On February 12, seven federal prosecutors affiliated with the Department of Justice resigned from their positions after an order from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III to dismiss federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D-NY). Across the media and political landscape, the mass exodus is being compared to the “Saturday Night Massacre” of 1973, where two senior members of the Justice Department resigned after President Nixon ordered the firing of a prosecutor who had subpoenaed tapes related to the Watergate investigation.
Bove had previously ordered the now-former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, to dismiss charges against Adams in a memorandum dated February 10, 2025. Bove compared the dismissal to the prisoner exchange of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Britney Griner in December 2022. He stated, “Accomplishing the immigration objectives established by President Trump and the Attorney General is every bit as important–if not more so–as the objectives that the prior Administration pursued by releasing violent criminals such as Viktor Bout, the ‘Merchant of Death’.”
President Trump and Bove view Adams as a key ally to the implementation of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy. Adams has allowed the administration to circumvent New York City’s status as a sanctuary city by giving ICE agents the ability to operate in the Rikers Island prison. Adams had also long been a critic of the immigration policy pursued by the Biden administration.
Sassoon responded by sending a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on February 12, 2025, in which she likened what Bove was asking her to do to “a quid pro quo, but one carried out by the White House, and not the prosecutors in charge of Bout’s case.”
Sassoon also noted Bove’s belief that the charges had merit. The letter further discussed the Justice Department’s request for dismissal without prejudice, allowing for reinstatement, as a reason why she could not dismiss the case in good faith. She then offered her resignation if Bondi continued with Bove’s directive.
Bove responded to this letter on February 13, 2025 by accepting Sassoon’s resignation and placing the Assistant United States Attorneys below her on administrative leave. Jurisdiction of the case was transferred to the Justice Department. He then turned to Hagan Scotten, an attorney that had been placed on leave, to carry out the dismissal. In response, Scotten offered a letter of resignation, stating that he was “not enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your [Bove’s] motion.”
After Bove moved jurisdiction over the case to the Justice Department’s Public Corruption unit, the acting head of the unit, John Keller, also resigned in protest. This was followed by four other resignations delivered within the department, coming from Kevin Driscoll, Rob Heberle, Jenn Clarke and Marco Palmieri.
Comparisons between the actions of Bove and Trump to those taken by President Richard Nixon to cover up the Watergate scandal in 1973 have circulated public conversation. The “Saturday Night Massacre” saw two senior Justice Department Officials resign in protest of Nixon’s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had previously subpoenaed tapes from Nixon as part of the investigation into the Watergate break-in. However, this backfired, leading to the court of public opinion flipping against Nixon, eventually culminating in his 1974 resignation from the presidential office.
Since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025, over a dozen longtime U.S. attorneys have been fired, mostly consisting of those who had been a part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team that investigated Capitol rioters from the January 6 attack. This comes on the heels of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s pledge to “fight every day to restore confidence and integrity to the Department of Justice and each of its components” during her January 15 confirmation hearing.
Most of Bondi’s work on this pledge has hinged on launching investigations into the prosecution of President Trump in his federal cases that alleged he hid classified documents and conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. This reshaping of the Justice Department follows President Trump’s messaging of pursuing “retribution,” targeting those seen as disloyal to the agenda of the Trump administration and replacing them with figures seen as better representatives, including new FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino.
It remains unclear if the Justice Department will continue to press forward with dismissing the case against Adams. His case for reelection and current immigration agenda may shift due to increased attention to the charges. Additionally, the power balance within the Department of Justice will also continue to change as new guidelines come from the executive branch over their daily operations. If past precedent indicates what the public can expect in the coming months, detailed investigations are likely to continue dominating news headlines.
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