CNN senior authorized analyst Elie Honig is excoriating the U.S. Division of Justice, which, beneath Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi and appearing Deputy Lawyer Normal Emil Bove, ordered prosecutors final week to drop corruption fees towards New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.
In a Monday article written for New York journal’s Intelligencer, Honig stated that this has “mushroomed into a full-on existential crisis for the Justice Department,” as Bove’s order prompted a number of resignations from key federal prosecutors, together with one who stated it “amounted to a quid pro quo.”
Adams was indicted in September on allegations he accepted bribes and unlawful marketing campaign contributions, however curried favor with Trump in latest months, notably by working with him on immigration, resulting in hypothesis that the DOJ order was a reward for Adams’ loyalty.
Bove argued in his directive that the case must be dropped so Adams might proceed to assist the Trump administration implement its immigration coverage, prompting Honig to sentence everybody concerned for each an absence of ideas and self-awareness.
He wrote in his article that Bove “told us quite explicitly” that the order was politically motivated and that the ensuing public outrage might’ve been prevented had the DOJ determined that the case was “too thin” or had Trump pardoned Adams personally.
Honig then went after Bondi with a collection of scathing observations.
“Speaking of: Where the hell is Pam Bondi in all this? (You know: the new attorney general of the United States.),” he wrote. “Apparently she’s been gliding along, blithely half-aware of this case, as if it was some story she had glanced at on the internet.”
Honig famous that when Bondi was requested final week why the case hadn’t been dismissed but regardless of seemingly clear directions for her colleague to make sure as a lot, she responded merely, “I did not know that it had not been dropped yet” — which the CNN authorized analyst pounced on.
Ben Curtis/Related Press
“That’s funny because I did, and I’m not the attorney general of the United States,” he wrote. “And in a Fox News appearance, Bondi again deflected, noting defensively that she was in a different time zone. (I’m not sure she fully understands how time zones work. All the same stuff is actually happening, it’s just that the clocks say slightly different things where you are; it’s not like you enter some alternate reality.)”
Honig, who as soon as served as assistant U.S. lawyer in the identical district the place prosecutors have resigned for the reason that Bove order got here down, then criticized the precedent Bondi and Bove are setting.
Go Advert-Free — And Shield The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to cover these messages.
“Here’s the fundamental problem with what Bove and DOJ leadership have done,” he wrote. “They have enacted and embraced a policy that it’s perfectly valid to base prosecution decisions on the political inclinations of the subject: Mayor Adams can’t remain under indictment because he will help us promote our immigration policy agenda.”
“Imagine where that principle leads,” Honig bleakly added.
