New York City Mayor Eric Adams maintained his innocence Tuesday after five federal charges were made against him last week by federal prosecutors.
The mayor's regular weekly press conference took a more somber note yesterday. Normally, Adams walks into the room to the sounds of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.” But on Tuesday, the mayor quietly walked in without his usual group of top City Hall aides, and addressed the media about his federal criminal charges alone.
Adams was charged with bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud; solicit foreign contributions and accept bribes; and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. He is the first sitting mayor in modern New York City history to be charged with a crime.
He reiterated he is not going to resign.
“I can do this job, and I will continue to do this job, and I have the right team to do the job,” said Adams.
According to the unsealed indictment, Adams allegedly sought out and accepted "improper valuable benefits" such as luxury flights and hotel stays from foreign businessmen and government officials seeking to gain influence over him. For his 2021 mayoral campaign, Adams “not only accepted, but sought illegal campaign contributions” from foreign nationals and made plans to do the same for the upcoming 2025 election, the indictment said.
His campaign applied the money to the city’s taxpayer funded Matching Funds Program, which matches small dollar donations and offers candidates up to $2,000 for each contribution, which gave his campaign $10 million, according to the indictment.
At the behest of these same Turkish officials who demanded “it was his turn to repay,” the indictment said Adams then used his power as mayor to expedite the opening of the Turkish Consul General building by putting pressure on Daniel Niegro, the Fire Department Commissioner at the time, who allegedly asked his associates to approve the paperwork for the building despite it having known defects.
“I did nothing wrong…I know how I live my life, I did nothing wrong,” said Adams. “I will continue to say, I did nothing wrong.”
When asked why the Turkish government was considered a constituent while he was Brooklyn Borough President, Adams said the borough was home to the largest Turkish population in the city, and that he also had meetings with the consul generals of Peru and Mexico. Adams also said his predecessor Marty Markowitz introduced him to an unnamed consul general.
The indictment also details various attempts by Adams and his aides to hide their behavior, including deleting messages and creating fake paper trails.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has the authority to remove the mayor from office through a provision in the New York State Constitution.
“I'm giving the mayor an opportunity now to demonstrate to New Yorkers – and to me – that we are righting the ship, that we have the opportunity to instill the confidence that I think is wavering right now,” Hochul said on Monday.
If Adams resigns or is removed from office, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would become interim mayor. If that happens before January 2025, a special election would be held to fill the vacancy.
"And I think that as the case unfolds, some people are going to say, you know what, we may have jumped the gun on Eric Adams," the mayor said. "And this is a test for folks who automatically just come with their hearts in one way. This is going to unfold, and I think the information is going to continue to show that I do not break laws."
In other city news, the mayor said there was enhanced deployment of police across the city, and especially in places of worship, as the anniversary of the start of the Israel-Hamas war approaches on Oct. 7.
“We are taking every necessary step to ensure the safety of everyone in this city,” said Adams. “We'll be holding a media briefing with our Jewish leaders and the NYPD to discuss our security plans…We want all of our houses of worship and other Jewish organizations to be aware of what we're doing.”
The mayor also announced the appointment of Allison Stoddart as the new City Hall chief counsel and said he planned to nominate Muriel Goode-Trufant to serve as the city's next corporation counsel.
