Trump owns New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Got him by the “short curlies” to use a more polite expression. Today the firestorm over the dismissal of the criminal case of Mayor Eric Adams grew with yet another prosecutor that worked on the case resigning. The most stunning resignation was that of Danielle Sassoon who WAS Acting U.S. Attorney for the famed SDNY. I’ll talk more about her in a bit, but for those not fully informed on this matter SDNY had Adams cold. Probably the best he could have done was cut a deal. However his city became a focus of Trump’s immigration wars. When Trump toady, Emil Bove (more like Emile ‘Mad Bovine’ ordered a motion to dismiss the charges it had those key words “Without Prejudice” which means the Justice Dept. can refile charges anytime it wants! Practically speaking it’s a “Do whatever Trump wants or we’ll make sure you go to jail” legal statement.
I’ll admit to being slow on the uptake in the initial dismay over the dismissal of the charges and the part about the dismissal being “Without Prejudice.” Well, I sure as hell know now and it’s now being talked about ‘bigly’ and openly by journalists. An article from Alternet makes clear its a blatant quid pro quo. We dismiss the charges but if you don’t do exactly what Trump wants and as fast as you can you’ll be a defendant again in the blink of an eye.
Adams tried sucking up to Trump, and since the case was federal Trump could simply have pardoned him with a quiet (You owe me now) but two things. That’s not Trump’s style. Ritual public humiliation of someone he’s co-opted is. Second, Adams would be far more useful right where he is. Carrying out Trump’s orders regarding rounding up immigrants (and legal won’t factor in much in many cases) in the media hub of the country. LOTS of attention. However I saw Al Sharpton a little while ago bring up something else. He pointed out Trump’s hurt fee-fees over never having been accepted by his home city’s Elites.
So publicly making Adams his puppet feels good but Sharpton said there is plenty more people haven’t thought about. Like financial and real estate wheeling and dealing. And who knows what else? Adams is in a position as Mayor to grease a lot of wheels for Trump and now he knows he’s got no choice but to do so. Also, given the way this has all gone down Adams is going to be under a glaring and harsh spotlight. EVERY action he takes supportive of Trump is going to draw outrage from most New Yorkers. He might want to try and talk his new boss Trump into getting a “Gracie Mansion” suite and office down at Mar A Lago!
Anyway, to say all this has ignited a firestorm isn’t hyperbole. The dismissal motion didn’t even pretend to try to explain away how such a solid case against Adams should be dismissed. It was purely a matter of in nice legal language telling the judge ‘DOJ is dropping the whole thing. No one will be here on behalf of the federal government to continue the case.’ SDNY has often been referred to with an extra S in those initials, as in the ‘Sovereign Southern District of New York.’ It’s not been far off the mark. So large and powerful they are a mini-DOJ themselves and Actual U.S. Attorney Generals have rarely gotten involved in their work. In the few instances where it’s happened it’s classic ‘brown organic matter meets rotary oscillator’ time. (Okay – the Sh*t hits the Fan)
That brings me to why what happened this week is being compared to the infamous Saturday Night Massacre during the Watergate investigation. Nixon realized how deep the trouble he was in actually was, and decided to fire the Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Except his AG was a man of principle who believed in the rule of law and refused. So did others high up in the DOJ until Robert Bork, yes THAT Robert Bork agreed to do the deed. Being Bork he reneged on the agreement with others. He was supposed to resign after carrying out the firing but instead stayed right where he was! That’s another, longer story.
The point here is that in this second Trump administration accepting a job, especially a high level one (like running SDNY) means pledging fealty to Trump. Danielle Sassoon is no Alina Habba. Nope. She’s high caliber. Federalist Society to the core. B.A. from Harvard (magna cum laude) and J.D. from Yale. Oh, she also clerked for Anton Scalia. In other words there’s a reason she took major roles in major prosecutions at SDNY, even back when Preet Bahara was in charge. Given her conservative credentials and being fully Federalist Society groomed and approved she’s about the last person you’d expect to do what she did.
Sassoon didn’t just resign. She did so in an eight page letter that laid out what Alternet described as a rock solid case against Adams. In any administration that would be a huge deal but to call out TRUMP that way? Five other top prosecutors in the office joined her in leaving and yes, the whole thing has turned into ongoing news. Today yet another top prosecutor also publicly resigned. This isn’t going away. In part because Alternet’s allegation of a quid pro quo between Trump and Adams has some new weight thanks to idiot Thom Homan shooting off his mouth on the air on Fox News:
President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, appeared on Fox News with Eric Adams on Friday morning in a lighthearted yet pointed exchange. As the pair and the hosts laughed, Homan made it clear that the deal struck with the New York City mayor comes with specific obligations for Adams. After Homan’s remarks aired, some critics argued that his comments suggest an explicit — and potentially unlawful — quid pro quo.
“If he doesn’t come through,” Homan chortled — but in what some viewed as a clear on-camera warning — “I’ll be back in New York City. And we won’t just be sitting on the couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, demanding, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we made?’”
They can and of course will try to spin this as “joking” but come on! If things are being talked about like that at the highest levels of the Trump administration, if they are comfortable enough with what they know to be enjoying taking shots at Adams like this on Fox then yes – it’s well understood there IS a quid pro quo in place. I mentioned Trump’s butt-hurt fee fees about New Yorkers, especially the elites (Staten Island is the only borough that voted for him) making himself de facto Mayor as he’s done is probably giving him “wood” right now.
Don’t be surprised if other Mayors and even some Governors soon find DOJ crawling up their butts and filing charges. It doesn’t matter so much if they’re bogus – Trump’s got the ‘bully pulpit’ but unlike Teddy Roosevelt who used the term ‘bully’ as a way to express promoting worthy ideas for Trump it means BULLY as in a sixth grader who has developed to the point of being physically like an eighth grader going round to the kindergarteners and first graders knocking them around and taking their lunch money!
Can anything be done, and more importantly done quickly? If Adams does what Trump is telling him to do he’ll be violating state/local laws. New York State AG Letecia James isn’t the least bit scared of Donny Diapers Trump. But anything she can do via state charges will take time. I’ve seen rumblings about state law perhaps allowing Gov. Katy Hochul to remove and replace Adams. I believe I saw her on some show saying that was “being looked into” so we’ll see.
However I think Trump has perhaps bitten off more than he can chew on this. He could have gotten much of what he wanted from Adams more quietly. It was still going to take time for any prosecution to play out and Adams made it clear he’s not about to resign. He even said he’s going to run for re-election but he’s toast on that and he knows it. But no, Trump had to make a big deal out of all this. He showed his fat orange ass, which not even MAGAs actually want to see. One of Trump’s few skills is being media savvy but he blew it on this one. He figured a day or two of criticism from journalists who have until this been cowed into submission. Instead they and evidently some of their bosses have shown signs of re-growing their spines.
I fear for SDNY and even DOJ as more highly experienced and capable people including career, civil service folks resign. So much will fall apart with those brought on to replace them NOT getting the business of Justice done. As for Pam Bondi who gets to be Trump’s AG I wonder if tonight she’s thinking she SHOULD have stayed down in Florida. Let’s face it, if this leads to more and more public ‘WTF is happening to DOJ?’ Trump WILL put every bit of blame on her. Will, as it all unfolds, the media continually remind the public Bondi wasn’t yet in charge when Trump told Emil Bove (that undertaker, death warmed over guy you saw next to him at his NYC trial) to order the dismissal charges on Adams? We’ll see. Stay tuned either way because I have a strong feeling this is all far from over.
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Well, for what it’s worth, Adams is only mayor until 2026. And I mean, until Jan 1, 2026. The city’s mayoral election is THIS YEAR.