I hope they're ALL scouting new jobs. The ones they have are not secure, even if they follow orders.About two dozen lawyers in the Justice Department’s public integrity section conferred on Friday morning to wrestle with a demand from a Trump political appointee that many of them viewed as improper: One of them needed to sign the official request to dismiss corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams.
The acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove III, told the shellshocked staff of the section responsible for prosecuting public corruption cases that he needed a signature on court motions. The lawyers knew that those who had already refused had resigned, and they could also be forced out.
By Friday afternoon, a veteran prosecutor in the section, Ed Sullivan, agreed to submit the request in Manhattan federal court to shield his colleagues from being fired, or resigning en masse.
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On Thursday, six lawyers — the Trump-appointed acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and five prosecutors in Washington — resigned rather than accede to Mr. Bove’s demands. On Friday, a seventh stepped down, writing in his resignation letter that only a “fool” or a “coward” would sign off on the dismissal.
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Before being summoned for the tense meeting, lawyers in the section debated their bad options, but came to increasingly believe that someone should step forward to save the jobs of the others.
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Mr. Bove, speaking on a video call, demanded that the court motions be signed within an hour.
NYT
Anathema to attorneys at the SDNY, and should be to any attorney anywhere.Mr. Bove, the filing said, “concluded that dismissal is necessary because of appearances of impropriety and risks of interference with the 2025 elections in New York City.” The stated justification was remarkable because of its acknowledgment that politics, not the evidence in the case, had played a guiding role.
The department's new leaders are incapable of being embarrassed. They've openly admitted the decision was for political reasons, not legal or factual.Lawyers in the section understand that the outcome is in many ways already determined: Judges have little discretion but to ultimately accept such a motion. Nevertheless, it appears increasingly likely that the trial judge may hold a hearing to question department officials about the decision. Such a hearing could be difficult and embarrassing for the department’s new leaders.
Part of the New Stasi regime's actions involve forcing people to do what they know is wrong or illegal in order to have them under the thumb of the regime.Part of the consideration for Justice Department lawyers is whether simply signing the document would mean risking their bar license, since major ethical objections have already been made to dropping the case.
Current and former officials praised those who had already stepped down, saying they sacrificed their livelihoods and dream jobs because they were put in an impossible position — told to do something they considered immoral, illegal or unethical.
"Right out of central casting" for mob lawyer.Obviously suggesting there would be regime lawsuits decent attorneys would disagree with.The current crisis at the Justice Department over the corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York stems partly from the particulars of the law and a recent decree from Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, a career prosecutor named Danielle R. Sassoon who had been recently elevated by the Trump administration, refused [to dismiss the case against Adams], saying she could not do something that was contrary to the facts and the law, and that was motivated by political reasons unrelated to the case. She resigned.
Mr. Bove could have then made the same demand of other prosecutors in Ms. Sassoon’s office; instead, he redirected his efforts to career staff members at Justice Department headquarters.
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As a Justice Department official, Mr. Bove could simply sign the document himself. While it would be highly unusual for someone at his level to take such a role in a criminal case, there is nothing that expressly bars him from doing so.
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For decades, department practice allowed lawyers, in rare instances, to withhold their names from filings if they strongly believed they could not make a good-faith argument.
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[AG Bondi] issued a memo last week insisting that Justice Department lawyers should be signing legal filings, telling them that withholding their names from a legal filing they disagree with could lead to punishment or dismissal.
NYT
Tom Homan and Adams were yukking it up on Fox.The memo serves as a reminder of the priorities Ms. Bondi is seeking to operate under, in which Justice Department lawyers do not question or challenge top-level directives.
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Ultimately, it will be up to the judge to decide whether to dismiss the charges, but it is very difficult for a criminal case to proceed once the prosecuting office has abandoned it.
Quite the contrary. He's Homan's - and Trump's - butt boy now.Tom Homan, the border czar tasked with overseeing President Trump’s mass deportation plan, issued a stark warning to New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) on Friday if he doesn’t “come through” on enforcing immigration policies.
Homan and Adams made a joint appearance on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” after Adams agreed to allow federal immigration officials to operate at Rikers Island — a decision signaling a change in the Big Apple’s sanctuary city policies.
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“If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we [won't] be sitting on the couch,” Homan told the Fox News panel, referring to the embattled mayor. “I’ll be in his office [up his butt] saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?"
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The border czar went on to commend Adams for granting access to Rikers, calling it “a game changer” in his effort to crackdown on illegal immigration. Homan also noted he and Adams were “working on some other things that we don’t really want to talk about, because the city council will be putting roadblocks upon us.”
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When asked whether the administration would go after politicians who “stand in the way” of such orders, Adams insisted he was collaborating with Trump’s policies and not standing in the way.
Yahoo
UPDATE 08:33 am:
UPDATE 08:44 am: Homan, also right out of central casting for mob muscle.
The folks who resigned are being referred to as The Valentine's Day Seven.
UPDATE 02/18/2025:
Brilliant.
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