NYC NOW - NYC Now Explains: Why Prosecutors Revolted Over the Adams Case

Episode Date: April 19, 2025

NYC Now is back this weekend with part five in its series on Mayor Eric Adams and how he has found himself at the mercy of intersecting political powers — from his voter base, to the courts, to Governor Kathy Hochul, and, of course, President Donald Trump. This week, host Janae Pierre and WNYC reporter Samantha Max take a deep dive into the chaotic decision to drop the mayor’s corruption case and the resulting revolt among federal prosecutors. And we look at the institution at the center of it all: the Southern District of New York. We examine its history, its fiercely guarded independence, and how the Adams case could undermine its future.NOTES:Miss the previous episodes in our series? Listen to #1 here, #2 here, #3 here and #4 here.       Reply…Also send to the group     

Sam, where are we right now? We're outside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan. This is where I was just a couple months ago waiting to see Mayor Adams ask for his case to be dismissed. I remember waiting in line to go through security, and the mayor just breezes past. He's laughing with the court officers chewing gum, and then he just went about his way.

This building is something else, though. The sweeping staircase, the columns, it's massive. Yeah, I mean, this is such an impressive building. This is the home of the Southern District of New York. Yeah, I mean, we are talking about a U.S. Attorney's Office that's taken down mob bosses, politicians, terrorists. But now it's the scene of a revolt. Not a physical battle, but a quieter one. Fought over email and in letters.

Some of the top federal prosecutors in New York City, they were told to drop this historic case against them. the mayor. But they didn't show up in court to do that. They refused. These prosecutors, they were facing a choice, either obey the orders of the Department of Justice or defend the integrity of their case. In their office. Exactly. So they quit. And this moment of revolt, you know, Deney was supposed to send a statement about the values of what's probably the most influential prosecutor's office in the country. The prosecutors who walked away, They did not agree with this directive.

But the fallout has left the office on shaky ground. And it could reshape the Southern District for years to come. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Junae Pierre. Welcome back to our series about Mayor Eric Adams and the political turmoil swirling around his administration. Last week, we looked at how the mayor is testing the city agency tasked with overseeing campaign finance. This week,

We take a deep dive into the Southern District of New York. Its history, its fiercely guarded independence, and how the Adams case could undermine its future. Reporter Samantha Max covers public safety and the courts for WMYC. Sam, I remember that intense week when we learned that the case might be dropped. There was a lot of back and forth between DOJ officials in D.C. and prosecutors in New York. And, you know, I couldn't help but think this is unusual. Yeah, this is not something that you see every day.

We got to experience this legal and political drama playing out almost in real time. These letters between Trump administration officials and prosecutors involved in the mayor's case became public. It all starts with the number two at the Justice Department, acting Deputy Attorney General, Emil Beauvais. He directs prosecutors in the state. Southern District of New York to drop the case, at least until after the mayoral election. But prosecutors in the Southern District don't back down. No, not at all. I'm thinking particularly about the acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon. She wrote a long letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi defending the charges.

Right. And there's this one moment in that letter that really stands out. What part? She writes that at a meeting on January 31st, Adams attorneys, quote, repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo. She says the mayor would help with the department's priorities like immigration enforcement, only if the indictment were dropped. She also says one of her prosecutors was, quote, admonished for taking notes during that meeting. So a mayor under indictment for bribery is accused of essentially bribing the Trump administration to drop his case?

That's what Sassoon has happened. Adams denies it. So do his attorneys, and the Trump administration. So how do the prosecutors in the Southern District react to this order to dismiss the Adams case? There's an immediate reaction. They resign, one after the next. Danielle Sassoon, other prosecutors in the Southern District, even high-ranking members of the Justice Department in D.C.

They walk away from these coveted positions. Is it common for prosecutors to just up and leave because a new person, president takes office? It is common for top prosecutors to resign when a new president takes office, because those are political appointments. But the line prosecutors often stick around. This is a dream job for lots of people. And these Southern District prosecutors in particular, they were in the middle of a career-making case. We're talking about a criminal prosecution against the sitting mayor of New York City. And this is the moment that the DOJ doubles down, saying that this case is politically motivated.

Yeah, I mean, as these prosecutors are resigning, Beauvais says that the main attorneys who prosecuted the case will be placed on leave and investigated by the Attorney General and the Office of Professional Responsibility. Then the Department of Justice takes it a step further. They publish some of their emails and text messages. What was in those communications? Those communications reveal some internal.

concerns about their former boss, Damien Williams. He was the lead prosecutor when Adams was indicted. And after he resigned late last year, he wrote this op-ed calling out corruption in New York politics. There's this one line where he says the city is being led with a broken ethical compass. Is Williams talking about Mayor Adams there? That is what the mayor's lawyer has argued. He accused Williams of bringing the case to elevate his own. own political career.

How did Adams react to all of that coming out? He felt vindicated. And he criticized the media for not highlighting these communications more. Every leak that came out on me, there was full page stories and leaks and what have you. But these guys, they're in their own words, talked about what I said. This was politically motivated. And in their own words, they alluded to that. But it wasn't covet.

These messages show that politics could have played at least somewhat of a role in this case. But the prosecutors who worked on it have repeatedly defended the charges in court. Some legal experts have said they think it's a weak case. Others feel it's strong and that politics aside, a jury could have found Adams guilty. But we'll never know. That's right, because prosecutors in D.C. ultimately signed the official request to have the charges dropped. And a judge later dismissed the case with no chance of it being brought back again.

Up next, the Southern District has a long-storied history. Then came a big test. We look at what's next after the break. The dismissal of the mayor's case must have been a pretty big blow for this institution. For sure. And it called into question a U.S. Attorney's Office is that many have nicknamed the sovereign district. The sovereign district. How did that come about?

Across the country, different regions have their own U.S. attorney's offices. They're overseen by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. They're expected to follow directives from the mothership. But the Southern District has always stood apart. It's known for acting independently, even when that means pushing back on Washington. Here's how Diane Perez explained it to me. She worked at the Southern District as a legal assistant and also helped the office to prosecute the tax evasion case

against Hotelier, Leona Helmsley, back in the 1980s. They don't just roll over and take orders from Washington or they haven't in the past. You know, they have a tremendous backbone. Former prosecutor Andrew Bauer says when he worked at the Southern District, he felt like he had a mission. And it was always, to do justice, to do the right thing for the right reasons.

And there is really nothing better or more pure than that. I know the Southern District has prosecuted a long list of high-profile cases. So many. Sean Diddy Combs? Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking. Jeffrey Epstein. Today, we announced the unsealing of sex trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein. J.P. Morgan Chase. The largest financial institution in the country stands charged with two

criminal offenses. It's tried drug cases, murder cases, also terrorism, white-collar crime, public corruption. And the Southern District is also where lots of high-profile civil lawsuits play out. The ship took a sudden dip, and a sea came rolling up, carrying everyone with it. Jene, it turns out survivors of the Titanic and the loved ones of people. who died filed lawsuits in the Southern District. Several of us crumbled up onto the slippery bottom of the raft, and it was from there I saw the Titanic sink. Oh wow, Sam, I didn't realize that.

It was news to me, too. And for my fellow Real Housewives fans, that's me. Real Housewife of Salt Lake City, Jen Shaw pleaded guilty in the Southern District to running a telemarketing scam. And this office has faced accusations of using it. its enormous power unfairly, hasn't it? Right. We've heard prosecutors speak passionately about justice and independence.

But for defendants who find themselves facing charges from such a powerful institution, the view is often very different. How so? I mean, you hear things that are lodged against lots of prosecutors' offices, that they're overly aggressive, not turning over evidence, things like that. But especially since Trump was elected, there have been allegations that the Southern District has been weaponized politically. The day that former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison,

he accused the Southern District of running a politically motivated prosecution. President Trump is right. This process is political and it's corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system. He called it, quote, the wild west of political prosecutions. But that language is pretty similar to what Mayor Adams and his attorneys have said about his own case, right? They've argued the Southern District targeted him because he criticized President Biden's handling of the migrant crisis. Exactly.

Adams insists this case was political payback. The Southern District strongly denies that, pointing out that their investigation into Adams was underway long before those. criticisms. They emphasize they prosecute corruption cases without regard to politics or party. Still, Adams keeps returning to this point, and it underscores the big question now facing the Southern District. What's that? Can an office known for aggressively challenging power avoid becoming a tool in political fights? All right, Sam, let's step back here. What does this all mean for an office that prides itself on its integrity and, end up? Can its reputation survive the mayor's case?

The breakdown of the Adams case will probably be hard to bounce back from. Andrew Bauer, one of the former Southern District prosecutors I've spoken with, says he keeps in touch with former colleagues who still work there. He says one person recently described the mood in a word, somber. The question that I think everyone's asking themselves is, is it better to quit and not be affiliated with this administration, or is it more important now to stay and try to protect the institution and not cede control of it to folks who are not qualified or who do not have their moral and ethical compass in the right place? So I think that question is being debated every day. That's a tough choice. It is. Diane Paris, another former Southern District employee,

says she thinks some prosecutors will still be able to go about their jobs more or less as usual. There are very important things that the U.S. Attorney's Office does. And I can't see those cases not going forward and people being able to vigorously prosecute those cases and to want to prosecute those cases. Paris says she expects the higher profile cases to be trickier. Trickier. Why, though? Is there an expectation that the Trump administration will get involved in the Southern District's cases more often? That is definitely a concern, particularly for the more public ones. The administration has already inserted itself into at least one big case. Attorney General Bondi recently directed prosecutors in New York City to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione. He's the person accused of fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO.

Brian Thompson on the streets of Manhattan back in December. Yeah, we all remember that one. That's a controversial decision for a New York case, though, especially one with so much public sympathy. Exactly. And there's another notable side effect of the Adams dismissal. What's that? Well, it seems some defendants in the Southern District may see that case as inspiration.

Andrew Bauer now works as a defense attorney. He's seeing it in his work defending clients against charges brought by the Southern District. I have a new client and his, if not his first question, his second question was to me, do you know anybody in the administration? What can we do to see if we can get them to dismiss the case or if I get convicted a pardon? And that is not how the criminal justice system is supposed to work. You know, the administration talks about the weaponization of the prosecution and it's exactly what's happening here. Bauer says the Trump administration seems to be creating this new normal in the legal system, where enemies are targets while people in the president's good graces are spared.

That's WMYC reporter Samantha Max. Gotta take a moment to shout out the folks from the WNYC Newsroom who made this episode possible. Sean Boutage, Stephanie Clary, Audrey Cooper, Anne Givens, Maya Hibbitt, Samantha Max, Leora and Norma. Marcel and Wayne Schoenmeister. I'm Jenae Pierre and this is NYC Now. Next Saturday, we wrap up our series and look ahead to Mayor Adams' bid for re-election. Keep an eye on your podcast feed for that.