“You think it’s time to take a seat on the bench? Lol”

On Friday, the Department of Justice urged Judge Ho (SDNY) to dismiss the indictment against Eric Adams without prejudice. DOJ has apparently submitted under seal a series of communications to and from unnamed former DOJ officials. Let’s just say these emails and letters do not put the officials in the best light. Here, I want to focus on one exchange in particular:

Similarly, prior to making the public claim that only a “coward” or “fool” would sign the Motion, a recently-resigned AUSA from the SDNY prosecution team (AUSA-1) wrote the following regarding the letter that SDNY filed with the Court on January 22, 2025: “[U.S. Attorney-1] obviously has political ambitions, and I think suggesting we doubt that just costs us credibility.” . . .

A separate exchange of text messages beginning on November 8, 2024 illustrates why AUSA-1 was later interested in using public filings to send messages to President Trump. Just days after the 2024 election, in response to a text message asking if it was “time” for AUSA-1 to “take a seat on the bench,” AUSA-1 responded: “Got to convict Adams before I can think about anything else.” Ex. D. . . .

On November 8, 2024, AUSA-1 received a message with the following question: “You think it’s time to take a seat on the bench? Lol.” Ex. D. AUSA-1’s response included, “Got to convict Adams before I can think about anything else.” Id. . . .

It is thus apparent from the context that, just as AUSA-1 hoped to convict Mayor Adams as the last notch in his belt before he took a “seat on the bench,”

U.S. Attorney 1 is Damien Williams. AUSA-1 is a Hagan Scotten, whom I wrote about here. I don’t think I had ever heard of Scotten before, but he was apparently talked about as as nominee for the Second Circuit.

It is true that individuals see their work in government service as a potential audition for a judicial appointment. Was the Eric Adams prosecution an audition? Or was the resignation the audition? It is impossible to escape the audition trap, right?

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