It’s too bad that former Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon isn’t still working for the public. In draft materials unsealed yesterday in the Eric Adams criminal case, Sassoon’s integrity shines through as she resisted the improper scheming of the Trump-installed leaders of the Department of Justice.
Sassoon and other prosecutors in New York and D.C. resigned on principle rather than go along with the corrupt plot orchestrated by Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, Trump’s former personal criminal defense lawyer in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
The construction of Bove’s plan, with the consent of Attorney General Pam Bondi, was to ensnare Adams as the political tool of the White House by temporarily suspending the mayor’s prosecution as long he supported the Trump immigration enforcement efforts.
If Adams relented in his assistance, the prosecution could resume. That’s what the legal term “dismiss without prejudice” means: The case can be brought back. “Dismiss with prejudice” means a final and permanent end to the matter.
As Sassoon wrote in her never-sent draft to Bondi, she argued to Bove that such a temporary setting aside of the case wasn’t legitimate, but he ignored her warning: “My assessment that a judge will view a request to dismiss without prejudice with skepticism, even on the parties’ consent, was summarily dismissed, despite prior practice and precedent that merit further consideration before acting impulsively.”
Sassoon was correct, Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho is skeptical of what Bove and DOJ are trying to do. And the independent lawyer brought in by Ho to help him untangled this, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, a conservative legal All-Star, who, like Sassoon, clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, adamantly rejected the Bove concoction: Either prosecute Adams or drop the case for good, none of this temporary suspension.
Clearly, Sassoon wanted to continue the prosecution, telling Bondi that the case was solid and Bove had not pointed to any deficiencies, aside from the political considerations, which are not supposed to be a factor in who to prosecute. But Bove and Bondi had their minds set and the law didn’t matter. So out the door walked Sassoon and others lawyers with a conscience as Bove moved ahead.
The world only knows about Sassoon’s forthright draft letter to Bondi because Bove, in attempting to phony up an image of a nonexistent cabal in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office that improperly targeted Adams, selectively picked a few comments here and there from emails and text message among career prosecutors to smear them. The press made a motion to the court to unseal the full communications and Ho agreed, exposing Bove’s ploy.
There was no conspiracy to get Adams. The only conspiracy is what Bove and Bondi are engaged in, perverting a prosecution for their political gain. Adams is the one charged with a crime, but Bove and Bondi are the ones whose actions threaten the rule of law.
Alas, Sassoon is no longer there and we are stuck with Bove and Bondi running the Department of Justice.
