NYC NOW - November 20, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

Advocates are speaking out against Mayor Eric Adam's proposed budget cuts; including rapper and Bronx-native Cardi B. The New York City Department of Buildings is telling Skyline Hotel garage near West 49th Street to partially clear out over concerns about its conditions. This month, news emerged of an FBI investigation into potentially illegal donations to New York City Mayor Eric Adams' campaign. While Mayor Adams hasn't faced any charges, the FBI did seize some of Mayor Adams' electronic devices and raided the home of a key fundraiser. WNYC's David Furst sits with one of our editors, David Giambusso for more details on the investigation.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, November 20th. Here's the midday news from Kerry Nolan. Advocates are speaking out against Mayor Eric Adams' proposed budget cuts. Organizations across the five boroughs are protesting the mayor's plan to severely cut funding to things like libraries, sanitation services, the police, and school. rapper and Bronx native Cardi B is among those unhappy with the proposed cuts.

She sounded off on Instagram over the weekend, noting that even though she doesn't live in the city anymore, her family does. I'm lucky, I'm blessed, but like what's going to happen to my nieces? What's going to happen to my nephews? What's going to happen to my cousins? My aunts, my friends. Environmental advocates are also decrying the cuts, which they say would shut down all community composting efforts in the city. The organization Grow NYC says it would mean cutting more than 100 green jobs. The New York City Department of Buildings is telling a second hell's kitchen parking garage to partially clear out over concerns about its conditions.

Skyline Hotel Garage near the West 49th Street must be partially vacated after the city deemed the structure over-parked and in a state of disrepair. City records show the entire cellar and first floor must empty out because of the city. of the conditions, officials issued the order late last week. The move comes just days after Amtrak service between Croton Harmon and New York City faced an extended suspension because of structural concerns at a parking garage near the tracks. It'll be sunny, breezy, and cool today. We'll see afternoon highs in the mid-40s. Cold tonight.

It'll be near freezing in the city. And we'll see some rain tomorrow, but it won't start until late afternoon. On WNYC, I'm David First. This month we learned that the FBI opened an investigation into the campaign of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, looking into potentially illegal donations made to the campaign. The mayor has not been charged with anything, but very publicly the FBI raided the home of a key fundraiser for the Adams campaign and seized some of the mayor's electronic devices. We learned that even more Adams staffers,

had been raided by the FBI. We're joined now by WNYC News editor David Jambuso with the latest on the investigation. Hey, David. Hi, David. What do we know so far? What is this investigation about? And when did it begin? Well, we don't know exactly when it began, but it seems to have been underway for months, at least.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office are looking back into the mayor's campaign fundraising, some of his activities. This is for his 2021 mayoral campaign. and some of the things he was up to, even before he was mayor. We have very limited visibility into the investigation. It's basically based on what sources have told the New York Times and what the mayor's campaign has publicly stated as well. But the long and short of it is the feds are looking into whether foreign nationals,

specifically Turkish nationals, illegally donated to the Adams campaign, and presumably if Adams or any of his inner circle did official favors in exchange for those donations. I would note that neither the mayor, nor anyone in his campaign or City Hall has been officially accused of any crime. But it's clear the FBI is looking very closely into the mayor himself, as well as his closest associates. Well, seizing the mayor's cell phones was a dramatic move. What has to happen before a judge would grant a warrant for law enforcement to take those devices? Yeah, it was a dramatic move, and they didn't do it quietly.

The federal agents apparently confronted the mayor on a public street. They told his NYPD security detail to sort of stand aside. and then they demanded that he hand over, I believe it was two iPhones and an iPad. This is according to the Times and the mayor's own campaign admitted to some of it. The mayor has so repeatedly he's cooperating fully with the investigation. He had the items back in a few days. But for a judge to sign off in a warrant like that, investigators would have to demonstrate that they had probable cause that there was evidence in those phones or those devices relating to a crime.

It doesn't mean they found anything or even that Adams is. the one being targeted, but the mayor keeps repeating that, you know, he and his staff follow the law. If you're a sort of normal person, you know, when the FBI takes your phone, you probably want to start to worry. Nobody wants the FBI to take their devices. That's not a happy turn of events. No. An attorney for the Adams campaign said that after learning about the federal investigation, quote, it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly. That seemed to indicate that the campaign itself was admitting there was an issue? Yeah, I mean, it seems to me that they're admitting that this one person had a problem.

I don't know if they're... An unspecified person. Well, yeah, it was unspecified at first, but then reporting from other outlets turned out it was actually a city hall staffer, not a campaign staffer named Rana Abasova. And them saying that, it's sort of them showing that they're cooperating with the FBI and the investigation. And it could suggest that the messages, you know, that it's not a systemic problem in the campaign, but rather one or two individuals. But then the Times reported Thursday evening, I believe it was, that Abasov's home was also rated on November 2nd, the same day that

they rated the home of Brianna Suggs, Adams' campaign fundraiser. So it's unclear what kind of an omission it was. Clearly, it seems the FBI was already aware of this woman and some of her activities. And she was someone who worked as a liaison between Adams and the Turkish community with which he has longstanding ties even before he was mayor. Where is this headed? And how is this investigation likely to affect the mayor's ability to govern and lead New York City? It's a good question. It's hard to speculate on where it's headed. The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office has not really put out a lot of public information on this. I think it's, you know, increasingly difficult to prove a sort of classic corruption without a real smoking gun, and no one except for the federal authorities

really know the full extent of the alleged conspiracy here or even who's at the center of it. As to how it affects the mayor, that really depends on him personally and his ability to compartmentalize. You know, can he focus on governing while all of this is going on? But, you know, he touts the fact that he's very zen and very centered. So he'll have to do a lot of meditating, I feel like, in the next few months. A lot of meditating. and this is not the only controversy swirling around the mayor. No, his campaign is also being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office,

also for potential fundraising violations. And even without those controversies, Adams has a lot on his plate, even for a New York City mayor. He's got the ongoing migrant crisis, which I don't think anyone would say has been managed well. This week, because of that crisis, he's rolled out some pretty severe budget cuts that hit everything from police to libraries, the sanitation. when he first took office, the mayor was fond of saying, when does the hard part start? And I think it's safe to say

we're in the hard part now. We're in the hard part now. WNYC's David Jambuso. We'll hear much more about this in the weeks ahead. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, David. Thanks for listening.

This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening. Thank you.