Summary
The Justice Department’s decision to dismiss bribery charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams has led to a wave of resignations, tripling those of the 1973 “Saturday Night Massacre.”
Six senior officials, including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, stepped down in protest, citing concerns over political interference.
Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the dismissal, arguing the case was “weaponization” of the justice system.
Legal experts see parallels to past executive overreach, raising alarm over the independence of the Southern District of New York.
I think Iran/Contra was one of the first incidents where the media did quite a lot to paper over the issue. Statements were made like how “tired” the American people were of scandal and so on, given all the things found in the 1970s (I’m sure the people that lived through seeing MLK, JFK, and RFK assassinated, then seeing things like Nixon’s Watergate and the Church Committee’s findings did go through quite a lot, but Iran/Contra hearings were over a decade later than Watergate) and how “America” did not want to go through such things, etc…
I think if the media had given both of these things equal treatment, rather than trying to run cover for the Republicans because of some supposed public sentiment they were sensing in the nation, impressions might be quite a bit different now. I don’t think Watergate should be the metric every scandal since then, but this is probably the continuing influence of boomers, thinking the very worst thing(s) happened when they were in their formative years, rather than looking at the actual crimes involved and how one might have had far broader implications than the other…
I guess the other thing to consider is that you can slap “gate” on virtually anything and people know what you mean. You could try slapping “tra” or “ontra” on things maybe but most people won’t understand the reference. Sadly.