Consider This from NPR - The unraveling of Eric Adams' administration

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

The biggest city in the country is in the midst of a major political scandal, and things appear to be unraveling in New York Mayor Eric Adam's administration. There are federal investigations, top level resignations, and scandals reaching back into his 2021 mayoral campaign. So, what's going on?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

America's biggest city is known for its larger-than-life leaders. Fiorello LaGuardia spoke to the whole nation with his radio program Talk to the People. It's Christmas again, and now is the time for all of us to resolve to live the spirit of Christmas. Ed Koch stood 6'2 and talked an even bigger game. I believe that I created the foundation. I changed the city of New York. And before Rudy Giuliani joined Donald Trump's orbit, he was known for his controversial civil cleanup policies.

That city that used to be the rotting apple that 60, 70, 80 percent of the people wanted to leave and nobody wanted to come to, that city now is a very strong and it's a confident city. But just as New York City's mayors have been larger than life, so too have their political scandals. District Attorney Cyrus Vance now has in his hands a scathing report on Mayor de Blasio's efforts to influence the 2014 Senate races. A total of nine officials and businessmen have been indicted on charges ranging from bribery to stalk fraud. Police commissioner in New York City, Bernard Carrick, whose indictment is expected to be unsealed today

on charges of corruption. Just as in those previous cases, the city's current mayor, Eric Adams, has not been charged with any crime, at least not yet. But this latest round of political scandals has reached the highest levels of his administration. City Hall in turmoil these days due to federal investigations involving multiple members of Mayor Eric Adams, his inner circle. The FBI has raided the homes of at least three top New York City officials closely connected to

Mayor Eric Adams. Eyewitness News has learned that authorities have subpoenaed phones belonging to Police Commissioner Edward Caban, as well as six other NYPD officials. Tim Pearson, a close... Consider this. With almost daily developments, the administration of New York Mayor Eric Adams has been rocked by scandal. What does this all mean for his tenure as mayor? From NPR, I'm Elsie Chang.

It's Consider This from NPR. The biggest city in the country is in the middle of a major political scandal. Things appear to be unraveling inside the administration of New York Mayor Eric Adams. Federal investigations, high-level resignations, scandals reaching back into his 2021 mayoral campaign. Adams' inner circle has come under intense scrutiny in recent months. Adams himself has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and so far has not been accused of anything. In a recent press conference this week,

he sought to shift attention away from all the scrutiny. I'm in focus on protecting the people of this city and the investigations will take care of themselves. And that is not where my time is going to be consumed of answering the same questions over and over again. We know what you know. Well, we still have questions. So to help us make sense of all that has happened, we called up Elizabeth Kim, a reporter for The Gothamist, who's been covering Eric Adams. Welcome. Hi, Elsa. Hi. Okay, so let's start with the most recent event. Over the weekend, Adams' top legal counsel, Lisa Zornberg, resigned, right? That came just days

after NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned, just a week after federal authorities seized his cell phone. But Adams, his problems, they didn't just start this month, right? When and how did all of this start? Where would you pinpoint it? So this goes back to November, when federal agents raided several individuals, most notably Adams's top fundraiser. And I should note that it's not unusual for there to be an investigation into a mayor's fundraising. There was one for the previous mayor, Mayor Bill de Blasio. But what was unusual and really raised people's eyebrows was when federal agents also seized the mayor's phones. So that's when the political observers started thinking that this

is rather serious because that was pretty much unprecedented in New York City. Since that time, we've seen growing federal scrutiny, not just on Adams and the people who are tied to his campaign and his donors, but we've also seen federal agents take the phones of his first deputy mayor, his school's chancellor, and also his NYPD commissioner. Right, as we mentioned. Okay, by my count, there are four federal investigations going on right now, right, looking into aspects of Adams' administration. Can you just lay out the specifics of what these four federal investigations are looking into? With the one on the mayor's fundraising, we do know that part of the focus has been on illegal donations from Turkish officials.

Then there's another investigation into one of Mayor Adams' fundraisers who really focused on the Chinese community. And with that, that's really all we know. We know that her home was also searched. Then there is the investigation into the NYPD. That one has also involved the police commissioner's brother. He happens to be a consultant in the nightlife industry. And there has been some reporting that it could involve perhaps bribery involving even a member of the mayor's administration. He recently let go someone who was in charge of nightlife operations. And then the fourth one involves the deputy mayor for public safety. This is a person, his name is Phil Banks, who goes, his relationship with the mayor stretches back decades. He happens to be the brother of the school's chancellor. Now there has been focus on yet another member of their family, a brother who works as a consultant and has represented

businesses who have contracts with the city. Well, how has Mayor Adams been responding to all of this so far? Well, initially, especially in the weeks after his phones were seized, the mayor really sought to downplay this. You know, he wouldn't even call it an investigation. He would refer to them as reviews. But in recent weeks, beginning with the departure of the police commissioner, the mayor had to address this and he had to acknowledge that there are concerns and that New Yorkers are a little confused by the investigations and that they have questions. So the mayor who had COVID last week had a virtual address,

both to announce the resignation of the police commissioner, but also to try to reassure New Yorkers that he was not distracted by these investigations and that he was going to let them play out and that he was confident that it would come out that he had done nothing wrong. There's been criticism of his management of the city, criticisms that well predated any of these scandals. Do you find that this turmoil that's now happening because of the scandals is affecting the day-to-day operation of the city? What are you noticing? It's hard not to believe that it is a distraction. For one, it's the only thing that reporters are repeatedly asking the mayor about.

The mayor has very little opportunity to talk about other initiatives that he is focused on, even though he may try. having to replace your police commissioner very suddenly and within days. The mayor had made public safety his priority. So to see him lose that crucial role, I think, is concerning for New Yorkers. And it should be for the mayor himself. You know, there's also now the fact that he doesn't have a chief counsel. What does that mean? How is he going to defend himself from these investigations? Elizabeth Kim is a reporter for The Gothamist and WNYC. Thank you so much for being with us.

Thanks for having me. This episode was produced by Mark Rivers with audio engineering by Neil T. Vault. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sammy Yannigan. And one more thing before we go, you can now enjoy the Consider This newsletter. We still help you break down a major story of the day, but you'll also get to know our producers and hosts

and some moments of joy from the All Things Considered team. You can sign up at npr.org slash consider this newsletter. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.