Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi derided the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams of New York as “extremely weak” on Thursday, because the Trump administration waits to listen to if a decide will grant its request to dismiss the case.
The remarks got here in an interview with Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, on the Conservative Political Motion Convention exterior Washington.
Eight federal prosecutors have already resigned from the Justice Division in protest over its efforts to dismiss the bribery and corruption expenses towards the mayor. A kind of who stepped down was Danielle Sassoon, the highest federal prosecutor in Manhattan, who stated in a letter to Ms. Bondi that the case was well-founded in details and regulation.
The administration’s rationale for dropping the case has shifted over time. At first, the Justice Division’s appearing No. 2 official, Emil Bove III, who has led the bid for dismissal, stated the explanations had nothing to do with the authorized deserves of the case. As an alternative, he stated, it was primarily based on the administration’s need to have Mr. Adams’s help and help in efforts to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Because the battle throughout the Justice Division over the Adams case escalated, senior leaders on the division have argued the case about marketing campaign donations and journey perks was not robust.
Ms. Bondi amplified that argument Thursday.
“It was an extremely weak case filed to make deportation more durable; that’s why they did it,” she stated. “They took one of many greatest mayors within the nation off the enjoying discipline to be able to shield their sanctuary metropolis.”
The lawyer common and different members of the Trump administration have argued they’re attempting to depoliticize Justice Division decision-making after what they describe as an anti-conservative bias by the Biden administration in its prosecutorial selections.
Many present and former Justice Division officers reject these claims as spurious, and argue that the brand new administration is attempting to make use of regulation enforcement powers to reward political allies and punish or intimidate their critics.
In her remarks, Ms. Bondi recommended federal prosecutors in New York ought to overlook concerning the Adams case and focus as an alternative on combating violent crime. “Trip a subway in New York. It’s not secure,” she declared.
Her remarks got here a day after a federal decide held a listening to to think about Mr. Bove’s request to dismiss the indictment towards Mr. Adams. The decide has but to concern a call.
Afterward, Mr. Bove issued a press release suggesting prosecutors who disagreed together with his method ought to resign.
On the convention on Thursday, Ms. Bondi argued that the fees towards the mayor have been so weak she doubted they might win a responsible verdict. “That,” she stated, “is the weaponization of presidency.”
