Updated Feb 14, 2025 - Politics & Policy

READ: Prosecutors' resignation letters after refusing to drop Eric Adams case

April Rubin

Eric Adams walks outside with people surrounding him — New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks with members of the media as he arrives for an Adult Town Hall at Sunnyside Community Services Older Adult Center on Feb. 12 in Queens, New York City. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Another prosecutor in New York on the Eric Adams corruption case quit Friday in a scathing letter addressed to the Trump administration after the No. 2 acting Justice Department official earlier this week ordered charges against the mayor be dropped.

Why it matters: Several of the prosecutors — including a Trump appointee who previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — have derided the Justice Department's directive as skirting the law.

"I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion," Hagan Scotten, assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote on Friday. "But it was never going to be me."
At least five other people involved in the case have resigned.

Between the lines: Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove warned prosecutors that they could be fired if one didn't agree to file a motion dismissing charges, Reuters reported.

Read the full letter from Scotten, who was assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

He resigned on Friday.

Read the full letter from Danielle Sassoon, who was interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

She resigned on Thursday.

Read Acting Deputy Attorney General Bove's Thursday response to Sassoon's resignation.

Go deeper: 3 federal prosecutors resign after DOJ order to drop NYC mayor's case

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional context and response.

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READ: Prosecutors' resignation letters after refusing to drop Eric Adams case

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