Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho has judiciously tapped former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement to help him get some answers about why the Department of Justice wants to temporarily suspend the criminal case against Mayor Adams. We await seeing Clement’s brief, due by March 7.
Clement is needed because Ho got little in the form of actual explanation from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who appeared before him last week. Bove asserted that the case needs to be set aside for now for two reasons: It was tainted by politics and the prosecution interferes with Adams’ ability to be mayor. There is no evidence to either claim.
The case was brought by apolitical career lawyers working for the Manhattan U.S. attorney, the nation’s premier federal prosecution office. And both Adams and Gov. Hochul reject the idea that the mayor can’t carry out his City Hall duties. Even Bove saying that Adams is being hampered because his security clearance was removed is hollow. That is standard practice following an indictment and President Trump can restore it at any time.
It was telling when Ho mentioned the Feb. 10 memo that Bove wrote to then-Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, directing her to dismiss the case without prejudice (meaning it can later resume) because the White House wanted Adams to assist on immigration enforcement, which is a political matter, not a legal concern.
Asked the judge: “But this memo, Mr. Bove, did this represent the official views of the Justice Department as of this date? And when I consider the government’s motion to dismiss, is it appropriate for me to consider what’s in this memo?”
Bove said: “No,” insisting that Ho ignore the damning document. Rather than obey, Sassoon honorably resigned and she was followed out the door by several other career prosecutors in Manhattan and D.C.
Clement, like Sassoon, was a clerk for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and has a long history of fealty to the rule of law. He has been appointed by Ho to “present arguments on the Government’s Motion to Dismiss,” to let the judge hear the other side of what Bove is presenting, including if Bove’s telltale memo should be included.
The same goes for Sassoon’s letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi laying out the reasons to continue the case and Bove’s letter back to Sassoon, accepting her resignation.
Clement will also have the ability to recommend if there should be a further hearing to elicit testimony.
Bondi is saying in public that, “It was an incredibly weak case filed to make deportation harder. That’s why they did it. They took one of the biggest mayors in the country off the playing field in order to protect their sanctuary city. This case, it was so incredibly weak. It was about increases in airline tickets, upgrades in airline tickets, in his official capacity, without getting into all the details of the fact. I don’t even think it could survive a verdict, excuse me, incredibly weak case. That is the weaponization of government.”
None of those reasons were offered by Bove to Ho.
So which is it? A weak case or something else? Not just Ho, but the public will be relying on Clement to get to the truth.