So, like, three prosecutors decided to quit their jobs instead of admitting they messed up after getting suspended for their role in the federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to a letter from NBC News. Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach, and Derek Wikstrom, who were assistant U.S. attorneys, got suspended because they didn’t want to be part of dropping the charges against Adams. A judge permanently dropped the case so it couldn’t be used to pressure Adams into cooperating with the Trump administration’s immigration plans.
This whole corruption mess with Adams, who started as a Democrat but is now running for re-election as an independent, caused a big headache for the Justice Department when Trump first took office, leading to a bunch of lawyers quitting. The former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle R. Sassoon, also resigned in protest. The judge made it clear that the charges against Adams can’t be brought back, but didn’t say if he was innocent or guilty.
Sassoon claimed Adams’ lawyers wanted a shady deal, but that was denied by Adams’ lawyer and the acting deputy attorney general. Another former assistant U.S. Attorney called the reason for dropping the case “weak and obvious.” With these latest resignations, a total of 10 lawyers have now left the Justice Department over the Adams case. The three lawyers who just quit said they were told to say sorry and admit they messed up to come back to work, which they weren’t cool with.
The Deputy Attorney General said it was totally fine to drop the case against Adams, and anyone saying otherwise, especially former prosecutors, is just plain wrong. The three resigning lawyers said they wouldn’t admit to doing something wrong when they didn’t, and they won’t give up their ethics for a job. They basically said, “Bye, Felicia” to the Justice Department.
