The federal prosecutors in Manhattan who had been involved in #EricAdams’s case sent a letter to Judge Ho Friday evening indicating they were withdrawing from the case. They included #HaganScotten, the lead prosecutor who resigned from #SDNY in protest of #EmilBove’s order to drop charges, & 3 others: Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach & Derek Wikstrom.

#HaganScotten

https://bsky.app/profile/cdarwin.bsky.social/post/3li5ogg72uk2q

In his #resignation letter, #HaganScotten wrote that any federal prosecutor “would know that our laws & traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.” He added: “If no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”

#law #DOJ #Trump #EmilBove #EricAdams

“In short, the first justification for the motion—that Damian Williams’s role in the case somehow tainted a valid indictment supported by ample evidence, & pursued under four different US attys—is so weak as to be transparently pretextual….”

The 2nd justification, #HaganScotten writes, was worse. “No system of ordered liberty can allow the govt to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected ofcl to support its policy objectives.”

#HaganScotten served 3 combat tours in Iraq as a Special Forces officer, graduated from Harvard Law School & clerked for #SCOTUS Chief Justice #JohnRoberts. In his scathing #resignation letter, he expresses disdain for the justifications #EmilBove III, a top #DOJ official, presented for dismissing the case, including some involving US Atty Damian Williams.

“Some will view the mistake you are committing here in the light of their generally negative views of the new administration. I do not share those views. I can even understand how a chief executive whose background is in business & politics might see the contemplated dismissal-with-leverage as a good, if distasteful, deal.” But any such arrangement would be contrary to the #law, #HaganScotten wrote.

More #DOJ #resignations after #Trump dpty AG #EmilBove order to drop #EricAdams case:

#HaganScotten, a #conservative #Republican who led the investigation into Adams since its inception in 2021 & headed the team that was preparing for the trial, alluded to his own political views in his resignation letter Fri.