In flagrante delicto: DOJ Thursday Night Massacre over Eric Adams corruption case

This story begins with the nasty habit of New York City's mayors getting questionable campaign donations and periodically attracting law enforcement attention and ends with all the principled attorneys left in the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York's (SDNY) office resigning to what is the most glaring incident of Department of Justice corruption anyone can seem to recall.

It's notable in the era of Trump for being out in the open. In pardoning every corrupt politician or businessperson regardless of party, Trump has long wanted it known that corruption is not a crime in his regime (pardoning/commuting the sentences of 15 corrupt politicians on his way out of office).

So following the Eric Adams indictment for taking bribes from the Turkish government (see below), it was expected there would be a dismissal or pardon for sale.

At that point, Adams had begun discussions with the newly-installed CBP leadership on what we all assumed would be a subtle case of accommodation corruption, where in exchange for betraying his office and constituents on immigration policy, Adams would escape his indictment. Generally, prosecutors have absolute discretion over such things, and the obvious allegations of corruption are impossible to prove.

So it was no great shock when this DOJ memo came out ordering SDNY to dismiss the case. But the memo was remarkable in several ways that made any lawyer who read it wonder why it spelled out a quid-pro-quo in terms no parties to an agreement of this nature would ever put in writing. In particular it:

doesn't dismiss the charges fully, but dismisses them without prejudice to potentially be filed at a future date

sets that date after the next mayoral election

waxes on quite a bit about the policy expectations for Adams regarding immigration policy

goes out of its way to deny the obvious offense it represents, stating in footnote 1 that: Your Office correctly noted in a February 3 , 2025 memorandum,"as Mr. Bove clearly stated to defense counsel during our meeting [on January 31, 2025], the Government is not offering to exchange dismissal of a criminal case for Adams's assistance on immigration enforcement."

At this point, everyone in the legal profession knows this is what it bizarrely denies to be - a dismissal for sale. But it might not have gone further. People committed to anti-corruption and the rule of law under the Constitution rightly horrified, everyone else not caring what our soap-opera oligarchs do, and Adams having 10 months to perform like a trained seal for his freedom in the currency of lawless performative cruelty.

And that's when the resignations started. First, Danielle Sassoon, a Scalia clerk and noted conservative appointed as acting US Attorney just three weeks prior by Trump. But the first letter to surface was a completely unhinged letter from the Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

Here, we see a few common elements with communication in the second Trump term. The abuse of administrative leave to sideline critics, a distinctly non-lawyerly tone laced with anger/contempt, and very bizarre arguments that simply wouldn't be considered valid to anyone with legal training, principally organized around some amorphous idea of weaponization of law enforcement - a fairly common kook lie you'll see covered here.

And even then, this might have come to nothing, had we not seen the letter that triggered this vituperative lunacy. And of course, tucked in the footnote of that letter was a bombshell - a first-hand account of a criminal conspiracy to corruptly procure a dismissal involving Emil Bove.

This led at least one commenter to label Bove "Third Stringer Bell." This letter came with the revelation of a "Thursday Night Massacre" at SDNY. In particular, Sassoon and here fellow prosecutors, who had been preparing a superseding indictment covering destruction of evidence and inducing others to lie to the FBI, had resigned. Further, the acting head of the public corruption unit who was given the case after Sassoon's resignation also refused to dismiss the charge and resigned. Three other deputies also resigned over the corrupt order, leading to six resignations.

As more details emerged, it became clear the Emil Bove actively engaged in criminal behavior with Eric Adams and his attorneys, though what this will amount to under the current state of Constitutional collapse is uncertain at best.

This is notable not only for involving Trump appointees refusing to carry out corrupt or lawless orders, but for how brazen a case of corruption it is. Normally, DAG Bove and AG Bondi would both be resigning in disgrace, but our current state of constitutional and institutional collapse in the face of kook vandalism leaves the outcome here uncertain. Certainly Judge Dale Ho will have some thoughts once Bove finds someone to file what can now only be described after the Sassoon letter as a motion to get oneself disbarred. While judges have historically not seen fit to proceed with prosecutions absent executive branch involvement, Donziger v. United States does provide a fascinating framework in which a judge appointed private attorneys to prosecute criminal contempt charges.

This has had the side effect of increasing pressure on New York Governor Hochul, who strangely has the sole power under the New York City Charter Section 9 to remove the mayor for any cause. If so removed, the office would then fall to the Public Advocate under Section 10, Jumani Williams. This is hardly an ideal arrangement, since having the City Council remove the mayor would be considered more acceptable in American political norms. However, the governor's attitude has shifted from calling the removal "undemocratic" to "consulting with other leaders."

And what of the folks left at DOJ? Well, much like myself, they seem to value the rule of law and don't much like the kooks, vandals, and traitors wandering all over the government.

On Friday February 14, another resignation came, this time from Hagan Scotten, a former Kavanaugh clerk. One has to admire the high ethics, but one also has to wonder how the release of the Sassoon letter, which clearly lays out a series of extremely serious crimes and open corruption, influenced the decision of people on the fence who also value staying in the legal profession.

"If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then 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." – AUSA Hagan Scotten, SDNY.

And The Band Played On

Friday morning brought the number of resignations to 7 and DOJ still without a lawyer who would file a dismissal motion that seems certain to see their bar license called into question for what looks to all the world like a series of felonies.

While DOJ lawyers are considering their legal, ethical, and patriotic duties, Eric Adams and Tom Homan pop onto Fox to make extra sure that the entire world knows this was a quid pro quo and that they had an agreement:

Eventually, 2 DOJ attorneys out of 2 dozen or so end up taking the poison chalice in hand to save the jobs of their coworkers, albeit with some procedural concessions they are hoping may save their licenses to practice law.

The final result is this fascinating document, featuring a "wet" signature from Bove, the significance of which ends up showing a sort of compromise between the line prosecutors under duress and their political appointee taking some responsibility for the inevitable consequences.

It's hard to predict anything with the situation the US legal system finds itself in currently, but a few possibilities jump out:

1. Judge Ho goes absolutely nuclear over what amounts to a fraud on the court in the commission of several felonies, and drags Bove in to testify
2. Judge Ho (to no avail whatsoever) refers the blatant commission of crimes of the DOJ, as would have been customary in the before times
3. Judge Ho avails himself of the precedent in Donziger v. United States and appoints a private prosecutor to pursue criminal corruption charges
4. The prominent attorneys who resigned (and many others) seek the disbarment of one or more DOJ officials in New York/DC and of the Musk/Adams lawyers who explicitly made this corrupt bargain (and probably get it, given the repeated statement of criminal acts and intent)
5. New York Governor Kathy Hochul removes Adams in the face of this blatant corruption