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How Trump and Bondi are breaking America's anti-corruption safeguards
The dismissal of charges against Adams in exchange for help in immigration enforcement is unethical and wrong
https://bsky.app/profile/minkab.bsky.social/post/3li3z3om2pc2e
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-bondi-eric-adams-corruption-rcna191906
It has rarely hurt a politician’s fortunes to insist that they will clean up their opponent’s rampant abuse of power. Claims of waste, fraud and corruption are part and parcel with American politics, dating back to the earliest days of the republic. But while the second Trump administration is saying many of the right words, its first month makes clear that far from combating bribery and other forms of corruption, it has moved to ignore, underplay, or even embrace a blossoming culture of kickbacks.
But evidence of a quid pro quo has become clearer by the day. For starters, the DOJ announcement only came after Adams had reportedly told his commissioners in a Monday morning meeting not to criticize Trump or interfere with immigration enforcement in the city. Then, the mayor’s name was strangely missing from a list of New York officials the Justice Department sued on Wednesday over the state’s “sanctuary cities,” one of which Adams runs. “We’re hoping that in New York, that Mayor Adams is going to cooperate with us with the sanctuary cities and the illegal aliens,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said when announcing the suit, dangling the fact that the charges hadn’t been officially dropped yet as a reminder of what could lie in store for him.
And on Thursday, multiple federal prosecutors, including acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle R. Sassoon, resigned after refusing to follow orders to drop the charges against Adams. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sassoon described a meeting attended by Bove, Adams’ lawyer and members of her office:
.....Suggesting that (allegedly) bribing the mayor of the country’s largest city is totally fine is just the most obvious sign of a growing climate of impunity under Trump. On Monday, the president signed an executive order that suspends a key anti-bribery law — the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — which prohibits American companies and foreign firms from bribing foreign officials during the course of doing business......
This isn’t to imply that there is now free rein for foreign agents to run around Washington (or New York City) handing out large bags of cash with cartoon dollar signs on the side. But the welcome light is on for industrious nation-states and pliable politicians. We’ve already seen former Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., offer up the same kind of claims of political targeting as Adams. While the mayor's case may now never go to trial, Menendez's Trumpian rhetoric has signaled an interest in his corruption conviction and sentence being erased. The question of whether corruption is tolerable in the U.S. is no longer whether it is legal, but whether it is of the sort that the president himself can stand to gain
But evidence of a quid pro quo has become clearer by the day. For starters, the DOJ announcement only came after Adams had reportedly told his commissioners in a Monday morning meeting not to criticize Trump or interfere with immigration enforcement in the city. Then, the mayor’s name was strangely missing from a list of New York officials the Justice Department sued on Wednesday over the state’s “sanctuary cities,” one of which Adams runs. “We’re hoping that in New York, that Mayor Adams is going to cooperate with us with the sanctuary cities and the illegal aliens,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said when announcing the suit, dangling the fact that the charges hadn’t been officially dropped yet as a reminder of what could lie in store for him.
And on Thursday, multiple federal prosecutors, including acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle R. Sassoon, resigned after refusing to follow orders to drop the charges against Adams. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sassoon described a meeting attended by Bove, Adams’ lawyer and members of her office:
Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. Mr. Bove admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting’s conclusion.
.....Suggesting that (allegedly) bribing the mayor of the country’s largest city is totally fine is just the most obvious sign of a growing climate of impunity under Trump. On Monday, the president signed an executive order that suspends a key anti-bribery law — the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — which prohibits American companies and foreign firms from bribing foreign officials during the course of doing business......
This isn’t to imply that there is now free rein for foreign agents to run around Washington (or New York City) handing out large bags of cash with cartoon dollar signs on the side. But the welcome light is on for industrious nation-states and pliable politicians. We’ve already seen former Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., offer up the same kind of claims of political targeting as Adams. While the mayor's case may now never go to trial, Menendez's Trumpian rhetoric has signaled an interest in his corruption conviction and sentence being erased. The question of whether corruption is tolerable in the U.S. is no longer whether it is legal, but whether it is of the sort that the president himself can stand to gain