make emile beauvais sign the damn thing himself. >> now, that's one perspective. another perspective is that, well, if all the principled people quit, who'd be left to push back? after all, don't you think donald trump wants all the career prosecutors who won't obey a potentially illegal order to leave, clearing the way for his people to do his bidding, especially considering his new edict today that only he and his hand-picked attorney general get to say what is and is not legal. >> this executive order would. establish important oversight functions in the office. >> of management and budget. >> and its subsidiary office, oira, supervising independent agencies and many of their actions, and also reestablishes the long standing norm that. >> only the. president or. >> the attorney general can speak for the united states. when stating an opinion as to what. >> the law is. >> so this time around, things are different. trump and his co-president, elon musk, are systematically dismantling guardrails against their lawless power grabs, which means the strategies for res

all right, so emil beauvais. beauvais. excuse me. rehema is arguing right now that the prosecution needs to be dropped because of national security. >> yeah, it seems to be one of the arguments, because what happened when he was indicted, mayor adams was denied his clearance for national security. and the prosecution is not the. yes, the prosecution is arguing that that's an impediment to the to the mayor being able to do his job in a city like new york, where threats to security are common, they are well known. here we are in the city where ground 0 in 9 over 11 happened. so he's saying that's one of the reasons why they want this dismissed. it's interesting, one of the questions that the judge asked of beauvais in his back and forth with him was the fact that you're asking for this to be dismissed without prejudice. he's saying, could the department of justice refile charges against the mayor at some later date? and beauvais says that would be up to the discretion of the department. he went on to the judge did, to ask mayor adams w

justice department. >> they were threatened. >> by emile beauvais. >> one of you had. >> better sign. >> this corrupt. >> motion to dismiss or you're all fired. and at. >> first, they stood. >> together, and that's what they should have done. until finally, a guy named ed sullivan, edward. >> sullivan. >> who was about to retire. >> anyway, said, oh. >> i'll volunteer. >> i'll take. >> the hit. >> he's no. >> he's no profile in courage. they should all. >> have insisted on being fired. >> make a meal, beauvais. >> sign the damn thing himself. >> now. >> that's one perspective. another perspective is that. well, if all the principled people quit, who'd be left to push back? after all, don't you think donald trump wants all the career prosecutors who won't obey a potentially illegal order to leave, clearing the way for his people to do his bidding, especially considering his new edict today that only he and his hand-picked attorney general get to say what is and is not legal. >> this executive order would establish important oversight functions in the office of. >> management and. >> bu

they got suspended by emile beauvais on this case. so they're not even on this case anymore. an, it is a pandora's box. i think beauvais sorely miscalculated on this. bondy, trump, everyone. i think they sorely miscalculated how this would be. andrew weissman, my friend, it's good to see you in, as we say. >> to see you. >> when we come back. a fragile peace we're going to take. you live to israel. for the latest on today's hostage release by hamas. as trump this morning again threatened consequences if hamas failed to release all of the remaining hostages by noon the remaining hostages by noon today. that's coming dry eyes still feel gritty, rough, or tired? with miebo, eyes can feel ♪ miebo ♪ ♪ ohh yeah ♪ miebo is the only prescription dry eye drop that forms a protective layer for the number one cause of dry eye: too much tear evaporation. for relief that's ♪ miebo ♪ ♪ ohh yeah ♪ remove contact lenses before using miebo. wait at least 30 minutes before putting them back in. eye redness and blurred vision may occur. ♪ miebo ♪ ♪ ohh yeah ♪ ask your eye doctor about prescripti

at which point trump's acting deputy attorney general, emile beauvais. beauvais convened all the prosecutors in the justice department's public integrity section. like two dozen or so prosecutors convened them all together in the same place and told them they had one hour to decide which one of them was going to sign the motion, calling for the charges to be dismissed. emil beauvais apparently made clear that promotions were in the offing for anybody who'd be willing to sign this motion. and if you weren't willing to sign, well, they could all be fired. ultimately, one veteran career prosecutor, who is apparently nearing retirement, said he would volunteer to sign the motion basically under duress, not because he necessarily supported it, but because he was hoping to save all of his colleagues jobs. and so tonight, trump's justice department has filed this motion in federal court in new york tonight, united states of america v eric adams, defendant, quote, the united states respectfully submits this motion seeking dismissal without prejudice of the charg

emil beauvais wrote this letter. etter back refuting the evidence. hagen scott writes this letter, and then it is reported that beauvais tells the public integrity unit, the department of justice, you've got an hour for somebody to do this. talk to me about that. that way of doing business and how that fits into the department of justice and what, if anything, that says to you. >> well, i mean. >> it's. >> all highly. objectionable conduct from. mr. beauvais. >> and if we were in a normal, functioning. >> justice department. >> there would be an internal inquiry into the. >> way he. >> behaved and treated these prosecutors. >> i would just highlight two things that happened here. >> when mr. >> scott resigned. >> he made it very. >> clear that. >> the only reason. >> that. >> he had not directly. >> refused an. >> order to dismiss the. >> prosecution was because one was never. >> given to him. >> in other words, his boss, the then united. >> states attorney. >> didn't think. >> it. >> was appropriate for her. >> to fo

senator, like, do you think the acting deputy attorney general, emile beauvais, should resign? >> well, i do. a lot of good that'll that'll accomplish. i mean, the reality is trump won the election, and it's astonishing because he did it even though he motivated the violence that occurred on january 6th. he pardoned people who beat up cops. unbelievable. >> he pardoned. >> a drug dealer who was into sexual solicitation of minors and allowing that to happen. he got elected. he won this fair and square decision people made. he won the house and he won the senate. so our tools are limited. this is the governmental actions under the former president trump. our job is to reveal as much as we can to the american people. what's up? what's so concerning to me is that trump. >> was good. >> at understanding and connecting with the emotional anxiety that people have about affordability, but his policies are going to intensify the wealth transfer to the billionaires. i did not hear him in his inauguration say anything about childcare. i didn't hear him say anything about the brutal cost o

but emile beauvais did not make these arguments in his letter to the s.d.n.y.ing them to dismiss the case, instead alleging the prosecution was politically motivated. is there is there a grasping at justification here? well. >> now it's sort of now there's the now meaning the department of justice are probably saying, oops, maybe we should have been more thorough and not be so obvious about what happened, because acting u.s. attorney form acting so soon, she basically made the allegation in writing. so is she making it up when she says that she believes was a quid pro quo, or is there really something here? >> so, michael, how does the outcome potentially test how much the courts can delve into government motivations, right, for prosecutions and that kind of thing? i'm curious what the political impact could be here. >> well, it upends the entire system. if you're saying to me that the courts and prosecutors go through a process, and any president can then parachute in and force them to change their decision. that is problematic, especially when it's only kind

hour remains in place in a i hate to use the word again, but extraordinary memo from deputy ag emil beauvais that's been obtained by nbc news, responding to the southern district of new york's refusal to drop this case against adams. beauvais writes to danielle sisson, quote, you indicated that the prosecution team is aware of your communications with the justice department, that it is supportive of your approach and is unwilling to comply with the order to dismiss this case. accordingly, the assistant u.s. attorney is principally responsible for this case, are being placed on off duty administrative leave pending investigations by the office of the attorney general and the office of professional responsibility, both of which will also evaluate your conduct. sources tell nbc news that the case has been reassigned to the justice department's public integrity section, and that happened when the officials at s.d.n.y refused to drop the case against eric adams because they believed in the strength of the evidence. but when it got there, trump officials were met with more resistance. the acting h

. >> one of the fascinating things in her letter is actually how far she was willing to go for emil beauvais and the trump teams who were pushing her. she was willing to go to the point of communicating with the bank that perhaps the funds should be frozen. seizing is a whole different level that she said they absolutely did not achieve. and so this was someone who was trying to give them as much as she could give. it certainly wasn't some reflexive insubordination. >> absolutely. and the same thing from the fbi. the fbi said, look, if we hear from you, denise, that your office is willing to tell us that there is probable cause, we'll do it. but if not, we cannot do it because we don't have lawyers saying this reaches the necessary level. this is what you want in our government. you want people who are faithful. and this is i really want to make sure people understand this is where the constitution lives and breathes, which is in the good judgment and the good faith of the fbi agents and irs agents and dea agents and the prosecutors evaluating the facts and doing so in good faith. but what s

well, emile. beauvais signs that motion in that was made last night in the.strict of new york to drop this case, along. >> with. >> two other career. prosecutors who, you know, hard to know exactly what their. >> motives were, but. >> it sounds like he was really exerting quite a lot of pressure at doj to get somebody to step up. otherwise, he was threatening to fire all of them. so under extreme coercion. >> it. >> sounds like he got two other people to sign on to this. but ultimately he filed a notice of appearance. he's going to have to stand up in court and. defend why this is actually in good faith. >> and it's so. >> plainly not. i mean, you see, really with danielle sassoon and hagan scotten versus emile beauvais, who also was at the southern district of new york, really. >> a tale of two. >> s.d.n.y prosecutors. you have the one side where they are backing up their prosecutors, backing up their team. >> they are sacrificing. what would have been a really easy. >> path for them to potentially get really plum positions. >> is judicial. appointments and

there was nothing in emil beauvais's representation of donald trump in that courtroom that gave me the slightest reason to disrespect his work in that room as a criminal defense lawyer. in fact, i thought emil bove did a better job in that courtroom than the lead defense counsel, todd blanch, who donald trump has nominated for a position in the justice department that requires senate confirmation. bove formerly served for previously served as a federal prosecutor in the southern district of new york, where he was, we discovered this week and enthusiastic supporter of the investigations and prosecutions of the january 6th attackers at the capitol. now that he is working in donald trump's justice department, he has made it his personal mission to search out, find and attempt to fire any fbi agent or federal prosecutor who worked on any of the january 6th prosecutions, which he personally enthusiastically supported inside the justice department before he left the department in 2022. today, the acting u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york, 38 year old danielle sassin, resigned

. >> joy, emil beauvais essentially admits as much in the february 10th letter that they sent to masatsunep the case. basically says in that letter, we're not making an assessment of the evidence that you have, or even the legal theories on which you based this indictment, nor am i impugning the integrity of you or the line prosecutors who have brought this case. rather, i'm directing you to drop it based on two considerations. one, the timing of the election vis a vis the indictment and the trial date. and two, because this indictment hanging over his head is an impediment to his devoting his full attention and resources to the problems that are priorities for us, including violent crime and immigration enforcement. so it's not a surprise that he is saying so again in this february 13th letter to her, because that's essentially what he said in the two page memo he sent her on the 10th, directing her to drop the case. i will note to you that in her own letter to attorney general bondy on the 12th, she refutes that. she says, look, the deal is conditioned on his accepting a dismissal withou

emil beauvais has denied it, too. but that said, what do you just make of the allegation?nd do you see this going anywhere? i mean, considering the fact and we just saw this with this meeting being called, that it is a meal. beauvais and his boss, pam bondi, who are the ones calling the shots? >> yeah, i want to respond directly to that point, chris, because the remarks that eric adams made are so classic because no one says this out loud, no one says, i am offering you a bribe. i would like you to enforce president trump's immigration agenda in new york city. and in exchange, we will dismiss these charges. that's not how it goes. instead, they have a conversation. they talk about what you know. here's what we want. here's what you want. they go their separate ways. so the idea that danielle sassoon is on the spot going to say, i believe this is bribery taking place. it didn't happen then. it didn't happen until that letter came directing her to dismiss the charges. and there's a footnote on page one where email, beauvais says, by the way, despite all these appearances, th

and i think the thing that is taking, i would suspect emile beauvais, pamela bondi and the white houseby surprise is, you know what? there are a lot of people in this country who act out of principle. final point on this, you remember i keep on raising this. we had a trial of paul manafort. we had a sort of strong republican, and she said, i left my maga hat in the car. i told the judge that i was going to base my verdict on the facts and the law, and that's what i did, because there are people in this country who will act out of principle. >> yeah, she found out she was on this program. she was just exactly what you're hoping a juror would be. andrew weissmann, thank you very much for starting us off tonight. the most important testimony delivered in congress this week was from a former usaid was from a former usaid official, sara charles, who experience advanced technology in the buick envision. (♪♪) equipped with the largest-in-class ultrawide 30-inch diagonal display and google built-in compatibility, innovation is at your fingertips. buick. exceptional by design. for more than a d

. >> i was kind of hoping the judge would ask when emile beauvais says, basically, we can do this.e can do this even if there is a quid pro quo. that was sort of remarkable to me, and i want a judge. i think i would have asked, so are you saying that if eric adams dropped a bag of cash off with. >> the. >> deputy attorney general, that that would be legal? and what's the difference here? why is if there is that quid pro quo, if. >> you can't. >> do the bag of cash, why can you do this? and then also when why is it that you want to reinstate these charges? >> would it be. >> if he doesn't toe the. line and then just sort of pressing a little bit more on why it is that this is something they want to do without prejudice, as opposed to saying, look, we think it's a political prosecution, so we want it dismissed forever. and i think that is really the flaw in what the government is trying to do here is that sort of damocles, that choke chain that is being put on eric adams. that just has to be something that the law forbids. >> andrew, the judge is extremely limited here. it would be e

in a letter to acting deputy attorney general emil beauvais.nt would have to find someone, quote, enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion. >> because what you do is you come in and you put new people in. so when you say resign, they're going to be gone anyway. but i know nothing about the individual case. i know that they didn't feel it was much of a case. they also felt that it was unfair with the election. >> daetz adams pleaded not guilty to the five federal charges he faces. the man accused of killing united health care ceo brian thompson in new york city last december, is now responding to an outpouring of support he says he received. luigi mangione released a statement on friday about a new website created by his attorneys. mangione statement acknowledges all the letters of support he's received. the 26 year old pleaded not guilty to 11 state murder and terror charges. he could face the death penalty if found guilty of a federal murder charge. back here at home, the san francisco medical examiner says there was no foul

when my people were taking notes, emil beauvais ended the meeting by saying, don't take notes and i wantem back. who does that? who does that? so the judge can say, bring the notes with you. >> there's so many things to watch on this crazy case. i mean, one of the things that's also been striking to me, and i know to you, because i've heard you talk about it, is that he still left the possibility open, that these charges could still be filed again in the future. and it's important to remind people, because it feels like three weeks has been a year that trump had pardoned a lot of people. he could have pardoned eric adams, right. but he chose not to. how have you thought about that? >> well, there's only one explanation. i mean, you know, beauvais has his story about how the case was brought too close to the primary. that's just an absurd argument. and judge can hear from him. what's really going on is they don't want eric adams just on a tight leash. they want him on a choke collar. and you saw on tv it working. and not only did eric adams say, i'm sort of conceding and giving york city

and coming up, trump lawyer emil beauvais.s was in court today not to defend trump against criminal charges this time, but rather to argue for the corruption charges against the mayor of new york city to be dropped. stay with city to be dropped. stay with us. baby: liberty! mom: liberty mutual is all she talks about since we saved hundreds by bundling our home and auto insurance. baby: liberty! biberty: hey kid, it's pronounced "biberty." baby: liberty! biberty: biberty! baby: liberty! biberty: biberty! baby: liberty! biberty: bi-be-rty! baby: biberty! biberty: and now she's mocking me. very mature. mom: hey, that's enough you two! biberty: hey, i'm not the one acting like a total baby. mom: she's two. only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ baby: liberty. >> discover why more cardiologists recommend super beats for heart health support than any other beat brand at super beats. com. >> sure, vistaprint prints. >> business cards. >> but we also print. these and those and engrave that. we print. >> your brand.

the acting deputy attorney general, emil beauvais, who served as trump's personal criminal defense attorneyto justice department leaders ordering the purge of january 6th. prosecutors revealing that the former president biden gave these prosecutors permanent status following trump's election. in his memo, beauvais called their employment subversive for federal prosecutors. the fbi agents association disagreed, denouncing the purge as outrageous, writing, quote, if true, these outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by president trump and his support for fbi agents dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the bureau's ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats, and will ultimately risk setting up the bureau and its new leadership for failure, end quote. now trump's fbi pick kash patel, gave this shocking answer yesterday in his senate confirmation hearings. he thinks the fbi ultimately reports to trump. >> who is the director of the fbi, work for mr. patel. >> senator,

deputy attorney general emile beauvais ordered federal prosecutors in new york to drop five criminal counts, including bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national from adams case last night. adams has repeatedly denied all the allegations. beauvais included in his memo that adams indictment limited his ability to cooperate in trump's immigration crackdown. but in a footnote that only seemed to be missing a winking emoji. the doj wanted everyone to know they don't expect anything for this merciful gesture. i quote them here in the footnote. as mr. beauvais clearly stated to defense counsel during our meeting, the government is not offering to exchange dismissal of a criminal case for adams assistance on immigration enforcement. kristy greenberg served as an assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, where she was deputy chief of the criminal division. and she joins me now. as a legal matter, if i go to a politician, he's going to give me a good municipal contract. i have a suitcase of cash. i give him the suitca

that's emil beauvais, who was also one of donald trump's defenders when he was a private citizen.es the reporting on beauvais? >> so beauvais. >> has. >> been the face of this effort to go after these january 6th case. agents and support employees. he's the one signing the memos demanding the information. and it turns out that he actually played. >> a pretty. >> important role in new york city in overseeing. efforts to hunt down january 6th defendants in the weeks and months after. >> the capitol riot. >> and i talked to. >> people. >> who worked with him who said he never expressed any qualms about the investigation. in fact, he was an aggressive participant. in it. he helped the fbi get arrest warrants and to monitor people's phones. and he was up all night. in the case of one high profile defendant they arrested in manhattan. now, through a spokesperson, he is saying essentially that he did come to believe that in other districts, there was some overzealousness going on in the way these cases were prosecuted, but that he acted with integrity. he makes no apologies for his work

i want to point out to you that yesterday, in writing a letter to danielle sassoon, emile beauvais, who is now the deputy acting, the acting deputy attorney general, essentially said to her after she refused to dismiss the case herself, he was yanking the case away from the entire southern district of new york and assigning it to main justice, the public integrity unit there, where, as you know, five prosecutors resigned last night. >> and of course, after those resignations, what happens if no one within that sector of the government says they will do the justice department's bidding? i know it's back under main justice's umbrella now, but what if main justice doesn't have anyone to carry it out either? >> well, the public integrity unit, according to our colleague ryan riley at nbc news, has about 25 to 30 lawyers in it. my understanding, from talking to two sources this morning is that those lawyers are gathered together and discussing what it is that they are going to do next. one of my sources said that they are trying to show solidarity, meaning show solidarity with those who have

who didn't hold back in his letter to trump's acting deputy attorney general, emil beauvais, writing, no system of ordered liberty can allow the government to use the carrot of dismissing charges or the stick of threatening to bring them again to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives. he also wrote. but any assistant u.s. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way, if no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then i expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion, but it was never going to be. me and the doj finally found someone to formally file the motion to dismiss the case. ed sullivan, a trial attorney with the public integrity unit who is nearing retirement. he officially did that in just the last hour. it still requires a federal court judge to approve the decision before the charges can be dropped, but it came only after beauvais gave the remaini

emil beauvais's letter to danielle sassoon and team suggests that there was these charges were political in nature, and they interfered in the fact that eric adams was running for election again and the things that he needed to do. tom homan suggests this is a deal to get an agreement, as he calls it, to get eric adams to do the administration's bidding as it relates to immigration. talk to me about the legality of any of that. under which circumstances would it have been fine for the department of justice to say, we're not prosecuting anything this anymore, versus what is not good about this? >> sure. >> so, you know. >> you could have a. >> case where a new administration comes in and says, you know what? we looked. >> at the law you're relying on, and. >> we disagree in your interpretation. >> of the law. second. >> a new administration or any new. >> prosecutor could look at a case and say. >> you know what? >> we really examine the facts here and we don't think you. factually can do can meet all of the elements of the crime. you can't we don't think. >> you. >> can prove it. >> so t

it was emile beauvais himself. >> you know, katie benner at this instance. right? to your point, there's this internal kind of struggle that's happening at the doj. but then there's also the external messaging that you talk about, which is trump taking and capturing this idea and saying that the rule of law is now his as he defines it. so is the message that he's sending out to the people. it's not so much his opponents or the people that are resisting him, but maybe to the supporters that are on the fence about whether or not i should get my hands dirty, isn't he now sending out the message, it's okay, get your hands dirty because i got your back. >> i have your back or i'll punish. >> you. >> if you don't. and i think that one of the things we've seen, and when we think about the way the public has reacted to donald trump, we think about the way that politicians, whether it's congress or local politicians, have reacted to him. everybody continually asks the question, how can the rule of law stop this man? how can the court stop this man? and certainly we've seen

we know emile beauvais is expected to be there as well.icial who really triggered. >> all of this. >> what are you hoping to accomplish? >> well. >> i'm acting on behalf of. >> common cause. >> they're a nonpartisan, independent. group that is essentially looking for the right. >> thing for. >> the people, for. good government, and for the processes to work out. >> the way they should. >> what we're looking for here is, hopefully the judge will. actually question mr. beauvais about his motives, will also. question the lawyers for. >> adams. >> and hopefully we'll come up with ordering. >> a hearing. so that testimony is taken. >> under oath. >> so this. >> could. >> just be one. >> step forward in the process. >> without any. >> decisions made today. >> it's not just your organization. >> that's crying foul here. we know the american bar association, which represents, i think 20,000 lawyers, has also expressed concerns. >> i'm wondering how unusual. >> would it be. >> for. a judge. >> to intervene. >> especially when it. >> comes to. >> an

and i think that the things that were said by emile beauvais in his letter basically confirm that as> and this is how the times put it. if this is the operating procedure, if this is how they're going to approach these cases, the times says it now sends a message that, quote, under the trump administration, doj will make prosecutorial decisions based not on the merits of a case, but on purely political concerns. so the two other things i wanted to go over with you is one, is there a remedy for this, even in the long term? in other words, if there is a miscarriage of justice, are there remedies later? and then second, is it as easy to do this with new cases as the ones that are already on the books? in other words, there was a case against adams. he's legally presumed innocent. it was supposed to play out. now it's depending on what the judge does. it's very likely not. but will it be as easy for them with this approach to then start new cases to do the weaponization, which they say is what they're against? >> so i think one of the big ironies of all this is that they've talked about

summed up their reason for quitting best in his resignation letter to the deputy attorney general, emile beauvaiswould know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial process to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. if no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then i expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion. but it was never going to be me. end quote. it was never going to be me that has stuck with me since the moment i read it. and if words could set paper on fire, those words would have been the ones to do it. seven different people chose to resign from the department of justice prosecutors. rather than be complicit in what is seemingly a quid pro quo, they'd rather maintain their honor and integrity than hold on to their prestigious jobs. and to many of us, resigning amid that kind of untoward pressure feels like the honorable thing to do. the right thing to do. but is it? i'm asking that i don't i don't have a formed opinion on this. i truly

the president's acting deputy attorney, emile beauvais, said the charges had to be dropped, in part because they were hampering his. ability to tackle what he called illegal immigration and violent crime. among those who stepped down the southern district of new york's top prosecutor, danielle sassoon, who expressed her alarm to attorney general pam bondi in a letter wednesday. sassoon described a meeting she attended last month with doj officials and adams legal team. quote, adams's attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that adams would be in a position to assist with the department's enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. adams responded in an interview this morning. >> my attorney. >> alex ferrari, one of the one of the top trial attorneys in the country. imagine him going inside saying that the only way mayor adams is going to assist in immigration, which i was calling for since. >> 2022. >> is if you drop the charges. that's quid pro quo. that's a crime. it took her three. she took it. took her three weeks to report in front of he

he wrote to emil beauvais, quote, some will view the mistake you are committing here in the light of their generally negative views of the new administration. i do not share those views. i can even understand how a chief executive, whose background is in business and politics, might see the contemplated dismissal with leverage as a as a good if distasteful deal. but any assistant u.s. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. this is, um, mr. scott, a u.s. veteran. he clerked for a conservative supreme court justices. it's just don't you find this odd? and how do you think the american people are going to take all this, or is it just too complicated a story? >> i think at one level, it's. >> a very complicated story. >> and the idea that donald trump is at war with the department of justice, donald trump is at war with career prosecutors. all of that is, for better or worse, a headline that voters have been. >> hearing for a long time. >> even though i would agree

in a letter to acting deputy attorney general emil beauvais, scotten wrote that the justice department to file your motion. because what you do is you come in and you put new people in. so when you say resign, they're going to be gone anyway. but i know nothing about the individual case. i know that they didn't feel it was much of a case. they also felt that it was unfair with the election. >> of the state. >> adams pleaded not guilty to the five federal charges he faces. well, the man accused of killing united health care ceo brian thompson in new york city last december is responding to an outpouring of support he says he's received. luigi mangione released a statement on friday about a new website created by his attorneys. mangione statement acknowledges all the letters of support he has received to date. the 26 year old pleaded not guilty to 11 state murder and terror charges. he could face the death penalty if found guilty of a federal murder charge. the san francisco medical examiner says there was no foul play in an open ai whistleblower's death last november. in an official rep

>> well, i think it sends the message, first of all, what emil beauvais did yesterday in his memo to danielle sassoon. in addition to placing people on administrative leave and starting investigations, he yanked the case away from the southern district. and on if i can, i want to read from the letter, he says. under your leadership, the office has demonstrated itself to be incapable or incapable of fairly and impartially reviewing the circumstances of this prosecution. he's essentially saying the entire office is untrustworthy, and therefore i'm taking this case and i'm giving it to the public integrity unit at main justice. that in and of itself is remarkable. so when we see that protest from the five resignations, one person in the criminal division, which oversees the public integrity unit. four other senior prosecutors in the public integrity unit itself saying no part of that is also a reaction to this was a case brought by the southern district, investigated by the southern district. your lack of confidence in an office full of 200 plus prosecutors is really unbecoming of the t

according to the new york times, that would be none other than the acting deputy attorney general, emil beauvais, who shortly after donald trump took office, quote, called mayor eric adams lawyer, saying he wanted to talk about potentially dismissing the case. what followed was a rapid series of exchanges between adams lawyers and trump's administration. quote, the series of events in which the acting number two official at the justice department seemed to guide criminal defense lawyers toward a rationale for dropping charges against a high profile client, represents an extraordinary shattering of norms for an agency charged with enforcing the laws of the united states. quote, it also sends a message under the trump administration, the justice department will make prosecutorial decisions based not on the merits of a case, but on purely political concerns. longtime prosecutors and defense lawyers said, quote, prompted by mr. beauvais, the mayor's lawyers refined their approach until they landed on a highly unorthodox argument. records and interviews show one that was ultimately reflected in mr. b

and emile beauvais says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, i'll collect those at the end. like, why? i mean, she just exposed the fact that this was so plainly corrupt and the fact that she was able to stand up to it and that these again, very young career prosecutors were able to do the same. i'm just incredibly proud. >> of them tonight. >> yeah. and one of the things that happens, harry, is that as she writes, she writes to beauvais saying, look, my, my team, we all agree on this. write the letter back from beauvais, which we also have, which is just so contemptuous and big mad i think is the best way to describe it. you know, he says, well, i'm going to put your team on administrative leave and we're going to investigate you and the office of professional ethics for recommendations. and maybe we don't know what else sort of dangling out there, what that might be. i mean, what is someone who worked in maine justice. how big a deal is, what's happened over the last 12 hours? i'd say enormous. >> what's really momentous about chris is the. framing of it. >> first of all, this team y

>> so the mayor was in court this morning, this afternoon with his lawyer and as well as emile beauvais. they face judge dale ho, who wanted to hear from them about why they want his case dropped. his five count federal indictment on bribery and corruption and all that kind of stuff. the trial was supposed to start april 21st, and now it won't. the judge did not make an immediate ruling. he said he didn't want to shoot from the hip. he wanted to take some time with it. he said he would have a ruling in print at some point, but he really wanted to hear from the mayor, and he wanted to hear from his lawyer about why the case is dropped. you know, the mayor took the stand, and he addressed questions from the judge on whether he understood what without prejudice means. again, that means he could they could bring the charges back up whenever they feel like it at any point. and as you noted earlier, a lot of people view what the doj memo says, as it's not that the charges were without merit, it's that they are impeding eric adams from helping president trump do whatever president trump wants

have emil beauvais, the number two at the justice department. and to answer your question directly, it is not lawful. there are congressional statutes. this is a question of the courts, and it is also a question of congress. this is one where in this area and in a number of areas right now, the executive branch is it's not just the unitary executive theory. >> of. >> like we. can do whatever we want. it is a unitary theory of that is that is that we do not have to obey congress or the courts. there are laws. the current law is that these people at the fbi are protected legally. they cannot be fired without. >> why isn't. there a legal device to stop both the agents from being outed as part of retribution and any, any more firings happening for people who simply follow the law? and again, trump won. he can put anyone he wants in charge of the fbi. and i suppose he could elevate and demote people he chooses. but you can't fire people for following the law, can you? >> that that. >> is absolutely right. until such time as the supreme court says, ch

but he really didn't push back much on emil bove when beauvais said there was no quid pro quo, therewas no agreement here. i what i would have asked if i was the judge was what if eric adams was not in agreement with the administration's political, uh, political preferences, political agenda? what if eric adams said he opposed your immigration agenda? would you still be here making the same motion to dismiss? and i did not see that kind of pushback from the judge here. but look, the judge is correct and doj is correct that there is very broad discretion for doj to move to dismiss its case, very narrow discretion for the judge to to refuse that. one thing i do want to point out, only one perspective was really presented at this hearing because it was emil bove obviously wanted to dismiss the indictment. eric adams, desperate to have the indictment dismissed. but all the people who dissented, they resigned. they're gone. danielle sassoon uh hagan scotten. these conservative attorneys, they're not there. their perspective is not being aired in that courtroom. >> important to point out,

. >> deputy attorney general emil beauvais, who i think is doing.n his letter that this dropping of the case was so adams. >> could better. >> help with. >> the. >> immigration crackdown. and then he dismisses the case without. >> prejudice. >> which means that it's going to be hanging over. >> adams throughout just to make sure. >> he plays ball. so you can see. why adams was so compliant. with trump's. >> border czar. >> yesterday when the sword of damocles is hanging over his head. but as the reverend said, he's right. it's up. >> to. the judge. >> and i think this judge is going. >> to reject. >> this deal. and i think in the end, it's going to be a standoff with the judge. so i'm not accepting this dropping. and then doj says, well, we're not pushing it forward. so it's a very interesting time. >> yeah. michael where do you see this going. >> i don't know i don't know. >> the other thing. >> is, is that as i'm pretty sure. >> no one. >> has still gone. >> to court to. >> dismiss the charges. >> yet, right. >> that's correct. and the. problem wi

emile. >> beauvais, the. >> assistant attorney general. >> of the united. >> states. >> basically throwingams any case. >> against eric. >> adams out. >> the window, but. also taking the time to whack back. >> at the biden administration. >> they're always using the political in. with the legal. and that that is doubly exhausting, i think, for everybody. >> all right. let's bring in. >> former district attorney. >> for westchester county mimi roca. she was also. >> an. >> assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york for. >> more than a decade. >> i want. >> to talk to you about what's. >> going on here in new. >> york city. >> as. >> well. >> mayor adams. >> but first, the. >> american bar association put out a statement. and i'm wondering what. >> you make of. >> it. >> in terms of the. >> pushback that we could see from the. >> courts, if any. >> so that. >> statement that the american bar association put. out just last night is, is really extraordinary. and i don't know that people who aren't lawyers. who follow the aba would necessarily know it, but they they don't mak

why isn't a meal beauvais going? >> emil bove should be the one to go. he's the one who cut the deal with alex spiro, the lawyer for eric adams. he is the one who ordered his team to drop the charges. he's the one who then sent the memo to say. i'm now going to investigate the prosecutors who have resigned. so he broke it. he owns it, and yet he's going to send others into court, because i think it'd just be really embarrassing if he's the one getting dressed down by judge dale ho. it's going to be ugly, but it's going to be warranted because you're not supposed to do this. this is a blatant quid pro quo. i mean, don't don't trust me on that. just look at the memo that beauvais sent. he said the quiet part out loud. he said, so. >> why would pam bondi the new attorney general allow this? dave, i mean, you've worked with her. you vouched for her, her confirmation hearing. nothing would go beyond her purview. why? why would she allow what you say is an obvious quid pro quo? >> i don't think she's being served well by the deputy attorney general, who was no

emil bove. he's the deputy u.s. attorney general. you write, quote, beauvais is the perfect effing hatchet man, says one criminal defense attorney, mark cohen, who has represented hundreds of defendants in southern district of new york cases. he was one of those prosecutors who remind you how much, quote, how much power they have. he was forever reminding us of his stature. this lawyer asks, what did you learn about emil bove through your reporting? >> well, i learned that beauvais was actually a star himself of that crown jewel of that southern district of new york, and that he tackled many of the very biggest cases there, including a number of january 6th cases while he was leading the national security division of s.d.n.y. but then he fell out and he began to be one of donald trump's defense lawyers. and he began to develop a lot of suspicions about what s.d.n.y and what some of these new york prosecutors were up to. and eventually he joined the trump administration. >> could we continue to see these fights break out between the white house and the justice

beauvais admonished a member of my team who took notes during the meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting's conclusion. emil bove then replied as follows in no valid sense do you uphold the constitution by disobeying direct orders, implementing the policy of a duly elected president, and anyone romanticizing that behavior does a disservice to the nature of this work and the public's perception of our efforts. and then, in his own resignation letter to beauvais, scotten, the prosecutor wrote this any assistant u.s. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow the using of prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. if no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then i expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion, but it was never going to be me. well, in the end, that person was beauvais himself, who signed the motion to dismiss the charges against adams. and there's been no attempt here to mask what has just taken place. the trump administration is se

capitol in 2021, emil bove helped track down and prosecute suspected rioters. at the time, beauvais was helping lead the counterterrorism section in the u.s. attorney's office for new york's southern district. a former colleague told cnn beauvais was appalled at what was going on during the riot, and was leaning in to fully support the fbi's efforts to investigate, locate and arrest the suspects. in a stunning turn four years later, beauvais is now acting deputy attorney general under president trump. beauvais had left the u.s. attorney's office and became a member of trump's criminal defense team in 2021. in 2023, beauvais teamed up with trump's defense lawyer, todd blanche, in the hush money case. trump was found guilty and is appealing the conviction. now, beauvais is leading a new justice department effort called the weaponization working group. according to a memo beauvais wrote, the fbi actively participated in what president trump appropriately described as a grave national injustice by investigating the january 6th u.s. capitol riot. beauvais is expected to be named principa

remember emil bove, trump's former defense attorney, wanted to dismiss this case not because of a lack of merit when it comes to the case against adams. instead, beauvais is arguing that the investigation will prevent mayor adams from cooperating with trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. let's go to cnn's kara. kara. kara, how is emil bove responding to these fiery resignations from impressive prosecutors with impressive conservative credentials? >> yeah, jake. so sources tell. >> us that. >> this morning. >> beauvais met with the remaining members of the. >> public integrity section in washington, dc. remember, five of them resigned. yesterday when they refused to sign a motion to dismiss these corruption charges. so he met with them this morning, and he told them that he needed just one of them to agree to sign the papers. now, after that meeting, the team, the these remaining prosecutors met again. and while there was no explicit threat during the meeting with beauvais. sources say that people were aware of what it could mean. those prosecutors in new york who wouldn't sign it if they didn't resign, they were placed on administrative leave.

emil bove, who personally defended the justice department's motion to end the case against adams. beauvais telling the judge, quote, the fact that mayor adams is sitting to my left right now is part of the problem. he's not able to be outrunning the city and campaigning. so i think that this motion is actual interference. at least eight federal prosecutors disagree with him. they resigned in protest over all of this. four of the deputy mayors who served under eric adams have quit as well. given the stakes here, the judge said he wasn't going to issue an immediate ruling in court today. said, quote, i'm not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench. my legal source tonight is elie honig former federal prosecutor. ellie, what did you make of the arguments that we heard in court today? >> let me tell you what confused me. so we heard time and again emil bove saying there's no quid pro quo. there's no dismissing the indictment in exchange for eric adams helping us on our immigration agenda. but he did say we are dismissing the indictment because he is helping us with our immigration