Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho did the only right thing yesterday in permanently dismissing the criminal case against Eric Adams. Ho could have done so in a sentence, but he wrote 78 pages tearing apart the corrupt plot of the Trump Justice Department, which wanted to create a mayoral hostage to follow their immigration enforcement crackdown or otherwise face the risk of having the prosecution resume.
Adams is now free to go, but not truly exonerated from the underlying charges and very badly wounded politically as petitions to run in the Democratic primary are due by midnight tonight. But far worse than his situation, the whole country has to suffer through the next 46 months of having a corrupt as well as grossly incompetent Department of Justice.
Donald Trump complains about weaponization of government? He just tried it and was thwarted by Ho. If Trump wanted to relieve Adams from his criminal indictment, the president could simply have pardoned the mayor, instead his henchman Emil Bove concocted a scheme to temporarily suspend the case against Adams provided the mayor went along with the Trump immigration agenda. And Bove even put his reasons into writing.
The career professionals at the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, led by Acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, refused, as Bove’s plan was a perversion of the government’s power to prosecute for partisan political ends. Rather than obey, Sassoon honorably resigned as did other lawyers in Manhattan and Washington. Bove finally found someone willing to sign the papers.
Ho explains all of this in full, giving little credibility to Bove’s stated reasons for the suspension of the prosecution. No, the charges were not brought on by a politically motivated prior U.S. attorney. No, the timing of last September’s indictment was not too close to this year’s mayoral election and no, helping the White House with an unrelated policy matter is not a legitimate reason to dump a prosecution.
The judge was direct: “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”
Indeed, the judge agreed more with the arguments presented by outside parties who filed briefs that the case should continue. “The court is largely persuaded by the merits of amici’s various criticisms of DOJ’s rationales,” Ho wrote. But that didn’t matter, as Ho conceded that “a court cannot force the Department of Justice to prosecute a defendant.” The executive’s decision to prosecute or not lies strictly with the executive.
As for a temporary suspension of the case, as Bove wanted, or just killing the case for good, which was counseled by Paul Clement, the independent lawyer brought in by the judge, Ho refused Bove’s request. The case is over and these charges cannot be brought back by DOJ.
The judge saw clearly what Bove and DOJ were attempting. He wrote: “The breathtaking implications of DOJ’s position — which were apparently well-understood by the numerous attorneys who resigned rather than sign this motion — are difficult to square with the words engraved above the front entrance of the United States Supreme Court: ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’ ”
Thankfully, Ho, like all federal judges, has lifetime tenure to protect justice, as this DOJ won’t.
