Democrats lodge complaint against acting deputy Attorney General Emil Bove in New York over Eric Adams case

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

(CNN) — Senate Democrats are urging New York legal authorities to investigate whether acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove engaged in professional misconduct by engaging in a supposed quid-pro-quo to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The complaint, sent to the Attorney Grievance Committee in New York, the investigative group that scrutinizes potential misconduct by lawyers who are licensed to practice in the state, is signed by the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including their top member, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.

It is at least the third complaint made to the New York committee about Bove’s efforts to drop the Adams indictment, an effort that descended into chaos and resulted in the resignation of at least seven federal prosecutors. Both the nonprofit group Campaign for Accountability and the chairman of the New York Senate Judiciary Committee filed similar complaints last month.

Adams and the Justice Department have vehemently denied the suggestion there was a “quid pro quo.”

In the complaint filed Tuesday, Senate Democrats said that Bove “abused his position” and called for disciplinary action.

“Mr. Bove’s conduct not only speaks to his fitness as a lawyer; his activities are part of a broader course of conduct by President Trump and his allies to undermine the traditional independence of Department of Justice’s investigations and prosecutions and the rule of law,” the complaint reads.

It continues: “When a government lawyer, particularly one entrusted with a leadership role in the nation’s foremost law enforcement agency, commits serious violations of professional conduct, such actions undermine the integrity of our justice system and erode public confidence in it. Public confidence is further eroded when such serious misconduct is met with no consequences.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday’s letter.

Some groups, including Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Richard Blumenthal, both of whom signed, have also lodged complaints with the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

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