CNN senior authorized analyst Elie Honig is excoriating the U.S. Division of Justice, which, beneath Legal professional Common Pam Bondi and appearing Deputy Legal professional Common Emil Bove, ordered prosecutors final week to drop corruption expenses towards New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.
In a Monday article written for New York magazine’s Intelligencer, Honig stated that this has “mushroomed right into a full-on existential disaster for the Justice Division,” as Bove’s order prompted a number of resignations from key federal prosecutors, together with one who stated it “amounted to a quid professional quo.”
Adams was indicted in September on allegations he accepted bribes and unlawful marketing campaign contributions, however curried favor with Trump in recent months, notably by working with him on immigration, resulting in hypothesis that the DOJ order was a reward for Adams’ loyalty.
Bove argued in his directive that the case needs to be dropped so Adams might proceed to assist the Trump administration implement its immigration coverage, prompting Honig to sentence everybody concerned for each a scarcity of ideas and self-awareness.
He wrote in his article that Bove “informed us fairly explicitly” that the order was politically motivated and that the ensuing public outrage might’ve been averted had the DOJ determined that the case was “too skinny” or had Trump pardoned Adams personally.
Honig then went after Bondi with a collection of scathing observations.
“Talking of: The place the hell is Pam Bondi in all this? (You recognize: the brand new legal professional normal of the USA.),” he wrote. “Apparently she’s been gliding alongside, blithely half-aware of this case, as if it was some story she had glanced at on the web.”
Honig famous that when Bondi was requested final week why the case hadn’t been dismissed but regardless of seemingly clear directions for her colleague to make sure as a lot, she responded simply, “I didn’t know that it had not been dropped but” — which the CNN authorized analyst pounced on.
“That’s humorous as a result of I did, and I’m not the legal professional normal of the USA,” he wrote. “And in a Fox News appearance, Bondi once more deflected, noting defensively that she was in a special time zone. (I’m undecided she totally understands how time zones work. All the identical stuff is definitely taking place, it’s simply that the clocks say barely various things the place you might be; it’s not such as you enter some alternate actuality.)”
Honig, who as soon as served as assistant U.S. legal professional in the identical district the place prosecutors have resigned because the Bove order got here down, then criticized the precedent Bondi and Bove are setting.
“Right here’s the elemental drawback with what Bove and DOJ management have executed,” he wrote. “They’ve enacted and embraced a coverage that it’s completely legitimate to base prosecution choices on the political inclinations of the topic: Mayor Adams can’t stay beneath indictment as a result of he’ll assist us promote our immigration coverage agenda.”
“Think about the place that precept leads,” Honig bleakly added.
