New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted Thursday on federal charges alleging that he took bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan alleges in the indictment that Adams “compounded his gains” from the illegal contributions by gaming the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small dollar donations.
FBI agents entered the mayor’s official residence and seized his phone early Thursday, hours before the indictment was made public. The indictment caps off an extraordinary few weeks in New York City, as federal investigators have homed in on members of Adams’ inner circle, producing a drum-beat of raids, subpoenas and high-level resignations that have thrust City Hall into crisis.
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Speaking to reporters, Alex Spiro suggested federal authorities waved off his immediate surrender. He also accused them of leaking word of Adams’ indictment to the news media.
“We’ve known for some time that they intended to bring a case against the mayor one way or another,” Spiro said, standing with Adams outside the mayor’s official residence.
Spiro said that after having had a chance to read the indictment, “you could almost picture them trying to cobble this together and try to tell a story so that they could say, ‘corruption, corruption’ at a press conference.”
He criticized the indictment as a jumble of accusations and innuendo he said was “meant to mislead” the public about Adams. He argued that the conduct described in the charges either wasn’t illegal or didn’t involve the mayor.
The Turkish consulate was asking for “a courtesy,” not payback, when it wanted Adams’ help in skipping a fire inspection, Spiro said, adding: “New Yorkers do this all the time.” Adams said he’d see what he could do and, a few days later, ignored a follow up phone call from the consulate, Spiro asserted.
“There is no corruption. This is not a real case,” Spiro said.
Officials who enforce the city’s public campaign financing program and can impose penalties for violations say they’re reviewing Adams’ indictment.
“The allegations detailed in the indictment are very serious, for New Yorkers and for those of us working to make our elections more accessible, transparent, and accountable to our city,” Frederick Schaffer, chair of the city’s Campaign Finance Board, said in a statement. “While the mayor is presumed innocent until proven guilty and deserves due process, the Board will nonetheless review all relevant information, including but not limited to the indictment, in order to uphold our city’s campaign finance rules and protect taxpayer dollars.”
“No one is above the law, including the Mayor of New York City,” the New York Democrat said in a statement. “The charges are serious, and the legal process should now play out speedily and fairly.”
At a news conference, Adrienne Adams, speaker of the New York City Council and a fellow Democrat who isn’t related to the mayor, said she hasn’t begun considering potential removal of the mayor from office. She said people charged with crimes are presumed innocent and have the right to defend themselves.
But, she added, “I ask the mayor to seriously and honestly consider whether full attention can be given to our deserving New Yorkers who need our government to be sound and stable.”
Asked about removing the mayor, Adrienne Adams responded, “We are of course, like I said, very troubled by everything that’s transpired. We are not prepared today to give an answer to that question. We will continue to monitor the situation, to be in talks with our colleagues both at city and state level as we all monitor the situation and see how this further unfolds.”
Adams has often highlighted his working-class upbringing. He was one of six children raised by a single mother and has spoken of carrying around a garbage bag packed with his clothes because he feared his family would be evicted.
At 15, he was beaten by police officers after being arrested for trespassing, but the bruising encounter sparked a desire to change the system from within, he said. Adams joined the New York City transit police in 1984 and eventually became a New York Police Department officer when the transit department merged into the larger NYPD.
He rose to the rank of captain and was the co-founder of an advocacy group called 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, which sought criminal justice reform and denounced police brutality.
He retired from the police department in 2006.
▶ Read more about New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ biography.
The White House pushed back against claims by the New York City mayor that he was targeted because of his objections to the administration’s efforts to address immigration and border crossings, saying the actions by the Justice Department were independent of politics.
“The president was clear, even when he was running in 2020, that he was going to make sure that DOJ is independent and the DOJ is handling this case independently,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at Thursday’s briefing.
Adams’ administration has been bogged down with attempts to house tens of thousands of international migrants who overwhelmed the city’s homeless shelters, with Adams at odds with President Joe Biden over funding and a strategy to handle the influx of new residents.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, told reporters after an event Thursday morning that she had not yet read the indictment but would soon do so and then offer detailed comments on the charges.
“I’m going to take the time I need to review this indictment, see what’s embedded with this, but my number one responsibility is to make sure the people of New York city and state of New York are served,” Hochul said.
Williams, a Democrat, would then schedule a special election.
In a statement Thursday, Williams did not explicitly call for Adams to step down but said “It is federal officials’ obligation to prove their case, it is the mayor’s obligation to prove to New Yorkers that there is a real plan and path to govern the city effectively and regain trust, and his time to show that plan is rapidly running out.”
Adams is the police captain who won election nearly three years ago to become the city’s second Black mayor on a campaign that stressed his working class roots and commitment to public safety.
But as he has made reducing crime a cornerstone of his administration, he's faced growing legal peril, with multiple federal investigations homing in on his top aides and his own campaign.
In the last two weeks alone, the leaders he appointed to oversee the country’s largest police force and largest schools system have announced their resignations.
Jeffries is the Democratic leader of the U.S. House and a New Yorker.
“Like every other New Yorker and American, Eric Adams is entitled to the presumption of innocence. That principle is central to the administration of justice in the United States of America,” Jeffries said in a statement. “A jury of the Mayor’s peers will now evaluate the charges in the indictment and ultimately render a determination. In the meantime, I pray for the well-being of our great City.”
Douglas Muzzio, a retired political science professor from Baruch College with extensive knowledge of New York politics, said the indictment will cause a leadership vacuum at the highest level of city government as Adams tries to fend off the charges.
“Pretty soon entire departments are going to have gridlock, and as people are worried about their jobs, their future, the momentum of the city is going to slow considerably,” Muzzio said. “The impact is going to be real and substantial, particularly with the mayor out of the picture and many of his commissioners have resigned, will resign or are under a cloud.”
Williams says Adams engaged in “long-running” corruption involving bribes from foreign nationals dating back nearly a decade.
Speaking at a news conference at his Manhattan office, Williams detailed the allegations of bribery and illegal campaign contributions.
Williams also said the investigation continues and more people “will be held accountable.”
“Everyone who knows me knows that I follow campaign rules and I follow the law,” he said.
The mayor said people should question the federal officials who orchestrated Thursday’s events, when asked if he believed the investigation was political.
Adams failed to disclose his free and discounted travel, created a false paper trail to suggest he had paid it, claimed to a staffer that he deleted his text messages and directed the staffer to ensure his activities in Turkey in 2021 were shielded from public view, prosecutors alleged.
Adams and his co-conspirators, unnamed in the indictment, “continued their efforts to defeat scrutiny of their criminal conduct after the federal investigation into those crimes became known to them,” the indictment said.
Last November, as FBI agents knocked on her door to execute a search warrant, Adams’ fundraiser called the mayor five times and Adams later called her phone as agents were leaving her residence, the indictment said. The fundraiser refused to tell agents who paid for her 2021 travel to Turkey, the indictment said.
Adams was in Washington, D.C. at the time, but upon learning about the search, he canceled the meeting and immediately returned to New York City. A few days later, the FBI executed a search warrant for Adams’ electronic devices. According to the indictment, Adams produced two cellphones but not the personal cellphone he used in conjunction with his alleged crimes. Adams later turned over the phone in response to a subpoena, but it was locked and required a password that Adams claimed to have forgotten, the indictment said.
Shouting from the crowd, one told the mayor he should resign because he’s an “embarrassment.” Another called him “corrupt” and said he should be in handcuffs.
Hazel Dukes, 92, the former leader of the NAACP and an Adams supporter, yelled back to the protesters, “Will you shut up.”
Police circled the protesters as they chanted “abuse of power.”
Standing outside Gracie Mansion and surrounded by prominent Black clergy and civic leaders, Adams vowed to continue his mayoral duties and urged New Yorkers to wait to make any judgments until after he presents his defense.
“It’s an unfortunate day. And its a painful day,” he said. “But inside all of that is a day when we will finally reveal why, for 10 months, I’ve gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself.”
According to the indictment, Adams accepted tens of thousands of dollars in free flights and upgrades on Turkey’s national airline for him and his companions, stays in luxury hotel suites, as well as other amenities such as a car and driver, boat tour, a Turkish bath at a seaside hotel and high-end restaurant meals.
In 2019, while exchanging text messages to plan another possible to trip to Turkey, an Adams staffer texted the then-Borough President, “To be o(n the) safe side Please Delete all messages you send me,” according to the indictment.
According to prosecutors, Adams responded: “Always do.”
The indictment alleges Adams “compounded his gains” from the illegal contributions by gaming the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small dollar donations. His campaign received more than $10,000 in matching funds as a result of the false certifications, according to the indictment.
Adams allegedly “solicited and demanded” bribes, including free and heavily discounted luxury travel benefits from a Turkish official, the indictment alleges, noting that the official was seeking Adams’ help pertaining to regulations of the Turkish consulate in Manhattan.
Adams appears to be going about some usual business as he touted a new program to help affordable housing projects become more eco-friendly.
“We’re making sure that we don’t leave anyone behind as we build a greener, cleaner city for working-class New Yorkers,” the mayor said in a statement Thursday morning, without any mention of the indictment.
Adams is the first mayor in New York City history to be indicted while in office. If he were to resign, he would be replaced by the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, who would then schedule a special election.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has the power to remove Adams from office. Hochul spokesperson Avi Small issued a statement late Wednesday that said “Governor Hochul is aware of these concerning news reports and is monitoring the situation. It would be premature to comment further until the matter is confirmed by law enforcement.”
His former chief of staff, Frank Carone, and deputy mayor for communications, Fabien Levy, were seen entering.
The mood at City Hall, roughly 30 minutes south, was notably quieter. As a gaggle of reporters typed in a press room, the side of the building used by the mayor’s staff was largely silent, with only a handful of aides walking in and out of the normally lively corridor. A portion of the outdoor plaza used as parking for municipal employees featured far fewer city vehicles than usual.
The U.S. attorney’s office in New York says it will announce “significant public corruption charges” at a news conference later Thursday morning.
The announcement came hours after federal agents entered the mayor’s official residence and seized his phone early Thursday, hours before the indictment was made public. The news conference is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET.
In a video speech released Wednesday night, Adams vowed to fights any charges against him, claiming he had been made a “target” in a case “based on lies.”
The indictment caps off an extraordinary few weeks in New York City, as federal investigators have homed in on members of Adams’ inner circle, producing a drum-beat of raids, subpoenas and high-level resignations that have thrust City Hall into crisis.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ lawyer is calling the large FBI presence at the mayor’s official residence Thursday morning an unnecessary show of force.
“They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in,” attorney Alex Spiro said in a statement.
Spiro said federal agents were at Gracie Mansion “in an effort to create a spectacle (again).”
Dozens of uniformed police officers as well as law enforcement agents in suits milled around the security gate. SUVs with darkened windows came and left, and officers could be seen bringing coffee and doughnuts inside.