When Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney-general, set off an avalanche of resignations in the Department of Justice (DoJ) by demanding this month that prosecutors suspend their corruption case against New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, he said he was worried it would keep Mr Adams from devoting his “full attention” to Donald Trump’s priorities of fighting illegal immigration and crime. If that was Mr Bove’s concern, his move backfired. Four of Mr Adams’s eight deputy mayors, including the one in charge of public safety, have since resigned. New York’s governor is weighing whether to dismiss the mayor. Mr Bove’s order has proved at least as big a distraction as the prosecution ever was.