April 22, 2025
BY EMAIL
Todd Blanche
Deputy Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Deputy Attorney General Blanche,
The Department placed each of us on administrative leave ostensibly to review our, and
the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office’s, handling of the Adams case. It is
now clear that one of the preconditions you have placed on our returning to the Office is that we
must express regret and admit some wrongdoing by the Office in connection with the refusal to
move to dismiss the case. We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none.
We have served under Presidents of both parties, advancing their priorities while pursuing
justice without fear or favor. The role of a career prosecutor is not to set policy. But a
prosecutor must abide by the oath to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States and
the rules of professional ethics set by the bar and the courts. The Department has long
understood that these duties can and should coexist with the need to follow Department policies
and orders. This is to the benefit of all: the courts, defendants, and the public, who can have
confidence in the good faith and judgment of line prosecutors; the Department, which retains
credibility while still receiving zealous advocacy from its lawyers; and the prosecutors
themselves, who can stand in court confident that they are ethically carrying out their duties.
Now, the Department has decided that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our
legal and ethical obligations in favor of directions from Washington. That is wrong.
Serving in the Southern District of New York has been an honor. There is no greater
privilege than to work for an institution whose mandate is to do the right thing, the right way, for
the right reasons. We will not abandon this principle to keep our jobs. We resign.
Sincerely,
/s/
Celia V. Cohen
Andrew Rohrbach
Derek Wikstrom
Assistant United States Attorneys