Editorial written by Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board.
If our nation doled out awards for integrity in politics, two would have gone to Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, who resigned in 1974 rather than obey a criminal president’s order to fire the Watergate special prosecutor.
There would be at least eight new acts of courage to reward today, as well as mourning for the scurrilous and unmerited firing for several “Biden area” prosecutors across the nation. That group includes Roger Handberg, who was appointed as U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida in 2021 and served with honor and dignity until he was literally ordered to stop doing so.
In Trump’s books, Handberg’s doom was probably written before he or the president took office: With Central Florida a hotbed of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, it hardly mattered that Handberg was appointed after those investigations were well underway, or that he quickly earned praise for working with local officials on efforts to make Central Florida a safer place to live. His abrupt dismissal doesn’t change what he accomplished, or lessen the respect of those who appreciated his quiet leadership.
A principled departure
Meanwhile, the nation is applauding veteran attorneys Danielle Sassoon, Hagan Scotten and five other career U.S. Justice Department lawyers who resigned rather than carry out Trump’s dishonorable commands.
It was to drop all charges in a corruption indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, as a reward for promising to do whatever President Donald Trump demands of him on immigration.
The bargain itself is so corrupt that it reeks of extortion and obstruction of justice and grounds for disbarment. Attorney General Pam Bondi ought to be impeached for allowing it. The federal judge assigned to Adams’ case should refuse to dismiss the indictment and appoint a special prosecutor to pursue it. (As of press time, the judge’s decision in the case had not yet been announced.)
Brazenly explicit
The five-count Adams indictment, alleging illegal foreign campaign contributions and more than $100,000 in travel perquisites from Turkish nationals, was to be dismissed “without prejudice.” That means it could be refiled whenever the Democratic mayor of one of the nation’s most liberal cities doesn’t satisfy Trump.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III, who’s one of Trump’s own former criminal defense lawyers, made it brazenly explicit.
“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime,” Bove wrote.
On Fox & Friends, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, sat next to the humiliated mayor and elaborated.
“If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City and we won’t be sitting on the couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?”’ Homan boasted.
Sassoon, 38, was a career federal prosecutor for eight years when she was made acting U.S. attorney pending the confirmation of Trump’s appointee.
