Tangle - The Eric Adams indictment.

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors had indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) as part of a corruption investigation. The next day, prosecutors unveiled a five-count indictment against Adams, 64, charging him with bribery, conspiracy, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Adams, who denies the charges and pled not guilty on Friday, is the first mayor of New York City to be charged with a federal crime while still in office.You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.Check out Episode 6 of our podcast series, The Undecideds. You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Help share Tangle.I'm a firm believer that our politics would be a little bit better if everyone were reading balanced news that allows room for debate, disagreement, and multiple perspectives. If you can take 15 seconds to share Tangle with a few friends I'd really appreciate it. Email Tangle to a friend here, share Tangle on X/Twitter here, or share Tangle on Facebook here.Take the survey: What do you think about the Adams indictment? Let us know!Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca.

From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle podcast, the place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about the Eric Adams indictment. I'm going to be breaking down exactly what was in the indictment, what happened, share some of my take about the larger picture on the Justice Department today, which I think is important. And I don't see enough people talking about it. So I'm excited for that part. Before we jump in, though, I want to give you a few notes and heads up as we head into this edition. First of all, we have two corrections, unfortunately. In Tuesday's edition on the SAVE

Act and Congress's government funding bill, we wrote that every House Democrat voted against the version of the bill with the SAVE Act included in it. This was wrong. In reality, three Democrats voted for the bill. We misread the vote totals there for each party, and we also missed the error, obviously, in our editing process. And then in the numbers section of Thursday's edition on Kamala Harris's filibuster comments, we mistakenly identified Senator Strom Thurmond as a Republican when he gave the longest individual filibuster comments. We mistakenly identified Senator Strom Thurmond as a Republican when he gave the longest individual filibuster speech in Senate history. Thurmond famously changed his party affiliation to Republican in 1964, but he was a Democrat at the time he gave the speech.

So little history brush up. Thank you for the readers who called that out. Obviously, understandable mistake, I think, but an important one nonetheless. These were our 116th and 117th corrections in our 269-week history, and it's our first correction since August 28th. We tracked these corrections and placed them at the top of the podcast in an effort to maximize transparency with our listeners. Also, while we're here, I do want to just say the images that are coming out of Western North Carolina and across the Southeast from this latest storm. So as we head into today's podcast, I know this is not the main story at the top of a lot of

people's minds. Reporting on the news is a job, but we are all human. I've got family in North Carolina. My mom and my brother and his wife and kids live there. It's really scary. I'm sending my prayers and positive energy to everyone on the ground now facing a massive recovery. If you live in the area and you have any stories, images, or thoughts to share in the wake of the storm, feel free to email me or our staff, Isaac, I-S-A-A-C at readtangle.com or staff at readtangle.com. You can send us a note about what you're seeing with photos, whatever it is. We want to help spread the word and also, you know, make sure people are getting the resources they need and

the story is getting the intention it deserves. Please stay safe. We're thinking of you. And with that, I'm going to pass it to John for today's main topic, and I'll be back for my take. Thanks, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, Hurricane Helene has killed at least 116 people and caused widespread destruction across the Southeast after making landfall on Thursday. President Biden issued emergency declarations for Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Some areas in western North Carolina still lack power and cell phone service, and rescue efforts have been hampered by extensive damage to roads.

Number two, the Israeli military said it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and another top leader in an airstrike on the group's Central Command headquarters in Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah also confirmed Nasrallah's death. Number three, thousands of dock workers on the east and gulf coasts are preparing to go on strike on Tuesday when a contract between the operators of port terminals and the International Longshoremen's Association expires. The two sides remain at odds over the size of workers' wage increases. Number four, a fire at the Biolab plant in Conyers, Georgia, prompted shelter-in-place orders for over 90,000 Georgia residents after air quality surveys found chlorine in the air

from the fire. An estimated 17,000 people in Conyers have evacuated their homes. And number five, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that created safety measures for large artificial intelligence models and would have been the first such measure to regulate AI in the U.S. we have some breaking news this evening to bring you tonight involving the mayor of america's largest city this one the new york times is reporting tonight that new york city mayor eric adams has been indicted on federal charges now to a historic indictment in New York City. Mayor Eric Adams is resisting calls to step down after federal prosecutors laid out explosive corruption charges against him in a 57-page court document. Adams, a Democrat and former police captain, is now the city's first

mayor to be charged with federal crimes, including bribery. And he could face a judge as early as tomorrow to enter a plea. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that federal prosecutors had indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams as part of a corruption investigation. The next day, prosecutors unveiled a five-count indictment against Adams, 64, charging him with bribery, conspiracy, fraud, and soliciting legal foreign campaign donations. Adams, who denies the charges and pled not guilty on Friday, is the first mayor of New York City to be charged with a federal crime while still in office. A little bit of history here.

Adams won the New York City mayoral race in 2021 and is currently serving a four-year term. He served in the New York Police Department for over 20 years, retiring at the rank of captain and was a state senator for seven years. Adams then served as Brooklyn Borough President, a position he held until becoming mayor. Recently, Adams' term has been marked by legal troubles and criminal investigations. In 2023, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged six people with conspiring to funnel illegal donations to Adams' mayoral campaign and also charged the mayor's former senior advisor and building commissioner with conspiracy and taking bribes. In the past month, federal agencies seized the phones of high-ranking city government officials, including the police commissioner, who resigned shortly

after the seizure, the school's chancellor, the first deputy mayor, and the deputy mayor for public safety, related to parallel investigations to the one into Adams. The most recent indictment claims that Adams accepted benefits and donations from foreign businessmen for nearly a decade, highlighting 23 overt acts. Some of these alleged acts included accepting free or discounted business class travel tickets for international flights to China, Turkey, Sri Lanka, and other countries, accepting over $123,000 worth of luxury travel benefits between 2016 and 2021 without disclosing the gifts, submitting false disclosure statements to the New York City Campaign Finance Board to conceal campaign donations from foreign businessmen, and directing staffers to solicit donations from foreign businessmen.

In return for these gifts and accommodations, the indictment alleges that Adams leveraged his position to do favors for donors, including pressuring the Fire Department of New York to approve the opening of a 36-story Turkish consular building without a fire inspection. He also allegedly stopped associating with a community center affiliated with a political movement critical of the Turkish government and agreed not to make comments about the Armenian genocide as mayor. Prosecutors also allege Adams and his staff attempted to conceal their activities by creating fake paper trails and deleting potentially incriminating messages. In one instance, investigators said Adams provided them with his cell phone to comply with a subpoena,

but claimed he had recently changed his password and could not remember it. If convicted on all five charges, Adams could face 45 years in prison. The longest potential sentence he faces is for wire fraud with a maximum sentence of 20 years. On this charge, prosecutors say Adams defrauded a New York City program that matches donors made by city residents to local candidates with public funds. Adams allegedly accepted funds from straw donors, U.S. citizens who used their names to embezzle donations from foreign contributors, and then used those contributions to apply for matching funds. Adams' 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10 million in matching funds, but prosecutors did not specify the amount that came from straw donors. New York Governor Kathy Hochul could remove Adams from office, but has not yet indicated if she plans to do so.

In a statement on Thursday, the governor said Adams should take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward. Today, we'll share perspectives on the indictment from the left and the right, and then Isaac's take. on the indictment from the left and the right, and then Isaac's tape. We'll be right back after this quick commercial break. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried

history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. Alright, first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left views the allegations against Adams as credible, and many say he should resign. Some say the indictments paint Adams as easily corruptible. Others note the irony of the charges given Adams' focus on law and order.

The New York Times editorial board argued Eric Adams should resign. The challenge of governing the city is daunting, even for the best mayors, and the specter of widespread corruption in the Adams administration has little precedent. There are nearly one million students in the school system, the nation's largest, but the school's chancellor, under federal investigation, has submitted his resignation. There are about 34,000 officers in the nation's largest police department, but the police commissioner resigned after federal officials seized his phone. The interim commissioner has had his home raided by federal agents in an unrelated

case after a week on the job. If he stayed in office, Mr. Adams would have to guide a city hall that is now adrift while facing a months-long prosecution that will consume his attention and time. Concerns about his ethics and integrity would surely give potential replacements grave doubts about being part of his administration, the board wrote. The work of those prosecutors and investigators, who included the FBI and the city's Department of Investigation, is the only good news to come out of this sordid day in New York history. The diligent work of these public servants showed that the mayor is not above the law. He would better serve his own case and the needs of the city's 8.3 million residents by stepping down as mayor. In The Nation, Elie Mestal said it's going to be hard

for Eric Adams to swagger his way out of this mess. Adams denies all these allegations, calling them lies in a statement he released on video last night. But lies is not a legal defense. When Adams has to defend himself in a court of law, instead of the law and order episode playing out in his head, his most likely defense will be to say that he didn't know where all the money was coming from and blame his staff for soliciting illegal contributions, Mistal wrote. The problem with that defense is going to be the fact that Adams didn't just take money from Turkish nationals for his campaign.

He took a slew of trips and vacations all over the globe, paid for by his far-off benefactors. It's disturbing to see how little the mayor of one of the wealthiest cities on the planet could be bought for. On the face of the indictment, Adams sold himself and sold out this city for airline tickets, swanky hotel rooms, and several million dollars of campaign contributions. For all of Adams' self-proclaimed swagger, he turned out to be a relatively cheap date. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Will Bunch wrote about how Eric Adams demolished the myth of the law-and-order mayor. The rank corruption that allegedly propped up Adams' outward show of swagger is appalling, but it may also prove to only be the tip of the iceberg. There are multiple ongoing and overlapping probes into Adams' closest aides,

some of whom were hired despite dubious pasts, including high-ranking police brass under investigation for reportedly telling club owners that cop pressure on their establishments might ease up if they hired the police commissioner's brother, Punch said. The Adams' immorality play, he seems to have no intention of resigning in the spirit of the Donald Trump era, has unleashed a flood of second guessing coming from colonists who now wonder if they were too quick to print the legend of the up from nothing former police captain. I think that's

missing the even deeper questions raised by Adams' stunning rise and fall. His 2021 promise that his police background and orientation would make him a law and order mayor, appealing in a city that was rattled by the pandemic and temporary spike in crime that accompanied it, pushed Adams past a diverse field of mayoral rivals. But the essence of Adams' unique brand of corruption is that the strongman's world has two sets of law books, heavily policed authoritarianism for the masses, but no rules at all for the leader and his inner circle. All right, that is it for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right thinks Adams should stay in office until the legal process plays out. Some say Adams' alleged actions are more benign than the indictment suggests.

Others argue Adams had failed as mayor before these charges. The New York Post editorial board said, Eric Adams should stay and offer his defense to New Yorkers. At first glance, what the government of Turkey got as favors from Mayor Adams was small potatoes, cutting red tape to open the Turkish consulate on time, a position on the transition team. And what did Adams get in return? Campaign donations and first class upgrades on Turkish airlines, the board wrote. The latter is embarrassing but may not be illegal. The straw donor scheme is more serious, but Adams denies he knew anything about it.

It is in the best interest of fairness and the best interest of New York City that Adams be allowed to present a defense while he continues to serve his term. The argument of the resignation crowd is that he is so distracted he cannot possibly lead and that his administration is in chaos with multiple staff either quitting or fleeing for the exits. But the alternative is a recipe for similar chaos, the board said. We reserve judgment on whether Mayor Adams did wrong. The law is the law and a fair process will get to the truth. The coming days will reveal the strength of the criminal case against Adams and his ability to dismantle it. In the Wall Street Journal, James Burnham

and Yaakov Roth argued prosecutors overreach in the case against Eric Adams. The essence of bribery is a quid pro quo, benefits traded for official actions. Prosecutors must prove the benefits, the promised official actions, and the link between them to establish bribery, as the U.S. Supreme Court held in McDonald v. U.S. in 2016, Burnham and Roth wrote. Which brings us to Mr. Adams. The indictment spends many paragraphs discussing benefits received, many of them travel and entertainment, but it is light on official actions promised in return. Stripped of its innuendo, the indictment recounts a man who lived the high life while serving as Brooklyn Borough President and Mayor. The gaudiest supposed official act is the allegation that Mr. Adams, months before he was sworn in as Mayor, pushed

the New York City Fire Department to clear the under-construction Turkish consulate for opening. This was apparently the big payoff to Turkey, asking the future mayor to help cut through the red tape so its official facility in New York City would be ready for a presidential visit, Burnham and Roth said. In short, the indictment tells the story of campaign donors and benefactors who received enhanced access and attention from the elected official. The fact pattern could hardly be more routine. Prosecutors are as human as their targets, and when their target is as high profile as Mr. Adams, the temptation to overreach is tremendous. In City Journal, John Ketchum wrote about the defendant

mayor. One of the mayor's biggest problems is that he hasn't amassed a compelling record of achievements during his three years in office to counterbalance the indictment. New York's voters and elected leaders would be less likely to defect if he had demonstrated his indispensability to the city's well-being, Ketchum said. But it's hard to hold your nose and stick with him when a number of alternative individuals could do at least as well, with far less baggage. Even before the indictment, poll numbers revealed widespread dissatisfaction with Adams' performance. The mayor's final appeal to New Yorkers, that the indictment is politically motivated payback for his vocal criticism of the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis, is unpersuasive.

The charges date back to his tenure as Brooklyn Borough President years before the migrant crisis began. Besides, his bellyaching about Washington won nothing for New York in the end. At bottom, it revealed his ineptitude. Few New Yorkers can say they're much better off today than they were three years ago. How many should Adams expect to rally in his defense? All right, let's head over to Isaac for his take. All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take.

So in the recent instances when a politician has been indicted, I've used this space to make a point about how damning the indictment appears. For instance, when Senator Bob Menendez, the Democrat from New Jersey, was indicted, I said the indictment looked incredibly bad. Prosecutors had an abundance of hard evidence. Texts, fingerprints, gold bars, hidden cash, and more. Similarly, I thought the Justice Department had former President Trump dead to rights in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. While Menendez was later found guilty on all counts, Trump's case was thrown out by Judge Eileen Cannon, which Jack Smith appealed to the 11th Circuit, where it has been delayed and now won't be heard until after the election. All this is just to say, indictments never equate to guilt, and even when the violence seems strong, cases don't always go how you think they will. If I'm comparing Adams' indictment to Menendez's and Trump's, I'd say that his indictment reads

more like Menendez's. Just as in that case, prosecutors detailed moments of comical alleged corruption from Adams. An Adams staffer who voluntarily spoke to the FBI then left the meeting to go to the bathroom where she tried to delete encrypted messaging apps she used to communicate with Adams. Texts of Adams' staffers telling him to delete their messages and him saying he always does. A staffer who thought a proposal to give illegal cash donations to Adams was so egregious he never agreed to it, only to pass the idea along to Adams and find, to their surprise, he was totally game. These are all allegations, of course, and they will need to be proven in court, but if I were a betting man, I'd bet that Adams did what is alleged here, and that the prosecution can prove it. And I'd bet a lot. More interesting to

me than the indictment, though, was the response. While many Democrats who were suspicious of Adams from the start seemed unsurprised by the indictment, it was mostly conservatives who rushed to the Democratic mayor's defense. Perhaps shaped by the prosecutions against Trump, a few prominent writers, as you just heard under what the right is saying, have either argued Adams is innocent until proven guilty or outright criticized an overzealous Justice Department. It's hard to say whether they are earnestly holding the line on their attitude towards Biden's Justice Department or fiending support for Adams to be consistent, but I was still taken aback. And my take is decidedly different. I think we are living in a very good era for accountability of corrupt politicians.

Trump presents a divisive case, and he has not had his day in court, but leaving the former president aside completely, the list of politicians and the families who have been held accountable in the past few years is considerable. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife for corruption and bribery. Hunter Biden, the current president's son, for tax evasion and gun charges. Representative Henry Queller, the Democrat from Texas, and his wife for bribery and money laundering. Representative Matt Gaetz, the Republican from Florida, for sexual misconduct. Representative Cori Bush, the Democrat from Missouri, who is still being investigated for misuse of funds and lost her primary in August. Oakland Mayor Sheng Tao on corruption charges. Tennessee Representative Andrew Ogles, the Republican, on campaign finance violations.

And, of course, Representative George Santos, the Republican for, well, wire fraud, conspiracy, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, misuse of public funds, and lying to FEC officials. He has also been unseated, pled guilty, and will be sentenced in February. And now, Eric Adams. That's five Democrats plus the Democratic president's son and three Republicans who have been investigated by the Justice Department, all in recent memory, all under a department being led by an Attorney General who was appointed by a Democratic President. This is good. This is what we should be doing. Too many people in suits and ties think they can get away with organized crime, fleecing the public funds, or blatant misconduct without accountability. Everyone should want that era to end. I know I do. So, what do I think of Adam's indictment? I'm glad for it.

Guilty or not, the evidence against him looks damning enough that it is deserving of an investigation, a trial, and an earnest prosecution. If he's innocent, that will come out in court. We should be happy that people like him, people as powerful and well-connected as the mayor of New York City, can't engage in conversations about cash for favors without facing potential repercussions. That is the country that I want to live in. We'll be right back after this quick break. The faster money and data move, the further your business can go to a seamless digital future for Canadians. Let's go faster forward together. In life, interact.

Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot.

Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages 6 months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. All right, that is it for my take, which brings us to your questions answered. This one's from Walker in Atlanta, Georgia. Walker said, can you share more about what exactly it means that Tangle acquired a financial sponsor and how this might or

might not influence future content choices and biases? Okay, so to catch everyone up, we recently acquired a fiscal sponsor. To your first question, that means we're working with a non-profit organization that can accept donations on our behalf. We did this for two reasons. First, so we can accept offers from people who want to support our work with large dollar donations. These offers are incredibly kind, humbling, and exciting. But sadly, my response has long been, I'm sorry, we don't have the infrastructure to accept that money. When people want to give you money to support your work and you can't take the money, that is a very bad answer. So I looked into solutions and learned that for-profit organizations like ours can acquire a fiscal sponsor to support specific non-profit oriented initiatives.

This was exciting, so we decided to pursue it. Secondly, we get to enhance our tip jar, which is a means of receiving donations that we've always had. With a fiscal sponsor, we were able to convert that tip jar to a project-specific goal, in this case our podcast and YouTube channel. This means that donors can now write off their donations and we can accept the money without having to be taxed as revenue. Our fiscal sponsor takes a fee, but we get to keep a larger share of the donations. This, too, is a great benefit. So that's the story. We have to follow the law and use the money how we say we are going to, but that is all explained on our donation page. In short, nothing about our operation or decision-making process is changing, and nothing about our content or biases will be impacted. All right, that is it for your questions answered. I'm going to send it

back to John for the rest of the pod, and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have a good one. Thanks, Isaac. Here's your Under the Radar story for today, folks. The latest Harvard Youth Poll found a surprising trend among America's youngest voters. The 18 to 24-year-old cohort identified as more conservative than their 25- to 29-year-old group. The shift was particularly pronounced among men, with 26% of men in the 18- to 24-year-old group identifying as conservative,

compared to 21% in the 25- to 29-year-old group. With a plurality of voters in both age groups saying they are moderates, the shifting attitudes among the youngest cohort stands out relative to previous youth polls that have consistently shown young voters to be more liberal than older groups. John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, suggested that today's 18 to 24-year-olds may feel more distrustful of the political establishment because of how they were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as teenagers. Axios has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description.

All right, next up is our numbers section. Eric Adams' margin of victory over Maya Wiley in the 2021 Democratic primary for New York City mayor was 0.8% after eight rounds of ranked choice voting tabulations. The percentage of registered voters in New York City who approved of Eric Adams' performance as mayor in December of 2023 was 28%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. The percentage of New York City residents who approved of Adams' performance in mayor as of March 2022 was 61%, according to a mayorist poll. The percentage of registered voters in New York City who think Adams did something illegal in the federal investigation into whether foreign money was funneled into his 2021 mayoral campaign

is 22%. And the percentage of registered voters who think Adams acted unethically, but not illegally in the matter, is 30%. All right, and last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. Shriller Joseph met Chrissy Miller while hiking in Provo, Utah in September 2023. The two strangers struck up a conversation, and Joseph confided to Miller that he was waiting for a kidney transplant. In response, Miller, who is the mother of four children, offered to donate her kidney to him.

After testing showed Miller's kidney would be a match for Joseph, the two reunited this past week after a successful transplant. KUTV has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that's it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please go to retangle.com and sign up for a membership. We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac and the rest of the crew, this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'all. Peace. and edited and engineered by John Wall. The script is edited by our managing editor, Ari Weitzman,

Will Kedak, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bacopa, who is also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. If you're looking for more from Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website.