Three prosecutors in corruption case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams resign

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The three remaining federal prosecutors who brought criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams resigned in protest on Tuesday, saying the Justice Department pressured them to admit wrongdoing when they refused to drop the case, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

“It is now clear that one of the preconditions you have placed on our returning to the office is that we must express regret and admit some wrongdoing,” the three prosecutors wrote in their letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none.”

The three assistant U.S. attorneys – Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom – were all previously placed on administrative leave after they refused orders by Blanche’s office to dismiss the charges against Adams.

All five of the prosecutors who were originally involved in the prosecution out of the New York Office, including former Acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, have resigned in protest, along with at least six career attorneys in Washington who were also pressured to drop the case.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, declined to comment.

A spokesman for Blanche’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Justice Department’s efforts to dismiss the Adams case started in February, sparking a wave of resignations and raising concerns among career prosecutors about whether the request was improperly motivated by politics.

Emil Bove, who at the time was serving as Acting Deputy Attorney General, told department officials he viewed the case as an example of “weaponization” of the justice system, and said it would also preclude the mayor from helping the administration with its immigration priorities.

Bove at the time pressured Justice Department prosecutors to sign the motion seeking dismissal of the Adams charges. The attorney who did so now heads the department’s public integrity unit, three people familiar with the matter said.

That unit, which handles many of the country’s most politically sensitive prosecutions, has been cut back sharply from its prior staffing levels, the three people said.

A federal judge dismissed the charges earlier this month and simultaneously criticized the Justice Department for its reasoning, saying its request to drop the case so that Adams could assist the Trump administration’s immigration agenda “smacks of a bargain.”

Adams, 64, pleaded not guilty last September to charges of accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials in exchange for favors, including pressuring fire officials to let Turkey open a new Manhattan consulate despite safety concerns.

The case has been a flashpoint in campaigning for New York City’s mayoral election in November, where the unpopular mayor faces an uphill battle for a second term.

A Quinnipiac University poll released on March 5 found only one in five New York City voters approved of Adams’ job performance, and 56% thought he should resign.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Chris Reese, Bill Berkrot and Michael Perry)