Watchdog Asks DOJ Misconduct Office to Investigate Emil Bove Over Apparent Eric Adams Quid Pro Quo Scheme
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 3, 2025
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a non-profit watchdog group, asked the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to investigate Acting Deputy US Attorney General Emil Bove for potential violations of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct and DOJ policies related to his directive to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to request dismissal of the indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams as part of an apparent quid pro quo scheme to advance President Donald Trump’s policy agenda.
CfA’s letter follows previous complaints filed with state and federal attorney grievance committees in New York and asks OPR to examine whether Mr. Bove’s actions violated specific DOJ policies, particularly those ensuring the department remain “insulated from political influence.”
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “Mr. Bove’s conduct has already undermined the integrity of the DOJ and will only damage the department further if it is condoned. OPR is uniquely positioned to serve as a check on such behavior and should impose all appropriate disciplinary measures if it finds that Mr. Bove’s actions have violated DOJ policy.”
In a memo demanding the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York dismiss the charges against Mr. Adams, Mr. Bove claimed the prosecution has restricted Mr. Adams’s ability to “devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.
According to section 1-8.100 of the Justice Manual, which guides DOJ’s prosecutions, the legal judgments of the department “must be impartial and insulated from political influence.” This is reiterated in section 9-27.260, which states, prosecution decisions may not be influenced by “political association, activities, or beliefs.” Here, in apparent contravention of DOJ policy, Mr. Bove has admitted to seeking the dismissal against Mr. Adams to allow Mr. Adams to support the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “If, as Mr. Bove asserts, courts are powerless to stop DOJ from dismissing cases under these circumstances, OPR may be the only authority that stands between him and the weaponization of the justice system to serve the president’s political or personal objectives. Failing to hold Mr. Bove accountable will embolden others who would use our system of justice for their own political ends.”
Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.