Three Manhattan federal prosecutors on Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case resigned in protest Tuesday — accusing the Justice Division of pressuring them to say they regretted bringing the case.
Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom ripped DOJ Deputy Lawyer Common Todd Blanche for leaning on them to lie and “categorical remorse” in regards to the case — which charged Adams with taking journey perk bribes from Turks — with the intention to get their jobs again.
“We won’t confess wrongdoing when there was none,” the three prosecutors, who had been positioned on “administrative depart,” wrote in a scathing one-page letter obtained by The Submit.
The DOJ underneath President Trump “has determined that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our authorized and moral obligations in favor of instructions from Washington,” the prosecutors wrote.
“That’s flawed.”
The departures come after the decide in Adams’ case, Dale Ho, confused in a latest ruling that the prosecutors dealing with the case had merely been following the legislation.
“The file earlier than the Court docket signifies that the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York prosecutors who labored on this case adopted all acceptable Justice Division tips. There is no such thing as a proof — zero — that they’d any improper motives,” the decide wrote.
Rohrbach, Cohen and Wikstrom famous that they’d labored for the prestigious SDNY workplace — which is overseeing high-profile trials just like the Sean “Diddy” Combs case — underneath each Republican and Democrat presidents.
They’d been allowed to do their jobs “with out worry or favor,” they wrote.
Rohrbach was a part of the workforce that prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell, whereas Cohen dealt with a number of mob circumstances.
The resignations got here on the primary day that Trump’s decide to guide SDNY, Jay Clayton, took over on an interim foundation.
An workplace spokesman declined to remark.
5 prosecutors have now resigned from SDNY since the DOJ pushed in February to kill Adams’ case.
The then-interim SDNY head Danielle Sassoon accused the White Home in her resignation letter of understanding a crooked “quid professional quo” deal wherein Adams agreed to cater to Trump’s calls for on immigration coverage in alternate for having his case dropped.
The lead prosecutor on the Adams case, Hagan Scotten, has resigned as properly.
The transfer to quash the case was led by prime DOJ officers Blanche and Emil Bove, who previously have been Trump’s prison protection attorneys.
Adams has denied wrongdoing and has repeatedly claimed that the case in opposition to him was political retribution for talking out in opposition to President Joe Biden’s dealing with of the US border.
His camp has additionally argued that former Manhattan US Lawyer Damian Williams introduced the case to spice up his personal political profession, citing an op-ed he wrote shortly after leaving workplace.
Adams has agreed in latest weeks to resurrect the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace on Rikers Island, fulfilling a key demand made by Trump’s border czar Tom Homan.
Ho, earlier than tossing the case, wrote that the proof confirmed Trump’s DOJ had struck a political “discount” with Adams.
“Every part right here smacks of a discount: dismissal of the indictment in alternate for immigration coverage concessions,” he stated in a 78-page ruling.
— Further reporting by Joe Marino
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