Federal prosecutors in Washington asked a judge to drop charges against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, after several of their colleagues resigned rather than heed an order to drop the case.

NEW YORK — Hagan Scotten, the lead prosecutor in Mayor Eric Adams’s federal corruption case, has quit over the Justice Department’s demand that the case be dismissed, calling any lawyer who would move in court to toss the matter a “fool” or “coward,” according to a copy of a letter obtained Friday.