The Thursday Night Massacre
Added 2025-02-18 08:09:19 +0000 UTCOA1126 - Law'd Awful Boves
We interrupt your regularly-scheduled LAM for readings and commentary on the documents at the heart of what has quickly become one of the most shocking events in the 155-year history of the U.S. Department of Justice: the openly corrupt dismissal of all charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams in exchange for his cooperation with Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Gavel Gavel contributor Liz Skeen joins to share her perspective as both a New York City lawyer and resident as we work through the dueling letters which have been publicly released so far from former US Attorney for SDNY Danielle Sassoon, Acting Deputy AG Emil Bove, and former Assistant US Attorney Hagan Scotten together with DOJ’s motion to dismiss.
Former U.S. Attorney for SDNY Danielle Sassoon’s letter offering her resignation if DOJ continues to move forward with filing a motion to dismiss the federal criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (2/12/25)
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove’s response to Danielle Sassoon’s letter (2/13/25)
Former Assistant US Attorney Hagan Scotten’s letter of resignation (2/14/25)
DOJ’s Rule 48(a) motion seeking to dismiss all pending charges against Eric Adams (2/14/25)
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Comments
Hey Thomas-if you have time to put together a new intro, I found an ideal piece: https://www.c-span.org/clip/public-affairs-event/general-milley-we-dont-take-an-oath-to-a-wannabe-dictator/5086253
Murcury Vapor
2025-02-21 02:18:20 +0000 UTCI am perhaps just a nasty and suspicious person, but I'm wondering if (cleaned up) instead of (citations omitted) is not covering for, say, generative AI hallucinations - at least in this particular instance. If he's gonna grasp at straws, the Lie Machine might be a very tempting one
Gamers4DorknessFallsIsFilmingSoonHYPE
2025-02-20 08:51:50 +0000 UTCGood call on releasing this. I’ve been so focused on other legal issues I only understood the TL:DR version. But the words matter when I hear them said a loud. ETA: the only federal trial I ever witnessed was ended by a Rule 48. The very last obscenity charge by the Bush’s first AG was playing out against a pornographer who made normal adult porn videos from the 1990s. Ashcroft had ginned up cases against adult legal pornographers in his term. The case fell apart in front of the judge due to technical difficulties of playing an FBI recorded screencap. It’s a great story about pornography journalism (me & my competition covering the trial) and how shitty Ashcroft’s Justice Department worked on stupid ass cases. (Which had not a hint of survival by the day of trial. The Bush DOJ just allowed them to be humiliated publicly
Rachel J Larris
2025-02-20 02:26:05 +0000 UTCLol, never thought of that
oh good what luck
2025-02-20 00:02:15 +0000 UTCAnd the extreme conflicts of interest having musky lawyers driving DOJ
dddebz
2025-02-19 21:51:44 +0000 UTCTBH - I patreon & listen to the podcast w ads sometimes so they get more money than I can pay without charging $10,000 a month for a subscription, aka Politico. ;)
dddebz
2025-02-19 21:50:26 +0000 UTCAs soon as I saw increases in dissidents’ and journalists’ disappearing in Brazil & elsewhere in Central America - not just arrested/jailed, which are bad enough- I knew we were gonna have to be extra vigilant in the USA, too.
dddebz
2025-02-19 21:45:50 +0000 UTCIt should be illegal to appoint a political appointee who is unqualified & uninterested in learning the nature of the agency they’re supposed to lead. Musk and his lawyers who have billions at state have run roughshod over the office and all offices in which the dogebags faced no resistance.
dddebz
2025-02-19 21:23:30 +0000 UTCDid Bondi actually personally accept her resignation? What are the odds AG’s email address is rerouted to the J6 defendant?!Does Bondi read her own email after what happened with Sessions & Barr? Maybe she agreed to hold the seat but let the boys do all the work? Wouldn’t be the first woman to carry the good ol’ boys water but may be the first to do so in the AG office, regardless of gender. These bastards suck. SDNY offered *her* resignation, not the J6 defendant & atty. Gross. Matt’s right that “do it yourself” is the only ethical response from an attorney or civil servant in the face of unlawful orders. Outside appointees who don’t work with their agency, or transition into the job, will be unlawful because they don’t *want*to know the rules. How much law does the typical military or civil servant *know* about this sort of thing?
dddebz
2025-02-19 21:20:35 +0000 UTCIs it even possible to do a null pros without prejudice? I have a vague recollection that one of the issues with either the Trump indictments or one of the Trumpworld indictments from the previous administration would be that charges can't be brought again after a null pros. It may have been a DoJ policy rather than a legal precedent? In any case, the whole "we reserve the right to charge him again after the election" thing may actually be a smokescreen to give them plausible deniability about the "quid" rather than a leash around Adams's balls. Or maybe it's both.
Congress- the opposite of Progress
2025-02-19 17:55:16 +0000 UTCtotally within the range of possibilities! one of Adams’ deputies (Ingrid Lewis Martín) already under indictment by Bragg’s office.
Liz Skeen
2025-02-19 15:20:11 +0000 UTCI apparently somehow missed this trend and hate it. Excuse my stodgy-ness! Have read all about it since our pod, lol. Bluebook Rule 5 for life bb.
Liz Skeen
2025-02-19 15:17:34 +0000 UTCNot that this is important, but Kagan has used “cleaned up” a few times. I think it was originally proposed by a MichLaw professor. But I agree with Liz, it’s very imprecise and “citations omitted” is much more descriptive
Charley Kelly, Bird Law Specialist
2025-02-19 14:59:26 +0000 UTCAnd in a parallel universe, the far-right president of the American nation state agreed to a plot to assassinate his rival & a Supreme Court Justice, after systematically sowing distrust of the electoral system among the populace, drafting a decree to give the assassination plot a veneer of legality, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan, and inciting a riot in the capital. Oh, wait, no, this happened in *this* universe, in Brazil. And of course he & Trump (were? are?) the best of mates.
I am a philosophical hole
2025-02-19 09:19:47 +0000 UTCI'm curious if there's anything New York could charge Adams with if the federal case is dropped. I've only ever heard of federal charges for public corruption so I can't say I'm hopeful.
...against all enemies foreign and DOGEmestic
2025-02-19 01:34:55 +0000 UTCAs a patron, I want to express my appreciation that this episode is being released publicly. Stuff this important shouldn't be paywalled.
A Mediocre Transbian Polycule
2025-02-18 22:06:47 +0000 UTCYeah, I think it's likely mostly about making incentives to support but 100% agree with this sentiment.
oh good what luck
2025-02-18 21:55:07 +0000 UTCFWIW, I support you because you do important work, not to get bonuses or early access to stuff. If you ever think something needs to go out stat, to max audience, don't think twice about me thinking I need special access or whatever
oh good what luck
2025-02-18 21:53:49 +0000 UTCYou know it is dark days when power doesn't even bother to keep appearances. This is so alarming, so disappointing.
Maria Kladaki
2025-02-18 20:58:59 +0000 UTCso what happens to the bove motion if/when hochul removes him from office? he can't aid immigration AND the case is dropped? that sucks.
citationy stuff
2025-02-18 20:12:22 +0000 UTCIts getting SO OLD already- this line of commenting that holds the idea that bc Tr was elected that anything he says goes. And that every f-ing law bends to support him??! They really seem to have allll gotten doctorates in manipulative fascist management. They slip TOO easily into the sales script. Its like we all now have narcissistic significant others.
Reese
2025-02-18 19:37:07 +0000 UTCAlso Project 65 needs to file a bar complaint against both lawyers involved in this, Bove and Spiro as well as anyone else involved who warrants disbarment.
Ryan
2025-02-18 17:54:48 +0000 UTCDont mean to throw shade at Jack Smith but I wish Sassoon would’ve been able to try allll the Tr cases. She hold nothing back and stays professional in her letter.
Reese
2025-02-18 17:35:38 +0000 UTCI'm curious if they ever actually get complaints about how much stuff the non-patrons are getting. I don't think I'm in the minority when I say I'm a patron less to get extra stuff than to support the work.
Gmork
2025-02-18 17:23:08 +0000 UTCSrsly don’t worry about making special treats for us Patreons. EVERYONE needs to hear as much as possible about what’s going on. Part of me pitching in via Patreon is to help broaden your reach. And for now I am fortunate enough to be able to pay per episode but as we are all learning — that situation could change with no notice through no fault of my own.
Donna Treadaway
2025-02-18 08:34:01 +0000 UTC
