Top NY federal prosecutor resigns after Justice Dept. tells her to drop charges against Mayor Adams

A top federal prosecutor in New York has resigned after being told by Justice Department headquarters to drop her corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

Adams was charged in September with federal bribery, conspiracy, and campaign finance offenses, but pleaded not guilty to all charges.

President Trump said last year that Justice Department prosecutors under then President Joe Biden were "dirty players" and that he would consider pardoning Adams.

Early this week, the department, now under Trump, told Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to drop the charges, resulting in her resignation Thursday. 

In her resignation letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sassoon also said Adams' attorneys in a meeting last month with the department proposed a "quid pro quo," in which charges against their client would be dropped in exchange for him enforcing Trump's immigration policies – in one of the country's most liberal cities. 

The Justice Department under President Donald Trump requested the charges against Adams be dropped, resulting in resignations of prosecutors in New York and Washington resigning.

Trump and Adams' attorney have denied such a deal. 

"The idea that there was a quid pro quo is a total lie," Adams' attorney Alex Spiro said. "We offered nothing and the department asked nothing of us."