Three federal prosecutors resigned after feeling pressured to admit wrongdoing related to a dismissed corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. They claimed that returning to work hinged on expressing regret about their actions in the case. This follows a history of controversy involving the Justice Department's political interference in the case, which was dropped ostensibly to further the Trump administrationâs immigration agenda. The prosecutors' letter emphasized their refusal to confess to actions they believed were unjust.
"We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none," Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach, and Derek Wikstrom wrote in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Cohen, Rohrbach and Wikstrom wrote in their resignation letter that it had become clear to them that one of the "preconditions" Blanche placed on their returning to work was to "express regret and admit some wrongdoing by the Office in connection with the refusal to move to dismiss the case."
The new leaders of the Justice Department, they wrote, had "decided that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our legal and ethical obligations."
Sassoon opted to resign instead, as did several other career prosecutors who objected to the criminal case being dismissed for political reasons.
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