Feb 14, 2025

Quid Pro Quo. I tell you things, you tell me things.

Uttered by the late great Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs" A thoroughly evil man of great intelligence. Who never actually existed, by the way. 

Now we have our own version starring two thoroughly evil men of diminished intelligence. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Felon-in-Chief Donald Trump. Last fall, Adams was indicted on multiple felony charges. He is a corrupt as hell dude who took money from foreign interests. Bribery, corruption, fraud...he is a man after Dear Leader's cold, cold heart. And as such, Derp Fuhrer has found a way to benefit from the situation. The DOJ, under Trump's direction, has instructed the US Attorney in NYC to drop the charges against Adams in a not so subtle way of having Adams help Trump out with his mass immigration deportation policy. Adams would divert city resources to that effort. The late great Hannibal Lecter would be proud. 

Except a ray of sunshine in an utterly dismal world has suddenly appeared in the form of Acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon. She, by the way, was a Trump appointee during his first term and is a registered Republican. She was the one that received the order from the DOJ to drop the charges against Adams. But she said...nah, I will resign before I do that. Because she knows he is guilty as hell and the order from the DOJ demand was clearly a favor. She stated in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that the request was “inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.” Good on her. But you know how these things go. She resigns and the next lackey-in-charge just tows the line and does what the administration wants them to do. 

Except not so fast there, bub! The DOJ accepted her resignation then suspended all of her deputies to investigate them for being...hard-working and honest public servants I guess. Then they moved the case from the US Attorney's office to the DOJ's Public Integrity Section. That will get them what they want, right? Wrong. The acting head of the Public Integrity Section also refused to dismiss the charges and resigned. Then it got moved to the DOJ's Criminal Division...whose acting head also refused to dismiss the charges and resigned. This is beautiful stuff right here. These three attorneys know that the decision to dismiss charges against Adams is corrupt as hell and they sure as hell know who and why the order was sent down. It is Adams's not-so-slow turn from corrupt Democrat to corrupt MAGA-crat. 

And no one should bear witness to such corruption. Not in the United States I grew up. Just ask Richard Nixon, Archibald Cox, Elliot Richardson or anyone involved in the infamous Saturday Night Massacre regarding the Watergate scandal. This was the turning point in that investigation. Nixon was clearly seen as trying to obstruct justice...just like Trump is doing here...and he resigned in shame before being impeached. 

Do I sense a similar outcome here? Nah. Convicted Felon Donald Trump has already been impeached (twice!) and was just elected a second time even though he is one of the most corrupt men in the entire fucking world. He is gonna continue destroying democracy in America, just like half of this country seemingly wanted when they elected to him. He may even find a way to run for a third term...because he just does what he wants and Congress and the Supreme Court are firmly in the pocket of his cadre of evil billionaires. 

But I will enjoy this brief ray of sunshine while it lasts.

Addendum: Even as I was writing this, an AUSA for the Southern District of New York named Hagan Scotten (a former clerk for Chief Justice Roberts!) has also resigned over this. In his resignation letter he wrote "If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me."  Fuck and yeah!!!!

No comments: