A New York lawmaker is calling on NYC Mayor Eric Adams to resign after an order by Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss corruption charges against him triggered a series of resignations in protest.
Concretely, State Senator Mike Gianaris said that "the last thing the people of New York want is for our city to turn into an annex of the Trump administration, yet that's exactly what is happening."
"Eric Adams is clearly compromised and can no longer be considered the legitimate leader of our city. He must step down or be removed," Gianaris added in a publication on X.
The last thing the people of New York want is for our city to turn into an annex of the Trump administration, yet that's exactly what is happening. Eric Adams is clearly compromised and can no longer be considered the legitimate leader of our city. He must step down or be removed
— Sen. Mike Gianaris (@SenGianaris) February 14, 2025
At least six senior Justice Department officials, including Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, have resigned so far as a result of the developments, choosing that option rather than complying with the Justice Department's order.
"The number of resignations today in protest of DoJ's order to dismiss the Adams case is now triple the number that occurred during the 1973 Saturday Night Massacre," said NBC News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent Ken Dilanian, quoting his colleague Ryan J. Reilly. "There is shock and dismay across the legal community, regardless of partisan allegiance." He was making reference to the event in which President Richard Nixon's Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General resigned over the dismissal of special prosecutor Archibald Cox that took place in the United States Department of Justice during the infamous Watergate scandal.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who had been temporarily leading the prosecution of Adams, was among those who stepped down. In a scathing resignation letter, Sassoon stated that dismissing the charges in return for Adams' assistance on immigration policy would be "improper."
Sassoon accused the department of agreeing to a "quid pro quo," which entailed dropping the case to get Adams' help with Trump's immigration crackdown in exchange. "I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached," Sassoon wrote in a passage of the letter addressed at Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a former personal criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump, had issued the order for dismissal on Monday, citing concerns that the case against Adams amounted to "weaponization" of the justice system. Bove's memo to Sassoon emphasized that her office had no authority to challenge this determination and warned that the Justice Department would not tolerate "insubordination."
John Keller, the acting head of the Public Integrity Section, and Kevin Driscoll, the acting head of the department's criminal division, which oversees national federal criminal cases, followed Sassoon by resigning. Three deputies—Rob Heberle, Jenn Clarke, and Marco Palmieri—resigned as well. .
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