#RolandMartinUnfiltered - STUNNING SHAKE UP! 3 Top Prosecutors RESIGN After REFUSING TO DROP Eric Adams Charges

Episode Date: February 16, 2025

It's a stunning shake-up in the Justice Department. Three top federal prosecutors resigned after refusing to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, and two senior prosecutors in Washington stepped down after the Justice Department, under the Trump administration, ordered them to dismiss the case. At the center of the controversy--allegations that Adams, a former police captain, and the city's second Black mayor, took illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals.  The DOJ says keeping the case alive would interfere with Adams' ability to tackle crime and immigration issues. What does this means for Adams, the Justice Department, and the Black political landscape?  Congressman Glenn Ivey, a former State Attorney for Maryland's Prince George's County spoke with Roland Martin about this shocking development in the Adams corruption case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

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A stunning shakeup. Three top federal prosecutors have resigned after refusing to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, and two senior prosecutors in Washington, D.C., have stepped down after Trump's Justice Department ordered them to dismiss the case. At the center of the controversy, allegations that Adams, a former police captain and the city's second black mayor, took illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals. The DOJ says keeping the case alive would interfere with Adams' ability to tackle crime

and immigration issues, but these attorneys are saying, no, they actually broke the law. Now, it was also crazy. The prosecutor wrote, NBC has obtained a letter where Danielle Sassoon has said that the Adams legal team was asking for a quid pro quo with the DOJ saying, hey, if y'all want to see y'all drop the charges, I'll follow through when it comes to fighting immigration. Not only that, this is a letter from this is a former law clerk for a Supreme Court justice, Antonin Scalia, who wrote this here, who laid out who said he said,

I do not repeat here the evidence against Adams that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed federal crimes. Mr. Bowe rightfully has never called into question that the case team conducted this investigation with integrity and that the charges against Adams are serious and supported by fact and law. memo, however, which directs me to dismiss an indictment returned by a duly constituted grand jury for reasons having nothing to do with the strength of the case raises serious concerns that render the contemplated dismissal inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good faith arguments before the courts. When I took my oath of office three weeks ago, I vowed to vow to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I was about to enter in carrying out that responsibility. I am guided by, among other things, the principles of federal prosecution set forth in the justice

manual and your recent memoranda instructing attorneys for the Department of Justice to make only good faith arguments and not to use the criminal enforcement authority of the United States to achieve political objectives or other improper aims. This is what he lays out to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Folks, it is unbelievable what is happening there. And joining us right now, former former Maryland state's attorney, former federal prosecutor and now Congressman Glenn Ivey. Congressman Ivey, glad to have you here is when you had the the actions taken by Richard Nixon against the attorney general. And you had other other attorneys saying, I'm not going to follow through with your orders. Yeah, that was the Saturday Night Massacre. And Archie Cox was the attorney that they were trying to have fired.

And, you know, they refused to move forward with the firing just because he was investigating Richard Nixon. And they were trying to curtail that investigation and protect Nixon from prosecution. Now, you know, ultimately, they ended up just like they did here. They sort of fired the ones that refused to do it. Cox and Weld, William Weld, who later became the governor of Massachusetts. But, you know, it's the same kind of deal. They'll find somebody to do it, but it's still wrong. It's still unethical and it still violates basic principles of prosecution, prosecutorial ethics. The attorney here, I thought, did the right thing. She did it the

right way. She submitted something in writing, raising her concerns about it. But as you pointed out, this was not a decision that, you know, Bove and Bondi were making on the merits. This was just... A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek.

I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain.

I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Cor vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself

as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Based on they want to try and essentially reward Eric Adams apparently for him taking a position that was positive with respect to immigration during the campaign and the presidential campaign cycle. And as Hakeem Jeffries has suggested, the fact that they dismissed it, but without prejudice, which means they could bring it back later, means they can hold this over Eric Adams head as long as he's in office. And basically, as Hakeem said, keep him on a short leash and make sure he continues to do the things that the Biden administration, the Trump administration wants him to do. This right here, this is what she wrote.

Rather than be rewarded, Adams advocacy should be called out for what it is, an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case. She says she lays it out right here. Yeah, absolutely. And it's it's it's an improper thing to do, because, you know, if you're going to drop a case of this magnitude, you know, you bring federal charges against the mayor of New York City. That means this is very serious case is going through all of the channels of the Department of Justice there at the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, but also up to Maine Justice, where the former Attorney General, I'm sure, reviewed this case before it was decided upon. And they decided to go forward based on the merits.

There's a sufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, as she states in her letter there. And in fact, they were about to bring a superseding indictment. Yeah, they were about to hit it with another indictment. Yeah, they're going to add charges because they found new evidence that indicated additional criminal charges should be brought. They were about to do a superseding indictment. Instead of going in that direction, though, the Trump administration reversed course totally and told him to throw the case out. not all the way. You've got to keep it over his head, but enough so that the federal charges don't go forward now unless he carries out the immigration policies that they want. For the people who are at home, explain what a superseding indictment is. Superseding indictment, when a case first goes to a grand jury, the prosecutor presents evidence

and asks the grand jury to return charges on particular criminal counts. And let's say they bring, I don't know, four or five counts, and that indictment is returned. That means it's presented in court so the defendant knows what the charges are. And then the case begins moving forward in public. As the case goes forward, if prosecutors find new information or new evidence that more crimes were committed, they can add more charges. And they bring a second indictment or called the superseding indictment, which adds the new charges to the old charges. So in this instance, it looks like what happened was the prosecutors in Manhattan found more evidence of more criminal conduct, or they found evidence that sufficiently bolstered charges that they

thought about bringing before but didn't think were strong enough yet. But they found strong enough evidence to add more charges to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt against the mayor of New York City. And that's why they were seeking a superseding. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek.

I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some

blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir, we are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth.

Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. So what's crazy here, they found additional charges of him ordering people to destroy evidence. They have all of this. And go to my iPad. Again, the acting Deputy Attorney General, Emil Bove, sends a letter saying, hey, drop the charges.

And these U.S. attorneys are like, wait a minute. We literally have a judge. Like, what are you doing? How are you in D.C. making this call when we're sitting here with the information? What the hell is going on? This is. And then, of course, when he was asked about it in the Oval Office, Trump goes, oh, I know anything about it. No, this is Eric Adams has been trying to suck up to Donald Trump since Election Day to do this very thing right here. And these attorneys, multiple attorneys have now quit saying what the hell y'all doing in D.C. is just wrong and corrupt. Yeah, that's right. And, you know, this was an effort that Adams lawyers had been working with the Trump administration, apparently for some time to try and get this kind of an outcome so that he could avoid criminal prosecution,

at least to get through his election, apparently. But I'm sure he's hoping that if he continues to work with them and do what they want him to do on immigration and other things, they just won't bring the charges again. So, you know, we'll have to see how it plays out. But I thought these prosecutors who took a stand and resigned, I thought, you know, it was really profiles in courage. You know, these are young attorneys. She's 38. She's come a long way. She's a Yale Law School grad.

As you pointed out, she was a Scalia clerk. Federalist society, so that means she's conservative. This is not some, you know, wild-eyed liberal, you know, trying to buck the Trump administration. She's one of those ones. They're grooming for higher things. But she decided to give that up, potentially, and take a stand on this in a principled way i mean what's great what's crazy is she actually said uh stay with the shot here she said she says mr bowes admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the

meeting's conclusion yeah don't don't leave a paper trail. That's, you know, apparently what Boebert was concerned about. But, you know, this stuff's going to come to light. And it did quickly here. And I think she was right to preserve that in writing in the letter that she sent to them. So now it's all on the record. But, you know, this shows the shady stuff that the Trump administration is doing and the way they're trying to convert the Department of Justice to a tool that's totally political and just serves his political ends. And, you know, he's got the retribution list. He's going to go after the J6 prosecutors. He's got the effort going forward to go after the J6 FBI special agents that investigated those cases. This is part of his total corruption effort of the rule of law

and the way the federal prosecution system should work in the United States. And I want folks to understand that, again, typically you have checks and balances when it comes to the FBI, when it comes to the U.S. Marshals. What you have here, especially if he's able to get Kash Patel as his FBI director, he is going to have a team that will not resist him, that will do whatever he wants, that will suck up to him, and then they will ignore judicial orders. I don't trust these people at all. And we've never had a situation, frankly, where you will have the entire Department

of Justice, which is the law enforcement mechanism for the federal government, be completely controlled at the whims of an evil, maniacal individual sitting in the Oval Office who wants to exert retribution against any of his real or perceived enemies, whether they are journalists, whether they are corporate America, whether they are other countries. It will be hell on wheels if Kash Patel is FBI director, Pam Bondi is attorney general, and these sycophants are in control. Yeah, 30 of us in Congress came out.

We did a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee two days ago asking Grassley and all of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, we know the Democrats are going to vote against Patel, but for them to vote against him as well. You know, this guy, he published an enemies list in his book. He's done these like children's book calling Donald Trump King Donald. So you know where he's going with that. You had the Trump attorney general, Bill Barr, say this guy over his dead body should even be deputy director of the FBI, much less director of the FBI. It's clear he's not qualified. Oh, I forgot. This guy had to take the Fifth Amendment to try and avoid grand jury testimony about Trump. Then they immunized him to force

him to testify. And then at his confirmation hearing, he refused to talk about what he testified about. I guess it was just so embarrassing and bad for him. So this is the guy they want to lead the FBI? Well, yeah, because he'll do whatever Trump wants. So, you know, it's Bondi, who was, you know, another Trump sycophant. Her staff is going to be Trump's former criminal defense team in the criminal cases that he had going before. Patel's going to be running the FBI. And you got J.D. Vance threatening the federal judges who were coming out with the injunctions against Elon Musk and those efforts. Vance and those guys and Musk are saying, well, you know, we might have to impeach these guys.

A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain.

I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice

to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself.

Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's that occasion. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. That's how he's trying to do a total takeover of the rule of law, the federal prosecution process, and the federal judiciary. All right then, Congressman Glenn Obvious.

Really appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thanks for having me. Support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. You heard what we just talked about there. Folks, I can't reiterate this enough. Listen to me clearly.

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please renew your commitment because it's important that we support Black-owned media because Black-owned media matters. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it.

I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves.

A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.