New York City Mayor Eric Adams denied allegations of sexual assault during his weekly media press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, after a law suit was filed a day prior.
“I want to immediately respond to that as I did in November when it first came out on Thanksgiving Day. This did not happen. It did not happen,” said Adams right at the beginning of the press briefing. “I don’t recall ever meeting this person during my time in the police department.”
In the complaint, the plaintiff alleged Adams requested oral sex from her, forced her hand on his genitals and masturbated in front of her in a police car in 1993.
Despite the onslaught of questions regarding the allegations, the mayor kept to his script. On multiple occasions, he denied any kind of encounter happening between him and the plaintiff.
“He is not going to be answering specifics of a complaint,” said Associate Justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix, as she deflected questions regarding the sexual assault allegations aimed at the mayor. “The Corporation Counsel’s Office is representing him. We’re currently reviewing the complaint and we will make the appropriate answer and everyone will get the information when we file it with the court.”
Meanwhile, Adams admitted to knowing and meeting Hui Qin, a Chinese business magnate, who pleaded guilty on Monday to federal charges of giving more than $10,000 in straw donor contributions to New York political candidates, inlcuding him.
“Yes, I know who he [Hui Qin] is. I’ve met him before but I think we need to be very clear as we saw over and over again in these straw donor cases,” said Adams. “A lot of people read over the fact that the U.S. attorney stated that this was not done with the [Adams] campaign’s knowledge.”
So far, the mayor has not been indicted on any charges regarding corruption and illegal donations made to his mayoral campaign.
“We need to take money out of politics. I’ve said this over and over again…Don’t call anyone for money. Don’t ask for matching funds. Don’t ask for anything. Here’s all you can spend. Three million dollars and go run your campaign,” said Adams.
Qin’s guilty plea comes as the latest in a litany of arrests, raids and indictments of Adams’ associates and even the mayor himself made by the federal government.
In education news, Adams was not hopeful about securing $93 million in funding intended to support citywide Pre-K and 3-K programs which are set to expire by the summer.
“There are areas that we are going to have to do some form of cuts,” he said. “Those dollars are not identified yet. We need help…The previous administration put in place permanent programs with sunsetting dollars.”
The city would have had more money for education had it not spent $4 billion on migrants and asylum seekers, he said.
“The money that we spend on migrants, immigrants, we should not be spending. It should come from the federal government,” said Chief Advisor to the Mayor Ingrid Lewis-Martin. “So if the federal government would kick in and do their part. Then we would be in a much better place.”
In addition, the mayor said he needed help from the United Federation of Teachers union to recruit more teachers so that class sizes can be reduced as required by law. The City Council on Tuesday passed legislation requiring the Department of Education to report the actual number of students in a class instead of the average.
