Corruption is wrong

Chris Christie writes:

In my seven years as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, we brought 130 cases of political corruption. Though I have been a lifelong Republican, corruption has no party—the cases were against Republicans and Democrats alike. The reason those cases were so important was that it showed citizens that betrayal of the public trust would not be tolerated and could not be fixed or explained away. Our ability to govern ourselves, the very basis of our civilized society, could not survive for very long without that belief.

That is why the events of the last week regarding the dismissal of the prosecution of New York City mayor Eric Adams are so disturbing and dangerous. That is why I believe Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon resigned rather than implement that order from Attorney General Pam Bondi and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III.

Danielle Sassoon is a former Clerk to Justice Scalia, a member of the Federalist Society and a registered Republican. She has won awards for her ability as a prosecutor. It was an act of immense principle to resign rather than dismiss charges against the Mayor, because politicians wanted her to.

First, Mr. Bove states in his February 13, 2025 letter to Ms. Sassoon that the indictment “interferes with Mayor Adams’ ability to run a campaign in the 2025 election.” The Department of Justice has had a rule for decades that no action should be taken that could potentially affect an election within 60 days of Election Day. The indictment in this matter was brought on September 25, 2024, 405 days prior to the election in question.

If 405 days is close enough to risk election interference, how much time must you allow before an election? Five hundred days? How about a thousand?

So that excuse is nonsense.

Second, Mr. Bove contends that dismissal is required because continuing with the prosecution would interfere with the mayor’s ability to govern in New York City. Under this new Justice Department policy, no official anywhere in our country could be prosecuted while they actively served in elected office. If the official was, in fact, committing crimes while in office, one need only stay in office under Mr. Bove’s directive to save themselves from being held accountable for their alleged conduct.

This new precedent is not only wrongheaded, it also puts at risk the operation of that very government it pretends to protect by having it operated by someone prosecutors and a grand jury of their peers believe committed federal felonies against the citizens they are sworn to represent. This is also a preposterous theory. It is nothing more than a veneer to hide the fact that the DOJ has put the president’s desire to use Mayor Adams to assist with immigration efforts ahead of prosecuting the mayor of America’s largest city.

This is more preposterous and is an awful precedent that if you are facing corruption charges they will be dropped if you make yourself politically useful to the President.

Trump has done many good things since being President. This however is a very very bad thing.