Danielle Sassoon, a Manhattan Prosecutor, Quits Rather Than Do Trump’s Bidding

Danielle R. Sassoon shot like a laser through the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, with stints fighting violent crime and securities fraud as well as handling appeals before she was elevated, at age 38, to be its interim head.

There, just weeks into her tenure running the country’s most prestigious federal prosecutor’s office, she encountered an obstacle that threatened to stall her rapid rise: the desire of President Trump’s administration to drop corruption charges against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams.

On Thursday, Ms. Sassoon resigned rather than carry out the order, setting off several other resignations within the Department of Justice and standing up for the independence that has defined her Manhattan office for decades.

“I cannot fulfill my obligations, effectively lead my office in carrying out the department’s priorities, or credibly represent the government before the courts, if I seek to dismiss the Adams case,” she wrote in a letter to the attorney general the day before her departure.

Given her experience — and bulletproof conservative credentials as a member of the Federalist Society — Ms. Sassoon seemed ready to lead an office that saw tumultuous times during Mr. Trump’s first term, when he fired two of its U.S. attorneys. In recent days, prosecutors had been watching Ms. Sassoon anxiously to see how she might respond to the Justice Department’s demand that she drop the Adams case, which she had supported in a court filing.

Through a spokesman, Ms. Sassoon declined to comment for this article.

Before the Adams case vaulted her into the spotlight, Ms. Sassoon’s life had been characterized by achievement that was noteworthy even in environments where achievement is the norm. Born and raised in New York City, she attended Ramaz, a modern Orthodox Jewish school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she was first in her class and received awards for academic excellence. In high school, she spent hours each day studying the Talmud, an effort that she has said prepared her to study law.