Dear listeners,
As you have likely read, there have been several high-profile resignations at the Department of Justice, many of them driven by Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove’s moves to dismiss the indictment of New York Mayor Eric Adams without prejudice. Bove’s explicit justification is that sparing Adams criminal prosecution — for now — would enhance his cooperation with the federal government on immigration enforcement.
This rationale — which Bove somehow insists is not a quid pro quo — was too much for Danielle Sassoon, a Federalist Society Republican and onetime protégé of Bove’s who served, very briefly, as the acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, before resigning rather than participate in the Adams dismissal. Bove’s and Sassoon’s dueling letters over the dismissal have become public, and Judge Dale Ho will hold a hearing Wednesday inquiring into prosecutors’ reason for seeking the dismissal. While some — notably including Chris Christie, the former US Attorney for New Jersey — have argued that Ho should consider refusing to dismiss the case, Ken says there is no framework for a judge to force the government to prosecute a case it wants to drop. What Ho could do, though, is insist that the dismissal be given with prejudice, meaning that Adams could never be charged again for these Turkey-related offenses, and the Trump administration would be deprived of the hammer of being able to charge him again if they become unsatisfied with his actions on immigration.
The trouble at DOJ isn’t just in New York — with Sassoon and her underlings not cooperating, Bove moved the handling of the Adams case to Main Justice, where more prosecutors in the Public Integrity unit chose to resign rather than cooperate in his efforts. And Denise Cheung, who ran the criminal prosecution unit in the US Attorney’s office in Washington D.C., also resigned rather than initiate an investigation and asset freeze ordered up by Ed Martin, actions she described in a letter — released after we taped this episode — as unsupported by evidence. Martin, the acting US Attorney who has spearheaded the efforts to protect January 6 rioters, is now Trump’s designee to become the permanent US Attorney in D.C.
That’s on our plate this week, plus:
A 30,000-foot look at the more than 75 cases currently challenging President Trump’s executive actions;
Quinn Emanuel pitbull Alex Spiro’s other big legal victory, besides getting Eric Adams off the hook: a dismissal with prejudice in the civil sex assault case against his client, Jay-Z;
Trump’s punishment of the Associated Press, and whether it creates any First Amendment claims;
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s announcement that she had filed “charges” against New York State officials, which she had not actually done;
Steve Bannon’s guilty plea in New York, and the very light punishment that came with it; and
“Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl.
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
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