from WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Friday, February 14th.

With us now, Congressman Dan Goldman, Democrat from Lower Manhattan and parts of

inner Brooklyn near Manhattan.

He has experience relevant to the suspension of charges against Mayor Eric Adams and the resignation in protest of the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, yesterday.

Goldman himself was an assistant U.S. attorney in that office for 10 years, focusing mostly on

organized crime and white collar crime. Separately, he was also the lead counsel for the

prosecution in the first Trump impeachment case, the one alleging other instances of Trump,

allegedly extorting policy announcements, in that case from Ukraine. We'll talk to him about the

Adams and Justice Department situation and more. Congressman Goldman, welcome back to WNYC.

Thanks so much for having me, Brian. Great to be with you. So with your decade of experience as

an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, what just happened here this week as you see it?

Well, I'll put it very simply. As we have expected and we're concerned, Donald Trump has

completely politicized the Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice directed the Southern

District of New York, which is one of 94 U.S. Attorney's Office under

the umbrella of the Department of Justice to dismiss the case against Eric Adams without prejudice,

which means that it could be reinstated in November, they specified. And they directed that not because of the strength of the evidence or the legal theories

but simply because of politics and what Danielle says soon the acting U.S. attorney wrote back and explained, and I urge everyone to read her letter

because it is a model of what the Department of Justice should be and what this Trump Department

of Justice is not. And she said, my duty is to prosecute cases without fear or favor, which means that I must follow the facts,

the evidence, and the law only. And I cannot take into consideration, I cannot take into

consideration, partisanship or politics. What you are asking me to do is to make a purely political decision, which I cannot, in good faith, do while upholding my oath of office.

And so I am going to resign.

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