- Reaction score
- 3,967
- Location
- Upper US
A was floored Thursday afternoon by what he called a "" unfolding in President Donald Trump's Justice Department — and one that won't be disappearing any time soon.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove clashed with Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, culminating in Sassoon's resignation. Their dispute centered around Bove ordering Sassoon to drop her corruption case against embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Sassoon refused, calling it out of line with long-standing norms and interfering with the office's independence. She threatened to resign in a letter, and Bove accepted it, scolding her in his own letter, saying she "lost sight of the oath" she took. Bove said he would also open internal investigations into Sassoon's conduct and that of prosecutors who worked on the Adams case.
The clash stunned legal experts, including , a professor of constitutional law and former federal prosecutor who once served as deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department.
Litman tore into the DOJ and Bove in a series of posts on Bluesky and praised Sassoon's response.
Reacting to Bove's letter accepting Sassoon's resignation, Litman wrote: "Acting US Attorney in New York refuses to dismiss Adams and tenders her resignation. -- the reasons were completely inappropriate. Acting DAG writes intemperate and totally nasty letter in response. This is going to get really really contentious."
He added that Bove's retort was a "clunky nasty one ... combined with a with the case."
Litman called Sassoon's "" before calling the exchange between the DOJ officials "positively radioactive." To a "," he said, the letters "expose Bove and Bondi as complete political actors indifferent to--worse, more than willing to undermine--longstanding DOJ policies about dismissal. This is not over."
Litman warned Bove and "the new guard" they'll be put through the "" by the Southern District of New York over the spat, calling Bove's letter exchange their "worst move to date."
"It's a soon-follow it closely," he said, noting Sassoon not only clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, she convicted Sam Bankman-Fried in a massive crypto fraud scheme. Additionally, another prosecutor who resigned clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts and won a Bronze star.
"And Bove and Bondi have chosen to . NOT GOING AWAY," he exclaimed on Bluesky.
As news broke that a third prosecutor resigned, Litman dubbed it a "," a reference to the famous "Saturday Night Massacre" during the Watergate scandal, in which the attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned rather than comply with then-President Richard Nixon's order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the case.
"For reasons even more bankrupt than the Saturday night massacre. Bove has nothing -- just saying it's Trump's call and political priority to drop Adams charges n/w/s no dispute that they are solid under facts and law," wrote Litman.
He added: "These are very big guns in the scheme of things in DOJ. A that is NOT GOING AWAY."
Litman warned Bove would likely become the "" and called his eight-page letter "very foolish" and riddled with "problematic assertions."
"It's now a , & not clear how it's going to end, given admission that dismissal unrelated to merits," he added, concluding that Bove and Bondi are now standing on the "weakest possible ground" for a high-stakes showdown.
"It's basically conceded that Adams dismissal unrelated to law and facts and is just brute political order to effectuate Trump's views. They're going to be forced into . NOT GOING AWAY," he concluded.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove clashed with Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, culminating in Sassoon's resignation. Their dispute centered around Bove ordering Sassoon to drop her corruption case against embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Sassoon refused, calling it out of line with long-standing norms and interfering with the office's independence. She threatened to resign in a letter, and Bove accepted it, scolding her in his own letter, saying she "lost sight of the oath" she took. Bove said he would also open internal investigations into Sassoon's conduct and that of prosecutors who worked on the Adams case.
The clash stunned legal experts, including , a professor of constitutional law and former federal prosecutor who once served as deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department.
Litman tore into the DOJ and Bove in a series of posts on Bluesky and praised Sassoon's response.
Reacting to Bove's letter accepting Sassoon's resignation, Litman wrote: "Acting US Attorney in New York refuses to dismiss Adams and tenders her resignation. -- the reasons were completely inappropriate. Acting DAG writes intemperate and totally nasty letter in response. This is going to get really really contentious."
He added that Bove's retort was a "clunky nasty one ... combined with a with the case."
Litman called Sassoon's "" before calling the exchange between the DOJ officials "positively radioactive." To a "," he said, the letters "expose Bove and Bondi as complete political actors indifferent to--worse, more than willing to undermine--longstanding DOJ policies about dismissal. This is not over."
Litman warned Bove and "the new guard" they'll be put through the "" by the Southern District of New York over the spat, calling Bove's letter exchange their "worst move to date."
"It's a soon-follow it closely," he said, noting Sassoon not only clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, she convicted Sam Bankman-Fried in a massive crypto fraud scheme. Additionally, another prosecutor who resigned clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts and won a Bronze star.
"And Bove and Bondi have chosen to . NOT GOING AWAY," he exclaimed on Bluesky.
As news broke that a third prosecutor resigned, Litman dubbed it a "," a reference to the famous "Saturday Night Massacre" during the Watergate scandal, in which the attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned rather than comply with then-President Richard Nixon's order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the case.
"For reasons even more bankrupt than the Saturday night massacre. Bove has nothing -- just saying it's Trump's call and political priority to drop Adams charges n/w/s no dispute that they are solid under facts and law," wrote Litman.
He added: "These are very big guns in the scheme of things in DOJ. A that is NOT GOING AWAY."
Litman warned Bove would likely become the "" and called his eight-page letter "very foolish" and riddled with "problematic assertions."
"It's now a , & not clear how it's going to end, given admission that dismissal unrelated to merits," he added, concluding that Bove and Bondi are now standing on the "weakest possible ground" for a high-stakes showdown.
"It's basically conceded that Adams dismissal unrelated to law and facts and is just brute political order to effectuate Trump's views. They're going to be forced into . NOT GOING AWAY," he concluded.
