Eric Adams, the ex-cop and former Brooklyn borough president who squeaked into his job as mayor of New York City, is now the most prominent test case for whether Donald Trump and his lackeys in the Department of Justice can fully corrupt the federal judicial system and remake the rule of law in America.
On Thursday, the prosecutor in charge of Adams's corruption case, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Danielle Sassoon, resigned rather than accede to the Trump administration's demands to drop the charges against the mayor.
Hours after her departure, the Times obtained a bombshell letter Sassoon sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday, in which she explicitly said that the Trump administration was trying to use Adams as a pawn to advance the president's interests, and that Adams and his celebrity attorney, Alex Spiro, offered to cooperate with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement in exchange for the charges being dropped during a meeting in Washington, D.C. late last year.
"Adams's attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the department's enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed," Sassoon wrote.