3 More Prosecutors Resign Over Adams Case, Refusing to Admit Wrongdoing

Three Manhattan federal prosecutors who worked on the criminal corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City said Tuesday that they would resign rather than admit wrongdoing in refusing to abandon the case, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.

The prosecutors were placed on administrative leave this year after Trump administration officials in Washington ordered them to seek dismissal of the bribery and fraud charges.

In the email, the prosecutors — Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom — said that Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, had placed a condition on reinstating them: “that we must express regret and admit some wrongdoing by the office in connection with the refusal to move to dismiss the case.

“We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none,” they wrote.

They wrote that they had worked under Democratic and Republican presidents, advancing the priorities of all, but that conditions had changed during President Trump’s second term.

“Now, the Department has decided that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our legal and ethical obligations in favor of directions from Washington,” they wrote.

A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The prosecutors’ resignation coincided with the first day of Jay Clayton, the newly installed U.S. attorney in Manhattan, adding to the sense of chaos that the office has experienced this year. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office also declined to comment on the resignations.

This is a developing story and will be updated.