Washington to dismiss their own case against the Democratic mayor earlier this year.

“It is now clear that one of the preconditions you have placed on our returning to the office is that we must express regret and admit some wrongdoing by the office in connection with the refusal to move to dismiss the case,” wrote the three litigators. “We will not confess to wrongdoing when there was none.”

The three prosecutors — Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom — added that they have worked under both Democratic and Republican administrations in the past without issue, “advancing their priorities while pursuing justice without fear or favor.”

“Now, the department has decided that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our legal and ethical obligations in favor of directions from Washington,” they said. “That is wrong.”

The lawyers added that it was an honor to serve in the Southern District of New York, where they were afforded the opportunity to “do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons.”

“We will not abandon this principle to keep our jobs,” they said. “We resign.”

A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the Tuesday email.

Adams’ federal case has since been dismissed permanently, but not before stirring chaos and controversy in the Justice Department. To date, at least 10 federal prosecutors have resigned over the department’s controversial decision to ice its own case amid concerns of an exchange of favors between Adams and the Trump administration.

Among those to resign was Danielle Sassoon, who had been serving as the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York until top Justice Department officials told prosecutors to dismiss the case against Adams in February.

In her resignation letter, Sassoon claimed that negotiations between Adams’ lawyers and top officials in the Justice Department “amounted to a quid pro quo” in which the mayor would cooperate with federal deportation efforts in exchange for the dismissal of his indictment.

President Donald Trump’s former criminal defense attorney Emil Bove, who is now a top official at the Justice Department, was the apparent ringleader behind forcing prosecutors to drop the case. Bove assured a federal judge on Feb. 19 that there was “no quid pro quo” behind those efforts, but a number of top prosecutors resigned over those concerns nonetheless.

Bove and the Justice Department sought to dismiss the case without prejudice, claiming that the case should be able to be brought again in the future only after Adams completes his reelection campaign for mayor later this year.

But U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, a Joe Biden appointee, elected to drop the case permanently, citing fears that the government could dangle the criminal charges over Adams’ head to force him to cooperate with federal policy initiatives.

The fallout from the debacle didn’t just strike the Justice Department; it also hit Adams’ own administration. Four top City Hall officials resigned after Bove ordered the case dismissed over concerns that the mayor would now be beholden to Trump.

Adams’ political rhetoric has taken a rightward turn this year. He hawked a book by Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel at a press conference earlier this month, and announced that he would be running his 2025 reelection campaign as an independent — not a Democrat.

Adams became the first New York City mayor to face federal charges after he was slapped with a five-count indictment in September 2024. The former NYPD captain was accused of accepting and concealing illegal campaign contributions from Turkish businessmen and a government official in exchange for Adams’ political influence in New York City.

Prosecutors said that Adams pressured the New York City Fire Department to rush the safety approval of the Turkish consulate building in Manhattan in exchange for gifts and favors.

He was also accused of defrauding a city program that matches small-dollar donations during his first mayoral campaign and has been barred from using the program again in his reelection bid.

Follow @Uebey Follow @uebey.bsky.social