The Daily - The Criminal Indictment of New York City’s Mayor

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

For the first time in New York history, federal prosecutors have indicted the city’s sitting mayor, accusing him of accepting illegal campaign donations and luxury gifts in return for political favors.Emma Fitzsimmons, the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, discusses the rise and fall of Mayor Eric Adams.Guest: Emma G. Fitzsimmons, the City Hall bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: The indictment plunges Mr. Adams’s embattled administration further into chaos just months before he is set to face challengers in a hotly contested primary.Here are the two ways Mr. Adams could be forced from office.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barrow. This is The Daily. Today we are announcing campaign finance, bribery, and conspiracy charges against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. For the first time in New York history, federal prosecutors have indicted the city's sitting mayor. The conduct alleged in the indictment is a grave breach of the public's trust. Public office is a privilege. We allege that Mayor Adams abused that privilege and broke the law. Laying out what they described as a wide-ranging corruption scheme in which the mayor accepted illegal campaign donations

and luxury gifts in return for political favors. These are bright red lines, and we allege that the mayor crossed them again and again for years. Today, my colleague, City Hall Bureau Chief Emma Fitzsimmons, on the rise and fall of Mayor Eric Adams. It's Friday, September 27th. Well, thank you for coming in here. I can see that we have both brought our copies of the indictment, this thick 50-something page document that is very much going to define our conversation here. Yeah, it's a complicated story, so I want to have all the details highlighted by my side.

It's a good thing to have it in here, and we're going to get to that. But I think we should start this conversation just by observing how extraordinary this situation is. Our mayor, Eric Adams, has just been charged with a pretty sweeping set of federal crimes. His future as our mayor is not very much in doubt. And I think it's worth saying that he leads a city of eight million people. This is a city whose economy is bigger than the economy of many small countries. And on our best day as a city, we're very hard to manage, and now our manager has just been indicted. And that's

genuinely shocking. So, tell us the story, just to begin, of how we got here, the story of Eric Adams, how it came to this for him and now for us. Yeah, Michael. So, I've been covering Eric Adams since he ran for mayor in 2021. And he is one of the most complicated, interesting, charismatic, flawed people I've ever covered in public life. And you've covered a few.

Yeah, he's a very New York story. He's the city's first blue collar mayor. He's the city's second black mayor ever. And at one moment, he called himself the future of the Democratic Party. And I think he wasn't the only one who saw himself that way for just a bit. Yeah. He said he could give this national message that I'm a tough on crime Democrat. I'm a moderate. He called himself the Biden of Brooklyn. He was viewed as a national leader in the Democratic Party for a moment.

But Adams has had ethical problems throughout his political career during the time that I've been covering him. He says, I'm a police officer, I know where the line is, I follow the rules, but now that's really in question. Soterios Johnson So I think we should maybe go back even further to understand how Adams got to this point, you know, where he could be mayor and could describe himself as the Biden of Brooklyn. And despite the fact that he runs this enormous city, I don't think a lot of people outside New York have really gotten to know him super well. So just tell us that story from the beginning. So he grows up poor in a tough neighborhood in New York City in Southeast Queens.

He's the child of a single mom with six kids. She works as a house cleaner. And this becomes key to his biography. This is the story that he tells New Yorkers. In his telling, he was beaten by police officers as a teenager, and he decided to join the department to change it from within. And that was really the story that he wrote into political office. He was a police officer for 22 years,

and he ran for the state senate and then became Brooklyn borough president, which is largely a ceremonial job. What kind of mayor of Brooklyn? Yeah, sort of a cheerleader going to events, rah rah Brooklyn. I mean, it's Brooklyn. You got to rah rah. Yeah, but he always had his eye on being coming mayor. He said that God told him he would be mayor. He said God told him he would be mayor. And-

He said God told him he would be mayor. Yes, his faith is really important to him. And so in 2021 comes his moment. After months of hints and widespread speculation, Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams says he is in fact running for mayor. He had been building political relationships. He'd been raising money and this was an open seat. Mayor Bill de Blasio was leaving after eight years.

And in 2021, the city's coming out of the pandemic. Well, let me ask you, Eric Adams, about what we were saying is a major issue, as it turns out, crime, policing. Everyone is worried about crime. So he has this moment to seize the spotlight as a former police officer. You can't have shootings in Times Square. That's going to impact our tourism. You can't have gang members taking over our streets and having people being slashed and shoved to the subway tracks.

And say, I can make the city safer and also... If Black Lives Matter, if the lives of everyday people of color matter, then we need to look at every area of the country where they're being impacted. I can reform the police department because of my background. We could have the reform, injustice, and public safety. So he had this compelling message in that moment, and that's what got him all the way to City Hall. And once he wins, what strikes you about the early days of his mayoralty, Emma? He had a lot of energy. He wanted to be this fun, energetic mayor who was seen out and about the early days of his mayoralty, Emma. He had a lot of energy. He wanted to be this fun, energetic mayor

who was seen out and about the city. One thing that can't happen, you can't stay home in your pajamas all day. He famously said, I want everyone out of their pajamas, back in the office. That is not who we are as a city. You need to be out, cross-pollinating ideas, interacting with humans.

That was a direct insult at those of us working from home. I was still working from home in my pajamas often and I told the mayor that. But he wanted us back in offices in part to help the commercial real estate industry. Right, bring the city's economy back. Yeah, bring come back to restaurants, come back to nightlife. People were afraid to go back out to restaurants. Now they see the mayor going out saying, come back out to our city.

He was out every night at nightclubs and bars. He was at Zero Bond with models and businessmen. I don't even know what Zero Bond is, but it sounds cool. I've never been. I'd like to go. I wish the mayor would take me. I am the mayor. This is the city of nightlife.

I must test the product. He is holding all of these ceremonial events and it's all part of this idea that he has swagger, he has energy, he is authentically New York and he's excited to be mayor. And this is a city that never sleeps, so the mayor should not be taking a nap. He is seemingly everywhere. He's smiling. He's seen with Anna Wintour at Fashion Week. He's meeting with business leaders on Wall Street.

He embraced this role of being a celebrity, of being the main character in New York City. They're saying that Eric goes out to restaurants. Breaking news. Duh! Yes, I do. And he really loved that role. I put in the universe almost 30 years ago that in 2022 I was going to be mayor. We got this New York.

Don't even worry about it. But as time goes on, people are starting to wonder, what is the mayor actually doing? His motto on the campaign trail was get stuff done, but we were increasingly wondering what was he getting done behind the scenes, was he a good manager, was he delivering on affordable housing and all these other pressing issues that New York City was facing. He ran on public safety, but people still felt unsafe. Street homelessness is still a huge problem. So people started wondering, is he going to deliver? Is he the right manager for the city

at this incredibly important moment? Right, or is he more focused on being seen late at night at a club? Yes, and then those of us who were covering him started to notice that he had a loose relationship with the truth. It started during the campaign with what could seem like a small example. He said he lived in an apartment in Brooklyn, and so many questions were raised about whether that was He said he lived in an apartment in Brooklyn, and so many questions were raised about whether that was really where he lived,

that he had to do a tour of the apartment, there was salmon in the fridge, which was suspicious because he's vegan. And the suspicion was that he really lived in Fort Lee, New Jersey with his longtime partner, which would disqualify him from being mayor because he didn't actually live in the city. Right, and that question was never really resolved.

Correct, and then a pivotal moment came when I started working on a story about public safety. He often told the story of how he kept a photo in his wallet of his friend from the police force who died in the line of duty. Just a story he would tell wherever he went. It's a story he kept telling to show that he cared about public safety, that he had been affected personally by gun violence. And he said he kept this photo in his wallet to remind him of the sacrifice of police officers, to remind him of how difficult that job was,

and to never forget the legacy of his friend who was named Robert Venable. So I asked his office, I said, can I come by, can we photograph it for a story that we're working on? The photo in his wallet. Yes. So I showed up in the mayor's office and he showed me the photo. We photographed it. It ran in the New York Times. And I later heard that the photo was not authentic and that it was created as a prop to show me.

And that in fact staffers of his had used coffee to stain the photo to make it look old and they had printed it off of Google. That's a pretty elaborate length to go to lie to a journalist from the New York Times about a photo in your wallet. Yeah, and it seemed unnecessary at the time that the fact that they went to such great lengths to reproduce this copy I think was jarring for a lot of people. Right. And while on some level it's all kind of petty, it is also pretty revealing.

I mean, if you're going to lie about something that small, as any parent knows, what else are you lying about? Yeah. The photo raised a lot of questions about whether the mayor was telling the truth. A Bronx neighborhood swarming with FBI agents earlier today. — And then in November, something really stunning happened. — So the FBI confirming for us today that they did raid the home behind me, which records show belonged to Winnie Greco.

— Federal investigators raided the home of one of his top campaign fundraisers and one of his staffers. — We want to turn now to some breaking news out of New York City. CBS News has confirmed that the FBI sees Mayor Eric Adams' electronic devices this week. And then they actually stopped the mayor on the street and federal agents took his phone. Mayor Adams has insisted this week that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing and that he has nothing to hide. So we are waiting to see what else comes up in this investigation.

So now we understand that there's a federal investigation into the mayor and those in his inner circle. It was a stunning piece of news for New Yorkers. And it was in November in that moment that everyone started to wonder, did he not just have a problem with the truth, but did he possibly have a problem with the law? And we started to wonder whether a mayor who talked about knowing where the line was and not crossing it, maybe he didn't know where that line was and he actually had crossed it.

We'll be right back. So Emma, take us inside this indictment against Mayor Adams that was filed on Thursday and definitely suggests, when you read it, allegedly, that Mayor Adams didn't know where the line was. What is the story that it tells? Yeah, it lays out a story that starts really before he's mayor and continues once he's taken office, in which foreign nationals are giving him illegal campaign donations

and free gifts, free trips, and ultimately they want something in return, which Adams, according to the indictment, allegedly gives them. Okay, walk us through what all these elements you just described actually look like according to the indictment. So, when he was Brooklyn Borough president, starting around 2015, he takes these two official trips to Turkey. He had close relationships with many

ethnic communities in New York City. There's a lot of immigrants living in Brooklyn, and so he had these liaisons. It was their job to have close relationships with ethnic communities. And so he travels to Turkey, where he meets with the people who end up being his main contacts within Turkey, and he starts getting these free airline tickets on Turkish Airlines to keep traveling to Turkey and all over the world. And by 2017, he's taking a trip on Turkish Airlines to France, Turkey, and China and getting free business class tickets and a heavily discounted luxury hotel room in this suite called the Bentley Suite at the St. Regis Istanbul.

The indictment has photos of the suite. It's quite nice nice luxury hotel room. On this trip alone, Adams accepts $41,000 in free travel from these foreign entities. It's a lot of money and seemingly a very nice trip. Yeah. And then we get to the donations. This starts in 2018. Adams has his eye on becoming mayor. So he's borough president but thinking about becoming mayor? Yes. And Adams solicits and receives a number of illegal donations from Turkish nationals. And according to the indictment, he uses them to exploit the campaign finance system in New York City,

which allows you to match those dollars to bring in more money. Just explain how that works and why the fact that the donations were illegal and from foreigners matters. You're not allowed to take donations from foreign nationals at all. And he was accepting these donations and then using them under this public match system. If I give $1 to a candidate, you then get public matching funds

and it makes you campaign hall much bigger. Got it. And Adams would have understood that so he's taking illegal donations and putting them into his campaign and triggering that matching funding system basically you and I and New York City taxpayers pay for and it's illegal and pretty wasteful. Yeah the indictment says overall his campaign collected ten million dollars in public matching funds for his

campaign for mayor. And we don't know how much of that money came from these illegal Turkish donations, but we know it was a meaningful amount. Okay. And what do these Turkish foreign nationals who are giving Adams campaign donations and free airline tickets and this luxury hotel suite. What are they seeking in return from Adams? So we see this really vivid example in the indictment in 2021 in the story of this Turkish

consulate building. The Turkish government wants to build a 36 story building in Manhattan and they want to open it in time for the Turkish president to visit while he's here in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. Naturally. They have a problem, though, because the fire department has to sign off on these fire inspections for the building. So a Turkish official reaches out to one of the mayor's aides and he states that because Turkey had

supported Adams, it was now, quote, his turn to support Turkey, the indictment says. The staffer relayed the message and Adams responded, quote, I know. As in, I know I need to help Turkey because Turkey has helped me. And then he does just that. Adams personally intervenes to help get this building open. Fire officials were worried about opening it because there were so many defects with the fire alarm system. One email quoted that there were more than 60 defects with the system and that was way too many to grant some sort of waiver. But once Adams intervenes, the

fire officials are worried they're gonna lose their job if they don't do what he says. So they did and they gave the special waiver to allow the Turkish consulate to open. When the Turkish official realizes they can open the building, he's really happy, and he texts the mayor directly and says, quote, you're great, Eric. We are so happy to hear that. You are a true friend of Turkey. Adams replies, quote, yes, even more a true friend of yours. You are my brother. And so this is at the heart of the indictment that this is a quid pro quo. Right.

This seems like the definition of public corruption. And the mayor has said he does a lot of favors for a lot of people He sort of defended this in the past saying that he helps a lot of people and that's his job But now we're learning all of these details behind the scenes of what was happening between him and the Turkish official So just how much graft according to this indictment does mayor Adams allegedly end up? Participating in the tally is at least $100,000. But behind that, there's also this effort to cover it up.

And the indictment has some really interesting examples of how they tried to do that. Give us at least one or two of those. So there's an example of an exchange in 2021. The airline manager is texting with one of the mayor's staffers. They're discussing these travel perks that are worth up to $15,000, airline tickets, and they're trying to hide the real cost of this flight. And the staffer says, how much does he owe? And the airline manager says, quote,

I'm going to charge $50. $50 for something like a $15,000 airline package. Yes, and the Adam's staffer realizes that's way too low and says no. Quote,000 airline package. Yes. And the Adam Staffer realizes that's way too low and says, no. Quote a proper price. The airline manager from Turkish Airlines says, how much should I charge? With a smiley face. The staffer responds, his every step is being watched right now.

$1,000 or so. Let it be somewhat real. We don't want them to say he's flying for free. At the moment, the media's attention is on Eric. This is right as he's winning the primary for mayor. So they don't want the heat. So they're trying to make this look like a real transaction. Wow. So there's kind of an open understanding that while Eric Adams seems very enthusiastic about accepting this free stuff from Turkish airlines, that something must be done to make it seem somewhat

legitimate, but not enough to actually cover the cost. Yes, they're going back and forth to try to make this look like legitimate business expenses. Mm-hmm. And then as this investigation heats up, prosecutors say that the mayor and his staff work together to hide this criminal conduct. Try to hide it how?

So remember how I told you federal agents seized the mayor's phones last November? Right, on the street. Yes. Well, he didn't have his personal cell phone on him at the time. So when he turns it over to federal officials the next day, he tells federal officials that he's forgotten his password, that he had recently changed it to a new, more complicated password in order to keep his staffers out of his phone. And on that day, when he's before federal officials, he can't remember the password.

I mean, suffice it to say, most people do not forget their password. And he claims to have forgotten his password, lo and behold, at the precise moment that the FBI wants to get into his phone. Yes. And the US attorney called this a clumsy coverup. He said this was an attempt to thwart their investigation. Which it does not appear worked. They still got access to a lot of information on his devices. So Emma, it feels hard to call any corruption small or small ball because corruption is corruption and parts of this scheme laid out in this indictment are meaningful in their

scale. For example, the matching funds abuse with those donations from foreign nationals. But I'm struck by how much of this all feels a little bit petty, striving for a better airplane seat, a better hotel room, a free meal overseas. And I wonder how you think about that. Why? The mayor really enjoys travel. He enjoys eating good meals. He enjoys luxury. He has Ferragamo shoes.

He has these really nice suits. One story that stuck out in my mind is I brought a group of high school students to the mayor's office to meet him. They got to attend one of his news conferences. We went back to his office and he brought out his passport all of a sudden and told them the story of how he had grown up poor in Queens and he wanted to see the world. He told them they needed to get a passport, that they should dream big. He said he wanted to see a hundred different places around the world and he was getting close to achieving that goal. And along the way, prosecutors say he sought out these perks that he should not have sought out and that this love for travel, these love for upgrades and luxury could end up being

his downfall. Mm-hmm. No matter what his motivation was, I think what's very clear according to this indictment is that this is not anyone's idea of public service. Yeah, this wasn't part of his job. It wasn't necessary. And I do think it's a really sad day for New York City. That's what I keep hearing from people,

that they're heartbroken that this is where he has led New York City. The mayor came in saying he was going to save the city. He was going to help us recover from the pandemic. Right. He was going to bring the swagger back. Yes, and now instead, we're in this moment of crisis. And where do we go from here? What happens now to Eric Adams?

He's facing growing calls to resign. First of all, I want to thank you for being here this morning. He held a news conference today and said, I'm not going anywhere. The actions that have unfolded over the last 10 months, the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing, this did not surprise us that we reached this day. He struck a defiant note and said that he was going to stay on as mayor and that he was going to defend himself. From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city. My day to day will not change.

I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do. Is that possible? He doesn't have to step down. Only the governor, Kathy Hochul, can oust him from the job. And it doesn't seem like she wants to do that. If he were to resign under immense pressure, then the public advocate would become acting mayor and there would be a special election to pick a new mayor probably by the end of the year. Or the alternative is that the mayor goes on trial early next year.

Wow. While mayor. Yes. The trial could happen this spring and this would all be truly unprecedented. It's unprecedented to have a mayor who's been charged with a crime, and it would be equally unprecedented for that indicted mayor to remain in office. -♪ -♪ Well, Emma, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

-♪ The arraignment of Mayor Eric Adams is scheduled for noon today inside a federal courthouse in Manhattan. Adams is expected to enter a plea of not guilty. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night as a Category 4 storm and the most powerful storm ever to strike Florida's Big Bend region. The storm was expected to produce a wall of water up to 20 feet high that could swallow a large stretch of the state's coastline.

A surge that large is highly unusual. For context, the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest storms to ever make landfall in the United States, reached 28 feet. The storm is now expected to move on to North Carolina and then Georgia. Remember you can catch a new episode of the interview right here tomorrow. Lulu Garcia Navarro talks with John Oliver, the host of HBO's Last Week Tonight. Do you see your show in the same way that it is 10 years from now? I mean, if I'm still alive...

You look healthy. Let me just say. I'm going to have to have that statement sent through this building's fact checkers and I don't think either of us are going to like the answer that comes back. Today's episode was produced by Luke Vanderp Plouk, Shannon Lin, and Will Reed, with help from Ricky Novetski. It was edited by Patricia Willens and M.J. Davis Lin, contains original music by Dan Powell and Marian Lozano, and was engineered

by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansferk of Wonderly. That's it for the Daily. I'm Michael Boboro. See you on Monday.