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    Senator Accuses Kash Patel of Covertly Directing F.B.I. Dismissals

    The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday accused Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee for F.B.I. director, of improperly directing a wave of firings at the bureau before being confirmed.In a letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois cited “highly credible information from multiple sources” that suggested Mr. Patel had been personally involved in covertly orchestrating a purge of career officials at the F.B.I.“This alleged misconduct is beyond the pale and must be investigated immediately,” Mr. Durbin wrote to the independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz.The accusation comes as the committee prepares to vote Thursday on whether to send Mr. Patel’s nomination to the Senate floor. Mr. Durbin said that if the allegations were true, then the acting No. 2 at the Justice Department, Emil Bove, fired career civil servants “solely at the behest of a private citizen,” and also that Mr. Patel “may have perjured himself” at his confirmation hearing last month.Representatives for the Justice Department, the White House and Mr. Patel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Mr. Durbin sent the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, on Tuesday. He is expected to deliver a speech on the Senate floor about the matter.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Adams’s Lawyer Claims Vindication. The Reality Is More Complicated.

    A defense lawyer for Mayor Eric Adams, Alex Spiro, celebrated the Justice Department’s push to drop federal corruption charges against the mayor on Monday, saying that the government’s case had relied on “fanfare and sensational claims” but little evidence.But such statements were at odds with the reasoning given by the Justice Department official who ordered the dismissal. That official, Emil Bove, wrote that the decision had been made “without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.” Instead, he said, it was driven by the indictment’s proximity to the upcoming mayoral election and what he said was its interference with Mr. Adams’s ability to aid in Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown.The assertions of the mayor’s innocence also conflicted with evidence that federal prosecutors in Manhattan described when they indicted him last September, and in filings since. They had detailed luxury travel arrangements worth more than $100,000 — to India, France, China, Ghana and elsewhere — they said Mr. Adams had accepted, primarily from Turkish Airlines, in exchange for taking official action.Mr. Adams, a Democrat who is running for re-election, was indicted on five counts of bribery conspiracy, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Prosecutors accused him of helping fast-track the approval of a new high-rise Turkish Consulate in Manhattan despite safety concerns, in exchange for unlawful donations and free and heavily discounted luxury travel.Prosecutors quoted text messages about these dealings involving an Adams aide who had helped to arrange that travel and was cooperating with the investigation. And they cited Mr. Adams’s personal communications with city Fire Department officials who they said he had pressured to sign off on the consulate building, and then with a Turkish official who had helped arrange for the gifts of his luxury travel.Prosecutors who brought the charges against Mr. Adams said last month that they had continued to “uncover additional criminal conduct” by the mayor.Jefferson Siegel for The New York TimesMr. Adams forwarded the Turkish consul general, who had helped arrange for his travel, a note from the city’s fire commissioner: “Letter being drafted now. Everything should be good to go Monday morning,” it said.“You are a true friend of Turkey,” the official responded.The indictment also cited numerous interactions that Mr. Adams or his aides had with foreign businesspeople while seeking to collect illegal foreign contributions for his campaign as part of what prosecutors said was a straw donor scheme that enabled him to defraud the city’s program for public matching funds.In recent weeks, prosecutors said in a court filing that they had gathered additional evidence of Mr. Adams’s criminality. More

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    Trump Turns to His Personal Lawyers to Stock Top Ranks of Justice Dept.

    For more than two years, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s lawyers did the job they were hired to do, defending him against a barrage of criminal charges with an aggressive strategy of confrontation and delay.But in working for Mr. Trump, they also used the tools of their trade — their legal briefs and courtroom hearings — to advance a political message that ultimately helped their client get back into the White House.Now, after fighting for Mr. Trump in case after case that they helped turn into a form of political theater, some of those lawyers are being rewarded again for their work. Mr. Trump has said he intends to nominate them to high-ranking posts in the Justice Department, which he has made clear he wants to operate as a legal arm of the White House rather than with the quasi-independence that has been the post-Watergate norm.After the president-elect’s announcement this week that he wants Matt Gaetz, the controversial former Florida congressman and a longtime ally, to be his attorney general, he named Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, two experienced former federal prosecutors who took the lead in defending Mr. Trump at his state trial in Manhattan and against two federal indictments, to fill the No. 2 and No. 3 positions in the department.A third lawyer, D. John Sauer, who was the Missouri solicitor general and oversaw Mr. Trump’s appellate battles, was chosen to represent the department in front of the Supreme Court as the U.S. solicitor general.Another lawyer, Stanley Woodward Jr., who defended several people in Mr. Trump’s orbit and helped in the process of vetting his vice-presidential pick, has also been mentioned for a top legal job, though it remains unclear if he will actually receive a role.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More