Adams Prosecutors Resign, Saying DOJ Asked Them to ‘Confess’ (1)

Three federal prosecutors who worked on the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams resigned over what they characterized as Justice Department demands that they express regret and “confess” wrongdoing.

Assistant Manhattan US Attorneys Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom were previously put on administrative leave after the Trump administration sought to end the Adams case, claiming it was interfering with the mayor’s cooperation on immigration enforcement. A number of other federal prosecutors already resigned rather than follow orders to drop the case.

Cohen, Rohrbach and Wikstrom wrote in a Tuesday letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that it had become clear to them that admitting wrongdoing in connection with the refusal to drop the case had become a precondition to their returning to work.

“We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none,” the prosecutors wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. They said they had served under presidents from both parties and had pursued justice “without fear or favor.”

Eric Adams during a House Oversight and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on March 5.

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Another prosecutor who worked on the case, Hagan Scotten, resigned in February, as did their former boss, interim Manhattan US Attorney Danielle Sassoon. Both issued letters sharply criticizing Trump Justice Department officials for seeking to drop the case against Adams for political reasons. Cohen, Rohrback and Wikstrom made similar criticisms.

“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 wrote. “That is wrong.”

Blanche said in a statement: “There was nothing ‘illegal’ or ‘unethical’ about the Department of Justice dismissing the flawed prosecution against Mayor Adams. Any suggestion to the contrary by anybody, especially former federal prosecutors, is wrong and disingenuous.”

US District Judge Dale Ho earlier this month dismissed the Adams case permanently, but he also harshly criticized the Justice Department’s maneuvering, saying it “smacks of a bargain,” and defended the line prosecutors.

“There is no evidence — zero — that they had any improper motives,” Ho wrote in his decision.

Adams, 64, was charged in September with accepting illegal campaign contributions as well as luxury travel upgrades in return for political favors, dating back to when he was Brooklyn borough president. The mayor, a Democrat who is now seeking reelection as an independent, pleaded not guilty and claimed he was being politically targeted over his criticisms of the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

The resignations came on the same day that Trump’s pick to be Manhattan US attorney, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, began work. Clayton is serving on an interim basis after US Senator Chuck Schumer said he would block his confirmation.

(Updates with comment by Blanche.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net;
Ava Benny-Morrison in New York at abennymorris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anthony Lin at alin364@bloomberg.net

Anthony Aarons

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