3 Prosecutors Resign Under Pressure to Express Wrongdoing for Opposing Dismissal of Charges Against Eric Adams

Federal prosecutors Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom resigned after being placed on administrative leave for refusing to sign a motion to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

At least 10 other federal prosecutors resigned when the demand was being made.

In a letter from these three prosecutors to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, they wrote:

It is now clear that one of the preconditions you have placed on our returning to the Office is that we must express regret and admit some wrongdoing by the Office in connection with the refusal to move to dismiss the case. We will not confess wrongdoing where there was none.

They went on to write:

Now, the Department has decided that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our legal and ethical obligations in favor of directions from Washington. That is wrong.

Earlier, when the acting head of the federal court Danielle Sassoon resigned rather than sign the motion to drop the case, she asserted the Department of Justice and lawyers for Adams made “what amounted to a quid pro quo” deal to drop the charges in return for Adams’ cooperation with immigration agents. Sassoon was a Trump appointee.

The DOJ got the motion signed by putting remaining attorneys in a room and promising to fire all of them unless at least one agreed to sign. When the motion was signed and presented to the judge presiding over the case, the judge dismissed it but did so with prejudice. The DOJ had asked for dismissal without prejudice, which would allow the charges to be revived. The judge explicitly said he dismissed the case with prejudice so the DOJ would not be able to hold potential resurrection of the charges over Adams for leverage.

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