Updated February 13, 2025 at 18:11 PM ET
Three senior federal prosecutors resigned Thursday in connection with the department's decision to .
Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said. Her decision came three days after Justice Department leadership instructed her to drop the criminal corruption case against Adams.
Sassoon, a veteran prosecutor who helped lead the , was appointed interim U.S. attorney by the Trump administration last month.
, the acting No. 2 official at the Justice Department, accepted Sassoon's resignation, and placed two assistant U.S. attorneys who worked the case on leave pending investigations of their conduct by the Office of the Attorney General and the department's Office of Professional Responsibility, according to a letter from Bove obtained by NPR.
"You lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the Department of Justice by suggesting that you retain a discretion to interpret the Constitution in a manner inconsistent with the policies of a democratically elected President and a Senate-confirmed Attorney General," Bove wrote in the letter.
One of the two assistant U.S. attorneys placed on leave is , a U.S. Army veteran, Bronze star winner and a graduate of Harvard Law School, .
Later Thursday, John Keller, the acting head of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, and Kevin Driscoll, the senior-most career Justice Department official leading the Criminal Division, also resigned after being asked to take over the Adams case, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
Adams was indicted last year , with a trial scheduled for April.
A made public Monday called for federal charges against him to be shelved "without prejudice." Adams has long said he's innocent of any criminal wrongdoing.
In court filings, of mishandling the case, in part by leaking sensitive and privileged information to the media. The indictment in federal court in Manhattan alleged Adams used his official positions with New York City to leverage "illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel."
Speaking at the White House, President Trump said he didn't personally request the charges against Adams to be dropped.
"I know nothing about it," he said.
Trump also suggested that Sassoon was fired, even though the letter from Bove acknowledged her resignation.
A former senior Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, called the fallout from the Adams case, "the worst we've seen so far (from the new DOJ) and that's a high bar." The former official said the idea of dropping the Adams case in this way was "jaw dropping, shocking."
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