{"id":116494,"date":"2024-11-26T00:06:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T00:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/manhattans-top-federal-prosecutor-resigns-to-make-way-for-trumps-replacement-new-york-post\/"},"modified":"2024-11-26T00:06:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T00:06:52","slug":"manhattans-top-federal-prosecutor-resigns-to-make-way-for-trumps-replacement-new-york-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/manhattans-top-federal-prosecutor-resigns-to-make-way-for-trumps-replacement-new-york-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Manhattan\u2019s top federal prosecutor resigns to make way for Trump\u2019s replacement – New York Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said Monday he\u2019ll step down ahead of President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration — leaving behind the pending corruption indictment against Mayor Eric Adams and several other major open cases.
The resignation announcement by Damian Williams \u2013 who said his last day as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York will be Dec. 13 \u2013 prompted swift celebration from those in Adams\u2019 camp who have viewed a second Trump presidency as a possible\u00a0boon to his defense<\/a>.
Trump has\u00a0repeatedly said<\/a>\u00a0he believes Adams was railroaded by an overzealous Williams.
\u201cThis was a great day for Eric Adams, he is definitely smiling,\u201d a City Hall source told The Post.
But Williams\u2019 departure does not mean the case against Adams is dead, despite the wishful thinking.
All four federal prosecutors assigned to the bribery and corruption case remain, according to court filings.
Those prosecutors have said new charges against the mayor are \u201clikely\u201d coming in a revised indictment.
Adams, who has pleaded not guilty and denied the accusations, faces a Dec. 20 status hearing in the case.
The coming departure of Williams both spares him from likely being fired by Trump and clears the decks for the president-elect\u2019s pick as successor, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton.
Williams, in his announcement, called it a \u201cbittersweet\u201d decision. 
“It is bitter in the sense that I am leaving my dream job, leading an institution I love that is filled with the finest public servants in the world,” he said. “It is sweet in that I am confident I am leaving at a time when the Office is functioning at an incredibly high level — upholding and exceeding its already high standard of excellence, integrity, and independence.”
The Southern District\u2019s independence from the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, is a point of pride among prosecutors in the office, and is unlikely to change under a second Trump administration.
The take-no-prisoners attitude was displayed by Williams, a Democrat who became the office\u2019s first black US Attorney after being appointed by President Biden in 2021.
Williams went after other high-profile Democrats during his tenure, including Adams and former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.
His office convinced a jury to convict Menendez in July of a sprawling bribery scheme<\/a> in which the senator was charged with pocketing gold bars and other goodies in exchange for favors. The case led to the Garden State pol resigning from his post.
Williams also prosecuted Sam Bankman-Fried, the fallen cryptocurrency wonderboy and former Democratic donor, who was convicted in November 2023<\/a> of stealing more than $8 billion of his customer’s funds. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in what the feds called one of the biggest financial frauds in history.
After Williams\u2019 departure, the office will also continue prosecuting Sean “Diddy” Combs, who the feds have called the kingpin of a racketeering and sex trafficking scheme.
A bombshell indictment unsealed in September<\/a> alleges the disgraced music mogul led a depraved criminal empire in which he threatened victims and forced them to take part in drugged-up sex shows called \u201cFreak Offs\u201d for over a decade. He has pleaded not guilty.
Clayton, while a respected SEC chair, has never prosecuted a case. And Trump\u2019s proposed second-in-command at the DOJ, his criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche, was a former Southern District prosecutor.
Both facts could put a damper on the Adams camp\u2019s hopes of a friendlier federal prosecutor in his corruption case.
Still, the City Hall source maintained that Clayton will review Adams\u2019 case with fresh eyes, potentially giving the mayor \u201cwiggle room.\u201d
Clayton\u2019s appointment still requires confirmation by the US Senate.
Until then, Williams’ deputy, Edward Y. Kim, is set to take over as acting US Attorney when he steps down.
— Additional reporting by Emily Crane<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said Monday he\u2019ll step down ahead of President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration — leaving behind the pending corruption indictment against Mayor Eric Adams and several other major open cases.The resignation announcement by Damian Williams \u2013 who said his last day as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}