We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none," they wrote in a joint letter. Ten attorneys have now left the Justice Department over the handling of the case.

Danielle Sassoon, the former interim US attorney for the Southern District of New York, levied that accusation in a resignation letter that leaked to the New York Times. When Sassoon stepped down, it kicked off a whole string of resignations at the DOJ.

The former prosecutors in New York City, who had been placed on leave, said the Justice Department had required them to admit wrongdoing to return to work.