The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan resigned Thursday after being ordered by the Justice Department to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Danielle Sassoon, a Republican who was interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced her resignation in an email to her staff, and the move was confirmed by a spokesperson for the office. Only days earlier, a senior official in Republican President Donald Trump’s Justice Department had directed New York prosecutors to scrap the case against the Democratic mayor, who was accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions and bribes of free or discounted travel from people who wanted to buy his influence. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said in a memo Monday that the case should be dismissed so Adams could aid Trump’s immigration crackdown and campaign for reelection free from facing criminal charges. The primary is four months away and Adams has multiple challengers. Bove had directed that be done as soon as “practicable,” but there have been no public statements or actions by the prosecution team. On Wednesday, the new U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said she would “look into” why the case had yet to be dismissed. As of Thursday afternoon, the charges against Adams remained in place. He has pleaded not guilty. In the email to her staff, Sassoon did not give a reason for her resignation. In the note, the contents of which were obtained by The Associated Press, she said she had just submitted her resignation to Bondi. “As I told her, it has been my greatest honor to represent the United States and to pursue justice as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York,” Sassoon wrote. A Justice Department official told the AP that department officials did not ask Sassoon to resign. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the personnel matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. The department declined public comment on Sassoon’s exit. A message seeking comment was left for Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro. A spokesperson for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (AP)