The Journal. - How Eric Adams Became New York City’s First Indicted Mayor

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

The mayor of America’s largest city likes to say he’s been “rejected, arrested and then elected.” Now, he’s been indicted. WSJ’s Jimmy Vielkind unpacks the unprecedented federal foreign bribery case against Eric Adams. Further Listening: -Gold Bars, Cash and a Mercedes: A U.S. Senator's Corruption Trial  Further Reading: -Inside the Eric Adams Indictment  -After the Eric Adams Indictment, What’s Next?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First of all, I want to thank you for being here this morning. Yesterday morning, the mayor of America's largest city stepped up to a microphone. So it was a drizzly day in New York City, and Eric Adams walked out of Gracie Mansion, which is his official residence, surrounded by black civil rights and religious leaders. That's our colleague Jimmy Veilkind. For months, Adams has been under federal investigation. And yesterday, the city and the country was about to find out what those charges were.

And the point was for him to state his side of this case before prosecutors spoke. So Adams goes up to the lectern and he essentially says, I'm not going to be distracted by this. 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. And then he also repeats

that he hasn't done anything wrong. In about 30 minutes, you're going to hear a story of the case that is in front of us. This story will come from... Across town... Good morning, everyone. Thank you for gathering. Prosecutors at the Southern District of New York

started to tell that story about Adams. Today we are announcing campaign finance, bribery, and conspiracy charges against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. Prosecutors allege that Adams took and solicited bribes and conspiracy charges against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. Prosecutors allege that Adams took and solicited bribes from Turkish officials and business people in exchange for political favors. Adams denies the accusations.

In court today, he pleaded not guilty. How remarkable is this moment? Well, overall, since New York City was founded, it's had 110 mayors. Eric Adams is the 110th mayor. In that time, we've had mayors run for president. We've had mayors quickly leave town amid corruption scandals. We've had all manner of incident and scandal and colorful character But until this week

Not one mayor of the city of New York has ever been charged with a federal crime That changes with Eric Adams Welcome to the journal our show about money business and power. I'm Ryan Knudson. It's Friday, September 27th. Coming up on the show, Eric Adams, New York's first sitting mayor to be indicted. What's it like to trade crypto on Kraken? Let's say I'm in a state-of-the-art gym surrounded by powerful-looking machines. Do I head straight for the squat rack? I could, but this gym has options, like trainers, fitness pros, botters to back me up.

That's crypto on Kraken, powerful crypto tools backed by 24-7 support and multi-layered security. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Eric Adams has been involved in New York politics for a long time. What's his background? How did he get to the point that he became mayor? So Eric Adams likes to say that he was dyslexic, arrested, rejected, and then elected.

Dyslexic, arrested,. No, I'm elected, I'm the man of the state. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He grew up in Brooklyn and Queens in the outer boroughs in a very working class household. And at points during his youth,

the family flirted with homelessness. He tells a story about how he would go to school carrying clothes, because he didn't know if when he got home, the family might have been evicted from his apartment. He sort of got this obsession with rats in the city. He hates rats. We're gonna kill rats. Kill some rats.

I'm killing rats. Called me a murderer because I was killing rats. Kill rats. He joins the NYPD and he has a 20-year career in which he rises to the rank of captain. And at the same time, he's one of the co-founders of a group called 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care that agitated for civil rights, that protested, that spoke about police tactics they believed were unfairly and disproportionately targeting Black and Hispanic youth.

Adams first got into politics in 2006, when he was elected to the New York State Senate. And when he arrived, he was... Well, he was colorful. You know, he's always very natally dressed. Even now, you'll often see him with a pocket square. At one point he used public funds for a PSA campaign about how people should dress better. There was billboards that his office paid for that said, raise your pants, raise your image.

It was the Stop the Sag campaign. And then there was also that video that he made about how you can go in and search your kids' room for contraband. That's right. It's a classic. It's an Eric Adams classic. He kind of looks dead at the camera and he says, you have an absolute right to search your child's room.

And he lifts up the back of a baby doll and shows there's like, you can have a gun or something. You should always, when your child bring in his popular knapsack, but many different locations, look through it to see what exactly is your child carrying in addition to a book. Something simple as a crack pipe, a used crack pipe. It's really something. It's undescribable. People should just, yeah, people should just watch that. Adam spent six years in the New York state Senate.

In 2013, he was elected Brooklyn borough president, a largely ceremonial role. And he ran in the 2021 election for mayor of New York. He campaigned as a centrist law and order Democrat at a time when the city was facing a spike in violent crime. And he beat out a crowded field of more progressive challengers. So the 2021 mayoral election in New York City, and really the Democratic primary election, which is tantamount to the general election, was a busy affair.

And on primary night, he was just giddy. I remember watching his speech, and there was a look at me, look at me element to it. He declared that he was the new face of the Democratic Party. Look at me, and you're seeing the future of the Democratic Party. And immediately he was riding high. And now he was about to enter the big stage and take power in a real and substantive way.

power in a real and substantive way. After Adams took office, things got more difficult. Some of the mayor's tougher tactics to take on crime upset criminal justice advocates. And some types of crime still remain elevated compared to where they were before the pandemic. During Adams' tenure, New York also saw a massive increase in immigration, after waves of migrants were bussed in from the southern border. At first, Adams encouraged migrants to come. But as homeless shelters and city services got overwhelmed, he changed his tone and warned that it would destroy the city. At the same time that Adams was grappling with these crises, you know, he's still trying to be Eric Adams

I think in New York schtick is an important political asset So at the same time that he's grappling with tens of thousands of asylum seekers He's also partying at an exclusive members only club. He's doing multiple events a day He's cheerleading for the city. He's getting robots and unveiling how robots are going to help with police work. He has a high profile attack on rats and the garbage cans. He names a rat czar, and he introduces

this cutting edge technology as Alicia Keys, Empire State of Mind plays in the background. You know, welcome to our trash revolution. And no one does it better. technology as Alicia Keys Empire State of Mind plays in the background. Welcome to our trash revolution. Which is a trash can with a lid. So Adams, he's still Eric Adams. He's a colorful person. And whenever people would throw things at him or he has a line where he would just

say, like, I'm perfectly imperfect. And he kind of grin. And it was something that really resonated because there are a lot of New Yorkers who are perfectly imperfect, if not all of them. Not you, Jimmy. You're just perfect. As Adams built his character as a rat hating, crime busting political leader, corruption investigations were quietly swirling in the background. This really burst into public view in November of 2023. Adams was at an event in Midtown, and when he's the mayor, he travels with a police detail.

And federal agents walked up to the mayor, went into his car, and seized his cell phones amid his police SUV. Wow. Yeah. How did Eric Adams respond in the moment when they came up and grabbed his phone? He said he was going to cooperate fully with federal authorities. He said that he had done nothing wrong. He said that both he and all the members of his administration were expected to follow

the law. And he tried to continue to do what he had been doing. He has a line where he said, focus, no distractions and grind. And then the distractions got harder to ignore. There are multiple agencies that are looking at different aspects of the Adams administration and different people within the Adams administration. And then within the last month, the head of the schools, the city's school chancellor, and the NYPD commissioner both had their phones seized by federal authorities. The mayor's chief counsel resigned suddenly on a Saturday night. You saw the NYPD commissioner step down. So there's been a lot of smoke surrounding Adams and it's come to a point this week where the questions about what was going to happen,

who was going to get in trouble, what that trouble might be, we're just really reaching a fever pitch. No one else has been accused of any wrongdoing. While Adam's inner circle started collapsing, federal prosecutors were circling in on him. That's next. Eric Adams faces five felony counts. Wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of soliciting contributions by foreign nationals, and one count of bribery. Adams pleaded not guilty. Appearing at the courthouse today, the mayor flashed a thumbs up. His lawyer told reporters, quote, This isn't even a real case.

Alright, so let's talk about the indictment. What is Adams being accused of here? The indictment accuses Eric Adams of having been bribed by Turkish interests, including Turkish official, and later doing favors for the government of Turkey. In a sense, it's a classic quid pro quo scheme, only in this case, the influencing party is a foreign government. But prosecutors allege that it was clear from some of the evidence unsealed in court papers

this week that Turkish officials felt that if they could establish a strong relationship with him, then they could have a friend who would be useful as Adam's political career progressed, according to court papers. The indictment alleges that the relationship between Adam's Turkish officials and business leaders goes back as far as 2015. According to court documents, Adams became the beneficiary of more than $100,000 worth of lavish gifts from Turkish hosts.

The Southern District of New York described them as bribes. So what kind of freebies and bribes did Eric Adams allegedly receive? They say that Adams accepted luxury travel. Adams has been known during his time as a public official for enjoying trips overseas, and he seemed to come to really enjoy flying Turkish airlines, the National Airline of Turkey. Now, according to court papers, Adams allegedly solicited tickets on Turkish Airlines. Sometimes he didn't pay for them at all.

Sometimes he would pay for coach seat that would then be upgraded to business class, an upgrade that prosecutors allege is worth tens of thousands of dollars in some instances. And he sort of enjoyed the perks of free travel and access. The other major allegation revolves around illegal campaign contributions. The indictment says that Adams and his staff took advantage of a special program that New York City has. The program allows for candidates to get public funding for their campaign by matching small dollar donations. Prosecutors allege that Turkish

officials and business people illegally funneled money into this program by using the names of New York residents in order to inflate the amount that Adam's campaign was able to receive. Adam's 2021 campaign received more than $10 million in public funds, though it's unclear just how much of that money was illegally obtained. In September of 2021, a Turkish official contacted Adams, according to the indictment, and said it was now Adam's turn to help them out. What was the Turkish government and Turkish officials getting in exchange for what they were giving Mayor Adams, allegedly?

Well, at first, there wasn't much. At first, it was mostly a one-way relationship. The clearest favor that prosecutors allege has to do with the Turkish consulate. Now, it's near the United Nations building on the east side of Manhattan. It's a 36-story skyscraper, and the Turkish government wanted to have a grand opening at this building. Prosecutors say that Turkish officials reached out to Adams

to try to get him to expedite approval from the fire department and the buildings's department to get a temporary certificate of occupancy for the building so that things could move forward. And Adams replies, let me look into this. And then sure enough, the gears of city government properly greased turned pretty quickly. The skyscraper opened as requested,

even after an official in the fire department said the building was unsafe. Part of what prosecutors allege is that Adams knew that what he was doing was wrong, and that he attempted to cover his tracks with a phony paper trail, especially around all that free travel. At one point Adams and a staffer were caught communicating saying, just to be extra safe, be sure you delete these messages between us. And he said, always do. You know, hint. I think everything ever gets deleted on the internet.

In another text exchange cited by prosecutors, an Adams staffer told Turkish Airlines that Adams wanted to pay for his flight. And the Turkish Airlines official said, well, how about $50? The staffer said basically like, no, no, you kidding? The staffer wrote back, quote, his every step is being watched right now. Let it be somewhat real. We can't pay that little.

How about like $1,000? And of course, that was still, prosecutors allege, a fraction of the cost of those tickets. And what has Adams said about all this in his defense now that the indictment has been unsealed? Adams and his attorneys have said that prosecutors are painting a dark narrative of a person who is being manipulated and bribed by a foreign government.

But they say that airline upgrades are normal course of business. People who are VIPs get upgraded all the time. He's also said that he followed the law and that he looks forward to his day in court. Adams is up for reelection next year, but people are starting to call for him to resign. And there are questions about how America's largest city can run amid such scandal and with so many departures on the mayoral team. So what does this all mean for Eric Adams?

Someone who at one point claimed he was the new face of the Democratic Party and you know, who seemed to have what looked like a pretty bright future in politics. Right now, Ryan, he's fighting for his political life. One thing, Ryan, is already clear. All the talk of Eric Adams as the face of the new Democratic Party, well, that's almost at this point become a joke. I was at the Democratic convention in Chicago last month,

and Adams, the mayor of the nation's largest city, did not have a speaking slot on the convention floor. And so he was sort of relegated to this event off to the side from the main arena. And he didn't even have the stage to himself. And afterward, you know, he was kind of faced with these questions about the investigations, which had been sort of swirling. And this question of, well, you know, how does it feel? Do you feel like you're sidelined in the Democratic Party. And he sort of chuckled

and he smiled a little bit. He goes, I don't have to be on stage. I'm the mayor of New York. I'm the mayor of New York. My life is a stage. My life is a stage. That's all for today. Friday, September 27th. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. The show is made by Catherine Brewer,

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