NYC NOW - September 27, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleads not guilty to federal corruption charges in his first court appearance on Friday. WNYC’s Bahar Ostadan reports from the scene. Meanwhile, city officials continue to react to the indictment. WNYC’s Tiffany Hanssen spoke with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, September 27. Here's the midday news from Sean Cawson. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has just left the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan after pleading not guilty to accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions. He entered the plea before a PAC courtroom gallery less than an hour ago. It comes a day after prosecutors revealed charges alleging he,

accepted overseas travel and illegal contributions from people looking to buy his influence in city government. WNYC's Bahar Ostan is at the courthouse. She joins us now. Bahar, what is the scene there? The scene is really a sea of news reporters packed into sort of gated off fences, squished trying to get a shot of Adams as he walked outside the courtroom several minutes ago. There's also a newlywed couple across the street posing for some photos with their cute little dog and making everyone laugh. Oh, man.

What are we expecting next to? We're looking at a court appearance on Wednesday morning by Adams. He'll show up in front of a different judge, and we'll just be watching how the next several days go. The judge ordered, he barred Adams from, she barred Adams rather, from communicating with witnesses or individuals referred to in the indictment, with some exceptions for family and staff in the meantime. That's WNYC's Bahra Ossadan, talking to us from downtown Manhattan at the federal courthouse. Bahar, thanks so much. Thanks, Sean. Stay with WNYC through the day.

We're going to continue to bring you updates on this very quickly developing story. You can also check the latest at our news website, gothamis.com. For the rest of tonight, cloudy skies, chance of showers, temperatures in the mid-60s. For tomorrow, cloudy skies is pretty good chance of more rain. Highs in the low 70s with more rain possible tomorrow night and a low around 62. It's WNYC. Up next, we'll hear from New York City's public advocate. That's after the break.

NYC. New York City officials continue to react to the news that Mayor Adams is the subject of a 57-page indictment. My colleague Tiffany Hanson spoke with public advocate Jimani Williams for his take on all of this. The office of the public advocate is separate from the mayor's office and in many ways acts as a check-in balance on the mayor's power. All right. So first, let's just start with your reaction to the details that were revealed yesterday afternoon regarding the indictment. you know first we're in a really sad space i think it's tough for all new yorkers and something painful to be to be going through um you know the the the breadth and scope of what was in the indictment is was a little more than i thought um and it's a you know it seemed to be a very

compelling case and even with that in the same time we know that the presumption of innocence is really tantam out to what we think about when we think about the system The mayor has said he will be vindicated. I'm curious how you feel about that statement, whether or not you believe that's true. Well, as I said, the evidence was a pretty damning evidence. It was very serious charges well laid out. And even if you have the presumption of innocence and the right to defend yourself, what you do, that's a separate conversation of whether or not someone can do the job they're currently in.

And so the question is, can the mayor govern with this on his head and trying to deal with this? And does he have the ability to restore trust that has been clearly broken? And that's something that I believe he needs to really look at himself and ask whether those two things are possible. It looks very difficult from where I sit and it gets harder as the day goes forward. If it does look difficult from where you sit, I'm wondering if you think Mayor Adam, should resign. The criteria that I have said are, you know, while you're dealing with this, do you have the ability to govern and can you restore trust?

And if you can do that, you need to put forward a plan really quickly to show us how you can do that. And that hasn't happened. Again, it's difficult for me to see how it can happen. But, you know, the federal government has the duty to prove its case and the mayor has the duty to defend himself. prove that he can do those things. And that window's closing pretty rapidly. The mayor is for his part saying that he will not resign. You are in line for the mayor's

office. Should he do so? Or should he be removed? And I'm curious if you're preparing at this point. I think being in the Atlantic session, you have to be even more responsible. I talk about these things. What I do know is continue to deflect. and try to wave away what's happening. It's not a good plan to move forward. Being public advocate from the beginning, you know that this is a possibility, and so you should have at least some conversations around it.

I will say in the past couple of weeks, we've tried to have some deeper conversations just to be prepared for any eventuality. The main thing, however, is for me and other elected officials, and particularly the tens of thousands of public sector workers who really keep our city government. going to just make sure we have a plan so there's a continuity of government so that New Yorkers have trust that the garbage is going to get picked up they're going to call 301 a 911 and 7 will

keep up the phone I think that's the most important plans to be trying to put in place well to that point I'm curious how you think things are running at this point government is running as it should be and to that end are you hearing anything otherwise from constituents and New Yorkers about that? I said tens of thousands of public sector workers who are really dedicated to their job. Things are running on autopilot, and I think they can for a little while. They will come to a point where the impact of what's going on is being felt. And that's why a lot of us are asking the mayor to really ask themselves some really hard

questions and make decisions that are best for the people of New York City. New Yorkers are concerned. And I think people who are dedicated are concerned as well because they come in and want to do the best job and are doing the best job they can for New York City and would like the same thing for the top of your leadership. Public advocate, Jumani Williams. Thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep days.

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