An appointee of President Donald Trump ordered prosecutors in New York City to sign off on dismissing Mayor Eric Adams’s bribery case, but they did not obey, resignations ensued, and legal experts across the political spectrum now say the debacle tainted the Justice Department’s credibility.

Adams, who claimed that the prosecution was the political consequence of his brave disagreement with Joe Biden over funding for migrants and asylees, took a victory lap, declaring that he would “never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor.” That was, to put it lightly, not very convincing.