Hundreds of former federal prosecutors, including former special counsel Jack Smith, have signed an open letter defending Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who recently resigned. They claim that the department is facing chaos under the Trump administration.
“We have watched with alarm as these values have been tested by recent actions of the Department’s leadership. Some of you have been ordered to make charging decisions based expressly on considerations other than the facts and the law, including to serve solely political purposes,” the prosecutors, some of whom previously worked for the Southern District of New York, wrote in their open letter.
“Some of you have been forced to consider whether your actions will result in the elimination of the Public Integrity Section, created in the wake of the Watergate scandal, and whose vital work is intended to protect the public from government corruption. Several of you have resigned, and others are wondering what will happen to the Department we served and revere.”
Earlier this month, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, resigned in protest following a directive from Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to dismiss a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
In a letter foreshadowing her decision, Sassoon wrote that the department was acceding to a “quid pro quo” by dropping the case to ensure Adams’s help with Trump’s immigration agenda. Adams, Trump, and other administration officials have denied those claims.
Multiple high-ranking officials who oversaw the DOJ’s public integrity section, which prosecutes corruption cases, joined Sassoon in resigning. On Feb. 14, a prosecutor involved in the Adams case, Hagan Scotten, became at least the seventh person to quit in the standoff, while Bove and department lawyers in Washington ultimately filed paperwork Friday night to end the case.
Chad Mizelle, chief of staff to the U.S. attorney general, issued a statement saying that the decision to dismiss the Adams case “is yet another indication that this DOJ will return to its core function of prosecuting dangerous criminals, not pursuing politically motivated witch hunts.”
“The fact that those who indicted and prosecuted the case refused to follow a direct command is further proof of the disordered and ulterior motives of the prosecutors,” the statement said. “Such individuals have no place at DOJ.”
“Under Mr. Williams’s direction, federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents orchestrated nearly a year’s worth of pre-indictment press leaks regarding their ‘investigation’ of Mayor Adams, the design and effect of which was to cripple Mayor Adams politically and erode the presumption of innocence to which he is entitled,” his lawyers said.
“Indeed, since Mr. Williams’s resignation, he has wasted no time publicly touting his prosecution of Mayor Adams in a thinly veiled op-ed and on his personal, made-for-the-campaign-circuit website.”
For years, Trump, who faced prosecution from Smith’s office on election and classified documents charges, has been a frequent critic of the DOJ and accused it of acting in a politicized manner to imperil his reelection chances.
In an executive order on Jan. 20, the president said he would end “the weaponization of the federal government,” including the DOJ, and made note of federal officials having “jailed an individual for posting a political meme” and for what he said was unfairly targeting of Jan. 6, 2021, defendants, while dropping cases against Black Lives Matter and left-wing rioters.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho ordered Adams and federal prosecutors to appear in court to discuss why the case was dropped. The judge quoted from one judicial opinion that said a judge must be “satisfied that the reasons advanced for the proposed dismissal are substantial” before approving a dismissal.
