NYC NOW - September 26, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

WNYC’s Janae Pierre and Charles Lane discuss the federal indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. According to prosecutors, Adams sought illegal contributions from foreign nationals during his 2021 mayoral campaign, after he was elected, and again for his 2025 campaign in exchange for favors. Meanwhile, New Jersey Congressman Tom Kean Jr. is running for reelection but WNYC’s Nancy Solomon reports on an unusual aspect of the incumbent's campaign strategy: avoiding the public.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. Year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark. He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them. That's U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damien Williams, laying out the 57-page federal indictment against Mayor Eric Adams. According to prosecutors, New York City Mayor Eric Adams sought illegal contributions from foreign nationals during his 2021 mayoral campaign as well as after he was elected and again for his 2025 campaign in exchange for favors. The charges include fraud, bribery, and solicitation of contributions by a foreign national. Prosecutors also alleged the mayor accepted over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits.

Here's FBI Assistant Director James Denehy. We cannot ignore the shadow cast by moments like this. When trust is eroded, it takes years, sometimes decades, to rebuild. The weight of today's actions falls not just on the indicted official, but on every other public official who must now work harder to earn the public's confidence in them. Joining me to unpack today's breaking news is WMYC's Charles Lane. Charles, you started the day off at Gracie Mansion, right? Tell me what happened there. So federal law enforcement showed up at Gracie Mansion at 6 a.m. on the dot, according to NYPD.

Police had set up barricades and shut down the park around the mansion. According to police, the mansion was searched and Adams had his phone taken again. Remember, he had his phone taken the first time back in November. About 8 a.m., those officials left, and they were in two suburb. bourbons with tinted out windows, so we couldn't really see who was inside. But then three more sedans with tinted windows arrived. Police kept the area locked down. And remember that this is 8 a.m. So Upper East Siders were out walking their dogs and checking their phones as two dozen reporters were sort of camped out trying to see what was going on. And at this point, you only knew

that Adam said he was going to be charged with federal crimes, right? Tell me what happened next. So from the Upper East Side, I went to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the federal prosecutors, because the indictment at this point, it's, you know, it's still sealed and we really want to read it as soon as possible, as soon as it's unsealed. There at the U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. Attorney Damien Williams held a hastily arranged press conference where he walked us through his narrative of the charges. And it was here standing on the street in the rain where we got our first look. soliciting donations from foreign officials for his 21 campaign to which Adams provided political favors in return. Williams says this alleged bribery then continued when he was elected and into his 2025 campaign. Keep in mind that this is Williams' narrative that ultimately he will have to try to convince a jury of. Yeah, right. So give us more details about the charges here.

According to prosecutors, Adams solicited campaign contribution. from not just foreign officials, but also from corporations and used straw donors, which are essentially fake donors, so wealthy contributors can get around donation limits. Then, according to Williams, Adams failed to disclose the free travel that you had mentioned from an unnamed Turkish official, basically like these plush business class trips in pricey stays in hotels, all without disclosing it is required. Here is just a taste of what William said. In 2017, Adams accepted free business class tickets for himself and his travel companions to France, Turkey, and China.

And he was put up in the Bentley Suite in the St. Regis Hotel in Istanbul. All of that was worth more than $41,000, and none of it was publicly disclosed. Altogether, Williams said Adams received about $100,000 in travel expenses. According to prosecutors, not only was all of the... this undisclosed, they alleged that Adams took steps to create a fake paper trail, attempting to hide the fact that the trips were paid for by somebody else. Williams called these attempts, clumsy attempts to cover up. So what has Adam said about all of this? The mayor has been defiant and not just defiant, but sort of on the offensive. So late last night, he released a video statement

even before he knew what the charges were and calling the charges, lies and false. Then he suggested that he was a, quote, target of the federal government in response to his criticisms of the lack of federal help on the migrant crisis. Then today, he scheduled a dueling press conference at the same time as prosecutors were having their press conference. Here's a little bit of what he said. We do not participate in your donors. We do not participate in foreign donors. We know what those rules are and we comply with those rules. And I think my attorneys are going to rebuild that as we move forward.

He was asked by the press if he would resign and Adams chuckled and said no. What have we heard about those calls to resign, Charles? Numerous elected officials have called on Adams to resign. And they include almost all of Adams' announced 2025 challengers, Scott Stringer, Bradlander, Zellner-Miree, Jessica Ramos. But these are all the kind of suspected calls for us. that we would all just expect. Others have walked a tidal line. Governor Kathy Hockel is still waiting to see what comes of the indictment as of this afternoon. And Speaker Adrian Adams, she asked the mayor to consider if he can still give the city his full attention. One notable person whom we haven't heard from yet is former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is seen as a strong potential candidate for mayor in 2020. That's WNYC's Charles Lane. As the November elections inch closer, most of the candidates are campaigning even harder,

but Congressman Tom Kane Jr. is taking a different approach. We'll have more on that after the break. A New Jersey congressional race is considered one of about a dozen Republican seats around the country that could flip to the Democrats. The re-election campaign of Republican Congress member Tom Kane Jr. in the 7th District is considered a toss-up. And WMYC's Nancy Solomon reports on an unusual aspect of the incumbent's campaign strategy, avoiding the public. I've been trying to reach the campaign for Tom Kane Jr.,

but they never returned my emails. I asked to be put on their press list, but they don't send out notices so reporters can cover his events. And some residents of the district say they can't find out about events either. Insider N.J., a political news site, called it Kane's cloak of invisibility. But sometimes, even closed-door events can backfire. I understand that you have endorsed Donald Trump for president. And so my question is...

At a recent appearance at the Lantern Hill Senior Living Community in New Providence, Kane faced a tough question about Project 2025. The woman wanted to know what he thinks of the conservative blueprint on what President Donald Trump should do if he's re-elected. I've never read Project 2025 the first time that I've ever heard of being supportive of it, which I was accused of supporting it. That's something that I've never read it. You never read it?

No. Why not? Because my focus here, because on the things are important, the people here. Kane's Democratic rival, Sue Altman, got a hold of the video and posted it on TikTok. More than 515,000 people have watched it. The 7th Congressional District runs from the industrial working class towns south of Newark Airport, west through the affluent suburbs of Westfield and Summit, and through a very wide swath of rural communities to the Pennsylvania border.

In 2018, anti-Trump activist groups fought to flip a longtime Republican seat. anticipating that Tom Malinowski is about to take this stage there and to speak after he's been declared the winner in Congressional District 7. Tom Malinowski held the seat for two terms, and then Kane won back the Purple District in 2022. Maggie Savoca of the Progressive Group 1 in J7 says they've tried to challenge Kane to face more of his constituents. So a lot of people who want to know what he stands for have called him. They got no reply. Any email you sent to him, kind of getting a canned response, an issue, say, like abortion access, he really just does not answer the question.

They visited his district office, but he wasn't there. He doesn't hold any actual town halls. He says he does, but there are these teletown halls. Many of them are superscripted. Savoka hasn't even been able to find out about ribbon-cutting events that are the bread and butter of politics. And I personally have called his office to show up and ask some questions and was told that they don't publish his schedule for security reasons. The former representative, Tom Malinowski, held more than 100 town halls. He suggests a different reason why Kane won't hold public events.

He doesn't have, to put it very kindly, a lot of mental or verbal acuity. in those situations. And I think that's really what they are trying to hide from voters here, that this is somebody who isn't capable of doing one of the most basic things that an elected representative is supposed to do. But Republican strategist, Jeanette Hoffman, points to Vice President Kamala Harris, who's also been criticized for not doing enough press interviews. Hoffman says Kane's strategy is a smart one, because he won't necessarily. get fair treatment from reporters. It hasn't hurt him because he maintains a high level of visibility and accessibility

to his constituents. I think in this day and age, when politicians can communicate directly to voters via social media, it doesn't hurt them as much to not do traditional interviews with reporters. And just like the last election cycle, I will get to see Kane in action once. He debates Sue Altman on October 13th in a lot of. live streamed event by NJ Globe. That's WNYC's Nancy Solomon. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.