It all began when Bove, as authorized by Attorney General Pam Bondi, directed Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon to dismiss the federal indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The Biden Justice Department had indicted Adams on a somewhat questionable bribery charge after he had voiced public criticism of President Biden’s policies on illegal immigration.
When he assumed office, President Donald Trump issued an order to de-weaponize the Justice Department, which had engaged in lawfare against him for years. In the spirit of this order, Bove—while not addressing the merits of Adams’ prosecution or impugning the integrity of the prosecutors—ordered the dismissal without prejudice, meaning charges can be brought in the future.
Bove provided two rationales for the decision. First, the indictment reasonably could be viewed as interfering with the November 2025 mayoral election in which Adams is a candidate. Second, the indictment would hinder Adams’ ability to assist the Trump administration in its illegal immigration enforcement activities. Bove ordered, for instance, that Adams’ security clearances be restored. Bove made clear that the Trump Justice Department and Adams had not bargained to dismiss the indictment in exchange for Adams’ assistance. Adams and his counsel agreed to the dismissal without prejudice, and the unopposed motion awaits a ruling by Manhattan U.S. District Judge Dale Ho.
Even though it called for no improper action by government attorneys, such as lying to the court, Bove’s directive set off a firestorm. Sassoon resigned and wrote a letter in which she asserted that dismissing the indictment would be contrary to the rule of law. She cited her clerkship for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She also clerked for Judge J. Harvey Wilkinson of the Fourth Circuit, and the media made sure to publish Wilkinson’s praise of Sassoon’s integrity in order to bash the Trump administration.
Half a dozen other prosecutors under Sassoon refused to dismiss the indictment and resigned. One, Hagan Scotten, used the terms “fool” and “coward” to describe anyone who would file the motion to dismiss the indictment. The media made sure to point out that Scotten had received a Bronze Star and that he had clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts and then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh, now an associate Supreme Court justice. These points are irrelevant, because what happened here was simple. Bove, acting under Bondi’s direction, issued a lawful order that many subordinates refused to obey. The Department of Justice Manual, Section 9-2.001, decrees that “[t]he United States Attorney . . . has plenary authority with regard to federal criminal matters. This authority is exercised under the supervision and direction of the Attorney General and his/her delegates.”
Former President Obama won a decisive victory in 2008, including a 10-point win in Pennsylvania. Still, the Bush 43 Justice Department filed charges against several members of the New Black Panther Party who allegedly had intimidated voters and poll workers at polling places. Kristen Clarke, who later headed the Civil Rights Division under President Biden, lobbied vigorously and successfully for the Obama Justice Department to drop the charges. This political decision sparked no outrage or letters of resignation from career prosecutors. No media howls erupted.
Here, President Trump’s political appointees issued a lawful and ethical order that two career Justice Department prosecutors—apparently fools or cowards in Scotten’s view—signed. Spoiled-brat bureaucrats refused to obey the directive, believing they knew better. Sassoon, for instance, argued there was no reasonable basis to dismiss the case. That is not her call; the President and his appointees determine what is in the best interest of the nation, not bureaucrats.
Now these miscreants find themselves deservedly out of jobs, soon to be replaced by federal prosecutors who will obey lawful orders because of an understanding that President Trump and his political appointees make these decisions, not career bureaucrats. That is the way our representative democracy works. President Trump does not threaten our democracy; the insubordinate bureaucrats who are attempting to thwart him do.
To these insubordinates, good riddance, for you no longer reign over what you view as the “Sovereign District of New York.” Career federal prosecutors in SDNY are learning the hard way that they report to the deputy attorney general, who reports to the attorney general, who reports to the president. Any other way proves we have a deep state, which too many pretend is a conspiracy theory.
