- Manhattan US Attorney Danielle Sassoon refused to obey order
- Order was seen as a challenge to prosecutors’ independence
Manhattan’s chief federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department officials in Washington resigned rather than carry out an order to drop a corruption case against New York City Mayor
Interim Manhattan US Attorney
“I understand my duty as a prosecutor to mean enforcing the law impartially, and that includes prosecuting a validly returned indictment regardless whether its dismissal would be politically advantageous, to the defendant or to those who appointed me,” Sassoon wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
Sassoon’s move set off a string of resignations in both New York and Washington. Meanwhile, her letter, in which she raised concerns that Adams and the Trump administration had engaged in an improper “
Bove accepted Sassoon’s resignation in his own letter Thursday, accusing her of insubordination and saying that the case was being reassigned to the Justice Department. Leaders in Washington in charge of corruption investigations, including John Keller, who was acting chief of the public integrity section, and Kevin Driscoll who was the criminal division’s deputy assistant attorney general, also resigned after being asked to take over the case, according to people familiar with the matter.
One of the Manhattan prosecutors directly handling the Adams case resigned as well. In a fiery letter to Bove,
“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,” wrote Scotten, a former clerk to US Supreme Court Justice
Some of Keller and Driscoll’s top deputies were leaving as well, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the personnel moves. It wasn’t immediately clear who would be leading the unit. In New York, Assistant US Attorney Matthew Podolsky was put in charge on an acting basis, a spokesman for the office said.
Podolsky could remain in that position until the president’s nominee for US Attorney, former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Jay Clayton, is confirmed by the Senate. The department had not yet asked the court to dismiss the case against Adams, and it’s unclear who the Justice Department will find to carry out Bove’s orders.
The department didn’t respond to questions about who is replacing the senior officials who resigned in Washington, or who would now handle the Adams case. The prosecutors who resigned in Washington don’t need to be nominated by the White House and could be replaced by the attorney general.
The tumultuous day underscores how the Trump administration’s new priorities continued to cause upheaval across the Justice Department, rattling the ranks of veteran law enforcement officials.
Sassoon, Keller and Driscoll all declined to comment on Thursday. A Justice Department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Monday’s directive prompted a
Bove made clear in his letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg News, that the Southern District was “not exempted” from a memo threatening discipline or termination to federal prosecutors who refused to advance the administration’s agenda.
The departures also raise doubts about whether the Adams prosecution can be quickly put aside. Sassoon said in her letter that she thought it was likely that US District Judge
Adams, 64, was charged in September with accepting illegal campaign donations and taking luxury travel upgrades in exchange for political favors to the Turkish government. The mayor, a Democrat, pleaded not guilty and has argued that he was targeted due to his criticisms of then-President
In recent months, Adams had been courting Trump, meeting with the president at his Mar-a-Lago compound, and attending his inauguration. Trump in turn has endorsed Adams’ claims of being politically targeted and previously suggested he might pardon Adams.
In his letter, Bove accused Sassoon of inappropriately recommending that the president do exactly that.
“Your suggestion that President Trump should issue a pardon to Mayor Adams reveals that your office’s insubordination is little more than a preference to avoid a duty that you regard as unpleasant and politically inconvenient,” he wrote.
When asked about Sassoon’s resignation and whether he had personally asked the Justice Department to drop the case, Trump said on Thursday “I know nothing about it,” before turning back around and saying “that US attorney was actually fired.”
Sassoon, 38, was elevated to the position of Manhattan’s chief federal prosecutor shortly after Trump’s inauguration. A seasoned assistant US attorney in the office, she also had conservative credentials as a member of the
Her stance won praise Thursday from a number of former Southern District prosecutors.
“Danielle Sassoon’s decision to resign is historic and reaffirms that SDNY views itself as independent of politics,” said Josh Naftalis, a former Southern District colleague of hers. “She is a Republican but doesn’t want to be in the middle of this and showed that the institution doesn’t want to be pulled into the middle.”
Carrie Cohen, another veteran of the office, agreed. “It sends a very strong message,” she said of Sassoon’s resignation.
But Bove, who is also a former Southern District prosecutor, took a different view.
“You lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the Department of Justice by suggesting that you retain discretion to interpret the Constitution in a manner inconsistent with the policies of a democratically elected president and a Senate-confirmed attorney general,” he wrote to Sassoon.
(Updates with additional detail from Sassoon letter. A previous version of this story corrected the spelling of Adams in second and 16th paragraphs.)
--With assistance from
To contact the reporters on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, Sara Forden
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Learn more about Bloomberg Law or Log In to keep reading:
Learn About Bloomberg Law
AI-powered legal analytics, workflow tools and premium legal & business news.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools.