daniel sassoon. not that anyone in the department has a political sort of brand or character, but but she is from a conservative. she she got to the justice department through a very conservative pathway. >> yes. >> and i mean, take a step back for just. >> a. >> second here. the this letter. >> by emile bove, which i have to say is a. >> wild document. >> i mean, a. >> wild we will read the whole. thing on the air. >> it has a. >> kind. >> of unhinged. >> quality to it. like you can hear him. >> like banging. >> the keyboard. >> as he writes. you know. >> how dare you? >> basically, how dare you? >> the theory of the case. here is that the biden justice department was weaponized. >> against its political enemies. the biden justice department. >> whose u.s. >> attorneys prosecuted. >> a senior. >> democrat from new. >> jersey and convicted him, and the democratic mayor of the biggest city in america. this is the theory of weaponization with this tortured. >> nonsense about it. >> had to do with. >> s

and danielle sassoon is. >> right. >> he would.both be protecting her rightly, from any investigation and getting to the bottom of. >> what appears. >> to be a really a. >> quid pro quo. >> deal here. and so the judge has enormous power here to do the right thing and to get to the bottom and accord everyone their due process rights. in doing that, because everyone has the ability, you know, to be heard. and to cross-examine. and before the judge makes a decision. >> explain to me. at any point, prosecutors can choose not to prosecute something. the department of justice can decide not to do something. but there's some question about why this all came about. 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 immigrat

after mlb ordered daniel sassoon to have the case dismissed. daniel sassoon knew how her letter would be received by the attorney general. she knew that her letter was filled with brave defiance, principled defiance of emil bove and donald trump's desires. and so the last line of daniel sassoon's letter to the attorney general says, in the event you are unwilling to meet or to reconsider the directive in light of the problems raised by mr. bova's memo, i am prepared to offer my resignation. it has been, and continues to be, my honor to serve as a prosecutor in the southern district of new york. it turns out danielle sassoon's last act as the us attorney for the southern district of new york was to write an eight page indictment of emil bove. her letter says, quote, the evidence against adams is proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed federal crimes. and that to ask a judge to dismiss the case would be, quote, inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good faith arguments be

her name is danielle sassoon. you see her there? she stepped down this afternoon after trump's department of justice ordered her to drop the federal government's corruption case against new york city's democratic mayor, eric adams, something she refused to do. and to be clear about the context here, sassoon is not a what you would call a resistance liberal. she was appointed by donald trump. three weeks ago, she was a member of the right wing legal organization, the federalist society. she clerked for the late supreme court justice antonin scalia, one of the fathers of modern conservative legal thought. but today, sassoon put her loyalty to the rule of law ahead of her ideological affiliations. in a letter to attorney general pam bondi. sassoon said in no uncertain terms that the deal to halt adams prosecution, with the possibility of reviving the charges at some future date, was part of a back door deal to get adams to support trump's immigration crackdown in new york. sassoon recalls a meeting with the acting deputy attorney gener

so sassoon. basically writes a letter to beauvais. she says, i can't do it. in good conscience. >> like i cannot uphold. >> my oath. >> to the constitution. >> my professional duties. >> and walk into court and. >> do this. >> i'll resign instead. >> so as soon as now gone, the case has not been dropped. things get even. >> more. >> complicated from here. listen up. >> so after sassoon resigns. >> the case is then transferred to the doj's public integrity section, based in washington. >> beauvais clearly. >> being like. >> screw these. >> people in southern district of new york. >> we'll do it here at. >> main justice. >> well, guess what happened. >> that section's acting head. a guy named john keller. >> also refused to. >> drop the case. he also resigned. the case. >> was then. >> transferred yet again to kevin driscoll, the. >> acting head of. >> the justice department's. criminal division. driscoll two. >> refused to. >> drop the case. >> he resigned. >> as well. >> after that. three more. >> senior members of the doj's public integrity section. these ar

as a result, you saw the obviously the resignation of danielle sassoon. somebody who always wanted this job had been a career prosecutor, somebody who was appointed by the trump administration to take this position on an interim basis, pending the confirmation of who they'll ultimately have in that office, is the us attorney, jay clayton. so it's really a challenge for the southern district. then they put the other prosecutors on leave and then the public integrity section where the case was transferred. to those prosecutors. five of them say, we're not in for this either. we've resigned. so i just checked the docket as you were starting the program. there's still nothing on there. there's nothing that's been filed. this case has not been dismissed. there's nothing on there that tells us anything about anything where this case exists. if you see me glancing at my phone, it's because i'm just waiting and looking at different texts that are coming in. there's still nothing new. so where this goes today, i'm not sure where it goes. i think the ultimate thing

attorney daniel sassoon on her decision to resign. her commitment to integrity and the rule of law reflects the finest traditions of the southern district, united states attorney's office and the department of justice. the department's announced intent to investigate miss sassoon and some of the career prosecutors who served alongside her is a stark departure from those traditions, and that should concern everyone committed to the pursuit of justice without fear or favor. end quote. leading off our discussion tonight is andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and former chief of the criminal division of the eastern district of new york. he's also an msnbc legal analyst. andrew, thank you for being with us. this is quite something. this is a story that started about eric adams, maybe a story a lot of americans weren't really covering, a guy who got himself into a whole lot of hot water and was facing charges into a showdown about justice and fairness and politics. i have to say this has this has blown up in the last 48 hours in a

sassoon was readying more charges against the new york mayor. adams denies all charges, and this morning he responded on fox news. >> my attorney, alex speier, 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 us three. >> she took. >> it took her three weeks to report in front of her a criminal action. come on, this is silly. >> we are joined. >> now by. >> nbc news white. >> house. >> correspondent erin gilchrist in washington. and here. >> in. >> new. >> york, our national law enforcement correspondent. >> tom winter. >> msnbc legal correspondent. lisa rubin, former federal prosecutor at the southern district, berit berger, and also with us presidential historian douglas brinkley. okay, tom, let's back up for a moment. take us through how all this went down. >> sure. and we'll back up to what the mayor just said about how he'

from daniel sassoon on down that office. actually, believe it or not, i think the people there feel rightfully so. better now that this has happened, because as i know, we'll get to a little bit more. but as you read, as hagan scotten said in his letter, any federal prosecutor across the country knows that they could not stand up in federal in front of a federal judge and ask for this to be dismissed. and that is what actually is so remarkable that the people here who are twisting the principles of being a federal prosecutor are not the ones in the southern district of new york or public integrity who are resigning, but the ones who are trying to literally coerce them into doing it at the head of the justice department. and so there is, i think, a great sense of relief and pride more than anything right now, not just in the southern district, but in the doj alum community. i mean, i'm hearing from people all over. and just lawyers in general saying, yes, this is what our oath is about. this is what following ethical rules is

and both sassoon and scotten are not going quietly into the night. in a letter to pam bondi, sassoon wrote this such an exchange with adams violates common sense beliefs in the equal administration of justice. the justice manual and the rules of professional conduct. she underscored the quid pro quo nature of the request to drop the charges against adams, writing i attended a meeting on january 31st, 2025, with mr. beauvais, adams's counsel, and members of my office. adams 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. mr. 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

first, let's talk about sassoon. an individual who went toe to toe with sam bankman-fried, cross-examined him, and by all accounts really tuned him up when he was on the defense stand in his own defense in that case. and obviously he was convicted. this is somebody who has been described to me over the years as a killer, and they say that in a good way. somebody who goes out there and gets the cases and gets the cases done. somebody yesterday described her to me as somebody who represents the epitome of the southern district, which is somebody who goes after cases without fear or favor, somebody who believes in justice. so that's who this individual is. they're a veteran of that office. i don't think there's any indication whatsoever that she ever wanted to leave. and she was there in an acting capacity until jay clayton, who's the trump appointee for that office, could be confirmed. so just so people understand who she is, her connections to all this and the connections to the office, there is nothing that has been

danielle sassoon refused to dismiss the case. now, the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of adams case is roiling new york politics, with a number of local leaders calling for adams to resign or for the governor of new york to use her powers to dismiss him. but perhaps more importantly than what's going on here in new york, is the battle lines that are being drawn outside of this city. the extraordinary revolt within the department of justice about the dismantling of the justice department's independence to do its job. remember, president trump ran on a campaign of retribution and promised to, quote, investigate the investigators. many are questioning whether beauvais, the president's former personal lawyer who is now the acting deputy attorney general, has the right to interfere with the work of the southern district of new york, the ny. it's often referred to jokingly as the sovereign district of new york because of the way in which it maintains its independence. and more broadly, this is a question of whether the executi

of course, this all started earlier this week when danielle sassoon, she was trump's pick to serve as the acting u.s. attorney for s.d.n.y. she's a prosecutor with sterling credentials among conservatives clerked for scalia. she, in response to being ordered to drop the case, sent a letter offering her resignation directly to the attorney general, pam bondi. right, bypassing bovay who had sent her this instruction, writing that adams attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating adams would be in a position to assist with the department's enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. adding 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. in that same letter, sassoon outlines a particularly damning anecdote in which bovay admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting with adams lawyers and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting's conclusion. like, why are you writing things down? lawyer f

attorney for new york danielle sassoon. acting deputy attorney general emil bove, who is trump's former personal lawyer, then tried to turn to two other senior prosecutors at doj headquarters. they wouldn't play ball, either. we're hearing as many as three other prosecutors have also resigned. and you know that phrase that popped up a lot the last, i don't know, what, eight years? quid pro quo. it's back. soon. sent a scathing resignation letter to ag pam bondi, saying that she was baffled by the decision to try to drop that case and she didn't pull a single punch. she accuses the administration of politicizing the doj, weaponizing it. sound familiar? well, she says she can't really make a straight face, good faith argument to support. why her office the s.d.n.y. despite their belief in the strength of the case and their ability, they believe to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, why they would then dismiss a case because it was politically inconvenient for a mayor, or because that mayor might prove politically advantageou

quitting today, danielle sassoon acting u.s. attorney for new york's southern district. also stepping down. john keller, acting head of the justice department's public integrity section and deputy assistant attorney general kevin driscoll, the department's top career prosecutor. then this evening, we learned from sources that as many as three additional public integrity prosecutors also quit. all of this follows what happened just three days ago, when the new acting deputy attorney general, emil bove, a former attorney for president trump, ordered danielle sassoon to dismiss the charges against adams. bova's memo to sassoon laying it out raised eyebrows in that he said the doj reached its determination, quote, without assessing the strength of the evidence. now, instead, bove said that the case, which was supposed to go to trial this spring, would have distracted the new york mayor and mayor adams from supporting the federal government's crackdown on migrants. now, on this broadcast monday night, law professor jessica roth paraphrased the argument that bove was making. >

sassoon, what mr.agan, what the penn prosecutors did, they would not stand up in front of a federal judge and say, this case should be dismissed when it is clear as day. we've seen it now ourselves in bobby's letter. we've seen it in sassoon's letter. we've seen it in hagen's letter. we that the basis for dismissal is literally a political deal. and i don't think it's that he didn't want to pardon adam, but i think it's that he did want leverage over adam. it reminds me, i think i said this yesterday of the mafia cases i did. you know, it's much better to have someone who you can kind of pull the puppet strings on than to have someone who just owes you a favor. and that is what what he bought here. and i think for trump and frankly, for beauvais who has done it's not this is not an isolation, right. everything he has done has been about exerting control over the department of justice through the white house and the political arm and saying there is no separation anymore. and what these prosecutors have

and sassoon in her letter, in fact forecast what's going to happen next. she says there are instances in which courts have rejected the dismissal of the case, and she gives examples of bribery as one of the examples. she's kind of saying this is bribery. she also says it's a quid pro quo. it's a definite quid pro quo between as far as she's saying it, between adams and beauvais, that he, adams will go in the direction they want him to go in immigration in order to drop the case. that's the quid pro quo. the judge knows that. now, the judge will know that from sassoon letter and the rest of it, and even beauvais's own letter first said it, and then the judge will have a hearing in all likelihood. so there's going to be a hearing. there's also this other mechanism that a judge could do besides sanctioning people, which is actually a point that were in prosecutors. it's gone to the supreme court before the supreme court didn't take the case, and there were two judges that dissented, but that's a possibility as well, where the judge says, judge hurst says, i'm

and by the way, when danielle sassoon refused to do it. and you're right, by the way, to note that she's a conservative. not only did was she a federalist society member, she penned an op ed against joe biden a few weeks ago, just sort of gratuitously criticizing joe biden's pardons. but when beauvais told her to do this, to dismiss the case, and when danielle sassoon refused, this is part is really chilling to me. emil bove then fired back with a letter that evan just referred to that said, fine, everyone around you is going to be put on administrative leave too, and now we're going to investigate you not criminally, but through our inspector general, which is the in-house ethics watchdog. so that is sending an unmistakable and i think, chilling message, which is get on board with the political agenda here or be punished. >> and it's amazing because she was prosecuting an allegedly corrupt democrat who is kissing up to trump. um, it's it's really remarkable you couldn't write this. if you put this in a screenplay, people would be like, th

her name is danielle sassoon. she wrote this remarkable memo to pam bondi, trump's newly confirmed attorney general. she said, quote, i deem it necessary to the faithful discharge of my duties to raise the concerns expressed in this letter with you and to request an opportunity to meet to discuss them further. the reasons advanced by the acting deputy attorney general, mr. bove, for dismissing the indictment are not ones i can, in good faith defend, as in the public interest and as consistent with the principles of impartiality and fairness that guide my decision making. mr. bove proposes dismissing the charges against adams in return for his assistance in enforcing federal immigration laws. analogizing to the prisoner exchange in which the us freed notorious russian arms dealer viktor bout in return for an american prisoner in russia. such an exchange with adams violates common sense beliefs in the equal administration of justice. the justice manual and the rules of professional conduct. adams has argued in subst

he just went after sassoon. he said, quote, in no valid sense.o 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 in the public's perception of our efforts. basically, what sassoon and many others in this position say is, you know, our job is to uphold the constitution. is he saying, no, your job is to do what the president says. >> yes. i think that's exactly what he's saying. and, you know, on a technical level, i mean, he calls her insubordinate in this remarkably personal attack. uh, his letter responding to her that he says, you're being insubordinate. you have to follow orders. you know, he's technically right. i mean, she's saying i'm going to resign if you don't change your orders. uh, but it's quite heroic, actually, what she's doing. and you know that remark he makes, like, you know, no one should romanticize what you're doing. it's obvious he's worried about her really becoming kind of lionized

sassoon wrote this, although mr.eauvais did disclaimed any intention to exchange leniency in this case for adams's assistance in enforcing federal law. that is the nature of the bargain laid bare in mr. beauvais's menu. now, we just heard mayor adams deny quid pro quo. emil beauvais has denied it, too. but that said, what do you just make of the allegation? and 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 thei

miss sassoon notes in her in a footnote here.and this is like, actually maybe the most explosive thing in the entire thing. this is a footnote. she says, quote, i attended a meeting on january 31st, 2025 with mr. bovÉ. mayor adams's counsel and members of my office. mayor 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. mr. bovÉ admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting's conclusion. and finally, there's this quote. as you know, our office is prepared to seek a superseding indictment from a new grand jury. under my leadership, we've proposed a superseding indictment that would add an obstruction conspiracy count based on evidence that mayor adams destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the fbi. and that would add further factual allegations regarding

her name is danielle sassoon.he wrote this remarkable memo to pam bondi, trump's newly confirmed attorney general. she said, quote, i deem it necessary to the faithful discharge of my duties to raise the concerns expressed in this letter with you and to request an opportunity to meet to discuss them further. the reasons advanced by the acting deputy attorney general, mr. bove, for dismissing the indictment are not ones i can, in good faith defend, as in the public interest, and as consistent with the principles of impartiality and fairness that guide my decision making. mr. bove proposes dismissing the charges against adams in return for his assistance in enforcing federal immigration laws. analogizing to the prisoner exchange in which the u.s. freed notorious russian arms dealer viktor bout in return for an american prisoner in russia. such an exchange with adams violates common sense beliefs in the equal administration of justice. the justice manual and the rules of professional conduct. adams has argued in subs

yet, that's what danielle sassoon tried to do thursday when she resigned as acting u.s.istrict of new york. she wasn't just refusing to do as the president's man ordered to drop charges against mayor eric adams who had promised to help the administration. her resignation letter makes clear that she was rejecting something deeper, the abandonment of honor, duty, and the public commitment to which she had committed her career, her conscience, and taken an oath three weeks before. it's a similar oath to the one taken by elected lawmakers, executive branch employees, and those who serve the public. for the rest of us who don't take an oath, we often lack the courage implied in those words to be a barrier between power and abuse, between expediency and principle, between what's easy and what's right, most of us aren't faced with such stark moral choices. many who are turn their heads hoping attention moves quickly on. it takes courage to stop the train or jump off. but as they say, courage is contagious. sassoon's deputy resigned writing "i expect you will eventually find som

so very clearly, sassoon knew what this was all about, knew what was going on in. is not somebody you know. i've already gotten emails saying another biden appointed u.s. attorney going against trump, another left leaning attorney. far from it. this is somebody who clerked for justice scalia. and apparently, in her email to the department of justice headquarters, main justice is referred to, notes justice scalia, who she clerked for in her reasoning for making the decisions that she did. so she has resigned. it is over refusal to drop this case. subsequently, our colleague ryan riley has heard that the case was transferred to the department of justice's public integrity section in dc. those two top prosecutors have now also resigned. katie. so we have three significant resignations this afternoon at the united states department of justice and all the line prosecutors, some of which are thought of quite highly in new york legal circles, have now also been placed on leave. the final chapter in this book has been far. >> from. >> i feel like you've just hit me with bu

danielle sassoon describes a quid pro quo where the d.o.j. would dismiss the charges against adams in support of president trump's agenda. what questions does this raise for you? >> i think this is a disagreement between prosecutors. the u.s. attorney disagrees what are your superiors are saying. and eric adams for the last year or so has been moving in the direction to crack down on illegal immigration any way. i don't know if he would be behaving differently in the first place. but this is a judgment call and u.s. attorney whether in the southern district of new york thinks of itself as a sovereign district as they call it, doesn't get to make that call. if the superiors decide that the underlying evidence is interimsy or the prosecution itself was politically motivated, that's their call to make. geoff: the deputy ag cited the need for adams to help with donald trump's immigration policy and adams and immigration czar said if he doesn't come through i will be up his butt where the hell is the agreement? this isn't subtle -- >> i don't know

danielle sassoon, the acting u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, was a trump appointee, a conservative federalist society lawyer who once clerked for the late conservative supreme court justice antonin scalia. the latest to quit top adams prosecutor, hagan scotten clerked for chief justice john roberts. he's a decorated combat veteran and was a rising star in the prestigious southern district. in fact, still up on the justice department website, six pages of press releases on important cases he's been involved with, including the successful corruption prosecution of the fbi's former new york head of counterintelligence. in his resignation letter today, scotten took the acting deputy ag to task, calling out bove, who has been at the center of this legal storm, for seeking the dismissal of charges against mayor adams. but in a way that could revive them if adams doesn't do the administration's bidding, he writes, quote, no system of ordered liberty can allow the government to use the carrot of dismissin

i think he perhaps expected danielle sassoon because she was appointed as the interim u.s. attorney by this administration, that she would feel indebted to them and would do their bidding and would do it without creating any fuss. she would do it in the normal course, and there would be nothing extraordinary there. when she pushed back, he then said, i'll just transfer it to the public integrity section in washington. they'll do it for me. and they pushed back. i don't know that he expected to get that sort of pushback and then ultimately signed it himself. but this, you know, reported showdown today where he demanded that everyone at the public integrity section decide who was going to sign this thing, or else they would all be fired. that really does strike me as an effort to prove i'm the boss of you. you know, it's a battle of wills, like sometimes you have with a three year old when they refuse to, you know, sit down in their chair, they're going to show you who's boss. it seems kind of like that. but at the end of the day, he had to sign it himself anyway. so, you kno

and so one of the things in her response, sassoon says, adams has argued in substance, and mr. beauvais appears to concede that adams should receive leniency for the federal crimes solely because he occupies an important public position. it essentially means that you cannot pursue public corruption against a mayor or anybody else because they have an important job. that's an incredible thing to have the justice department decide. and, you know, in addition to, uh, to the sassoon resignation, we also know that beauvais went to the justice department headquarters at the public integrity division and wanted them to sign it, and they refused. so kevin driscoll, who is the top career lawyer in the criminal division overseeing this issue, he resigned. and then john keller also tendered his resignation because he runs the public integrity section. so, erin, at this hour, we don't know who is going to end up signing this letter. by the way, one of the interesting things about this is that beauvais, from our understanding, is perfectly capable to sign this dismissal himself and submit i

danielle sassoon, the interim u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, quit instead and alleged in her resignation letter to the attorney general that adams lawyer and the justice department were pushing for what amounted to a quid pro quo, having the mayor assist on immigration if his charges were dismissed. appearing on fox news earlier with trump's border czar, the mayor denied that accusation. >> 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 us three. she took it took her three weeks to report in front of her a criminal action. come on, this is silly. >> msnbc news msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin joins me now. and, lisa, we said this at one point. it was just danielle sassoon saying this was not something she would undertake as a prosecutor on behalf of the s.d.n.y. there's a second prosecutor now echoing that. right. >> that's right. and w

attorney in manhattan, danielle sassoon, today's resignation letter specifies exactly how far the trump team in the justice department tried to push denise chung. in her letter, she wrote, when i explained that the quantum of evidence did not support that action, you stated that you believed that there was sufficient evidence. you also accused me of wasting five hours of the day doing nothing except trying to get what the fbi and i wanted, but not what you wanted. as i shared with you at this juncture, based upon the evidence i have reviewed, i still do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to issue the letter you described, including sufficient evidence to tell the bank that there is probable cause to seize the particular accounts identified. because i believe that i lacked the legal authority to issue such a letter, i told you that i would not do so. you then asked for my resignation, and this brings the total number of principled resignations. just in the last week in the trump justice department alone to eight. also today, federal judge tanya chutkan considered new claims by

and you have a prosecutor here, miss sassoon. she's now resigned, who basically said, no, we're not doing that. we're we have. a last september, damian williams, the former u.s. attorney. >> gave. >> a press conference and he talked about this being a long running conspiracy, a legal campaign, contributions, over $100,000 in first class luxury trips. these are all allegations. but these were against the mayor of the city of new york. a search warrant was executed on gracie mansion. that's the home of the mayor of the city of new york. never happened before. so now, six months later. okay. you know, if you again, this is allegation if you agree to our immigration agenda will dismiss this case, but we'll dismiss it with prejudice, because if you don't, we're going to bring it back. that's the appearance. and that's basically, quite frankly, what mr. suen said in a letter happened. dismissal with prejudice, without prejudice. immigration agenda. you don't do the immigration agenda. we'll bring back the indictment. so that's shocking

danielle sassoon has absolutely no incentive to lie about this. none whatsoever.y know her. i worked with her. i believe her. it just again, and there are multiple prosecutors there that are in the room. i know the others as well. these are not people who are going to make up something like that. so i think really judge ho needs to look at that. and then if in fact, judge ho determines that that did occur. one, it's hard to see how this case gets dismissed, even though he doesn't have a whole lot of options here to continue a case if the prosecutors don't want to. but it's hard to say that with leave of court, this would be in the public interest if really it was just this quid pro quo for the abuse of prosecutorial power to be used to influence politics. that's that's not what we're supposed to do in those roles. but he should ask those questions, make those factual findings. and then i think in terms of the mayor, there's a real question for governor hochul. if judge ho makes the finding that that quid pro quo did happen, then, you know, i don't see how she does

. >> new york, danielle sassoon, accusing mayor adams attorneys. of pushing. >> for a quid. >> pro quo. on behalf. >> of their client. in her. >> letter to attorney general pam bondi. >> she outlined their suggestion. >> that the mayor would assist with immigration enforcement in exchange for a dismissal. adams strongly denied. >> those allegations today in. >> a statement, and this morning, adams defended himself on fox news alongside what appeared to be almost like his handler. trump's border czar, tom homan. take a listen. >> 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. >> if he doesn't come through. >> i'll be back. >> in new york city and we. >> won't be sitting on a couch. i'll be in his office up, up his butt saying, where the hell is the agreement we came to? >> unbelievable. >> adams has. >> pleaded not guilty to. >> all of those federal charges. >> but there's something that. >> we want t

danielle sassoon i think she's something like 38 years old. it's not like she's in the back half of her career ready to be done. she's at the top of her career. these other five attorneys, they could be throwing their careers away. these are their livelihoods, right? a scathing public letter that the whole world sees to pam bondi. what does that tell us? you know, i would characterize it a little bit differently, steph. >> i would call it a. very principled, well. >> reasoned letter. and you're. >> right to say she's at the top of her game. this is really just the start for her. she was a deputy. >> chief in this office. but i think it's. important for people to understand a little bit about who she is. she was hired during a. democratic administration by preet bharara, but. >> she's a. >> card carrying member of the. federalist society. she clerked for justice antonin. >> scalia. >> a conservative legend. in other. >> words. this isn't. >> someone who was hired as a prosecutor because of her politics. she was hired because of her commitment a

one daniel sassoon, the then acting us attorney, molly, of the southern district of new york. she was a trump appointed southern district, new york ag, okay. and two, as evidenced in the letter that sassoon wrote to attorney general pam bondi, everyone on the team, everybody in that office dealing with this case, said that the case was strong and that there was evidence. in fact, she was bringing a superseding indictment to add additional charges, including obstruction of justice. so trump there again, misleading americans. but his answer, let's be honest, was not exactly an enthusiastic statement of support of eric adams's innocence there. >> well. >> look, there. >> are. >> a number. >> of problems here. >> one is. >> that. >> you know. >> there has. >> been a lot of. >> talk. >> about eric adams. >> the. >> charges. >> the superseding. >> i mean, there have been a lot. >> of people resigned. it didn't. >> it has never. >> looked like a mayoral administration. >> that seemed without. >> problems and possible lots of other stuff. >> the other thing is. >> too. >> soon of cour

miss sassoon is exactly right. um, this process whereby a pending case was dismissed not because the evidence was sufficient. insufficient, not because the prosecutors did something wrong, but because the defendant is of some political use to the president is just something that is a perversion of what the justice department is supposed to stand for. and it is completely understandable why there have been resignations in protest. >> i wonder what the consequences are because we've already seen this justice department. well, drop prosecutions against january 6th rioters. the president, of course, pardoned all of those who were prosecuted, including those who attacked police officers on that day. do you see any consequences to this, or just does the system roll on? >> i jim, i just think this is this is where we are at this political moment that the republican party, um, is so unified behind donald trump. there is absolutely anything he can do. going back to the 2016 campaign when he said he could shoot someone in th

daniel sassoon sassoon's letter pointed out that they were ready to re indict him to bring obstructioncharges. interestingly, the same kind of charges trump faced in florida, you know, basically urging people to destroy evidence, lying to the fbi, you know, obstruction. >> other people. so that's why you. >> love. >> each other. >> people within the new york apparatus, within his office have resigned, have been under investigation. let's not forget, we got the text messages from his aide being like, these are the flights the mayor wants. honestly, they're just playing in our faces. and i'm. i guess i'm with michael. please, people of new york, please put us out of our misery come election time. don't do it to us again. lord, don't. >> it's a george. they contemplate that we need you to stick around, okay? because we want to continue the conversation after a quick break about a whole bunch of stuff, and you're a part of it. so stick around, folks. the weekend stick around, folks. the weekend on msnbc. —hi! —hi! ♪♪ chocolate fundraiser. ♪♪ with the chase mobile app, things move a little

. >> danielle sassoon was the interim u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york.e right wing federalist society, and was even considered a rising star in conservative legal circles. years ago, she clerked for the late supreme court justice antonin scalia and after his death praised his legacy, calling him, quote, the real deal. in fact, this week she referenced none other than scalia as part of her decision making in a forthright letter to us attorney general pam bondi. sassoon refused to carry out orders from acting deputy attorney general emil bovÉ to drop the corruption charges against new york mayor eric adams, and offered her resignation from the role trump had appointed her to just three weeks earlier, writing that dismissing adams indictment would be, quote, inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good faith arguments before the courts. scalia, she wrote, instilled in me a sense of duty to contribute to the public good and uphold the rule of law. now, it's remarkable, right, that this woman, a c

attorney daniel sassoon on her decision to resign.ited states attorney's office and the department of justice. the department's announced intent to investigate miss sassoon and some of the career prosecutors. prosecutors who served alongside her is a stark departure from those traditions, and that should concern everyone committed to the pursuit of justice without fear or favor. and it is signed by seven former u.s. attorneys from s.d.n.y. robert fisk, john s martin, mary jo white, james comey, david kelly, jeffrey berman, audrey strauss. after seven different prosecutors, including sassoon, resigned rather than accede to the demand to drop the corruption charges against new york city mayor eric adams. that request to the court to drop the charges, it has now finally been made. but charges don't just get dropped on their own automatically, because the justice department says to the judge overseeing the case now has to consider that request from the justice department. what is that likely to entail? is this saga ongoing? joining us now

mind you, sassoon is no liberal deep state prosecutor by any means. quite the opposite.he conservative federalist society and once clerked for the late, very conservative supreme court justice antonin scalia. and she was appointed by trump to the acting position just a few weeks ago. while she did not refer to the adams case in her brief resignation statement, nbc news has obtained a letter from her describing the d.o.j. order as being part of a quid pro quo. quote i attended a meeting on january 31st, 2025 with mr. beauvais adams, counsel and members of my office. 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. mr. beauvais admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting's conclusion. it should be noted that she is not alone in standing up to the trump administration. numerous top prosecutors and senior members of the doj resigned when ask

sassoon is no liberal. member of the conservative federalist society who clerked for the late conservative justice antonin scalia. i admire sassoon's courage and conviction in upholding her oath to the constitution. what isn't admirable is the deafening silence from other conservatives, other republicans, in the face of an all out assault on the once bedrock tenets of their party. joining me now, matthew dowd, msnbc's senior political contributor and analyst. matthew, thank you for coming back to the sunday show. just what i am just sort of dumbfounded that i am sort of lauding former majority leader mitch mcconnell for doing the right thing, for standing on his principles and voting against hegseth, gabbard and rfk jr. where has the republican party gone? >> well, that's the that's that's what we've seen over the last ten years. and it probably stretches further, but it's been accelerated over the last. ten years. >> this is. >> no longer a party that is a principled conservative party. i would argue that

attorney for the southern district of new york, danielle sassoon resigning on thursday to protest an order from a top justice department official to drop the corruption case against new york city mayor eric adams. in a letter to the new attorney general, pam bondi, sassoon writes, 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 priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. i remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached. sassoon's eight page resignation letter started a chain reaction, leading to five others stepping down in solidarity. all of them interestingly, members of the doj's public integrity unit. >> the u.s. >> attorney has. >> resigned over the doj's request to drop the. case into eric adams. did you personally request the justice department to drop that case? >> no, i didn't know nothing about it. that u.s. attorney was actually fired. i don't know if he or she resigned, but that u.s. attorney was fired. >> that's not true. so soon