The Criminal Indictment of New York City’s Mayor

from New York Times I'm Michael babbaro. this is the. [Music]. 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. alleged that the mayor crossed them. again and again for. years today my colleague City Hall.

bureau chief Emma Fitz Simmons on the. rise and fall of Mayor Eric. [Music]. Adams it's Friday September 27th. [Music].

well thank you for coming in here I can. see that we have both brought our copies. of the indictment this thick 50s. something page document that is very. much going to Define our conversation. here yeah it's it's a complicated story. so I want to have all the details. highlighted by my side it's 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 8. 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 Adam. 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. um 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 off officer I know.

where the line is I follow the rules but. now that's really in question 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 burough. president which is largely a ceremonial.

job you know kind of Mayor of Brooklyn. yeah sort of a cheerleader going to. events Rah R Brooklyn um I mean it's. Brooklyn you got to R raw yeah but he. always had his eye on becoming mayor he. said that 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 in widespread. speculation Brooklyn burrow 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. DeBlasio 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 uh crime policing. everyone is worried about crime so he. has this moment to seize the spotlight. as a former police officer can't have. shoo is in Time 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 so and say I can. make the city safer and also if black. lives matter if the lives of everyday uh. people of color matter then we need to. look at every areas of the of the. country where they're being impacted I. can reform the police department because. of my background we could have the. reform in Justice 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's. strikes you about the early days of his.

mayoral TMO 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 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 uh you need. to be out cross-pollinating ideas. interacting when 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 um but he wanted us back in offices. in part to help the commercial real. estate industry he bring the city's. economy back yeah bring come back to. restaurants come back to Night Life. people are afraid to go back out to. restaurants now they see their mayor. going out saying come back out to our. city he was out every night at. nightclubs and bars he was at zerob 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 a city of nlife I must.

test the product I have to be 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 wintor. 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 restaurant breaking news duh yes I do. and he really loved that role I 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. [Applause]. [Music]. 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 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 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 MH 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 were 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.

huh 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 record and then. in November something really stunning. happened so the FBI confirming for us. today that they did raid the home behind. me which record 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 out as some breaking news. out of New York City CBS News has. confirmed that the FBI seized 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 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. [Music].

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 describe. actually look like according to the. indictment so when he was Brooklyn. burough 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 this Suite. it's quite 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 mhm this starts.

in 2018 Adams has his eye on becoming. mayor so he's burough president but. thinking about becoming mayor yes and. Adam 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 owed 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 your. 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 that. basically you and I and New York City. taxpayers pay for and it's illegal and. pretty waste. yeah the indictment says overall his.

campaign collected $10 million 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 consulant. [Music]. 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 AIDS 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 Adam's 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 going to 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. [Music]. brother and so this is at the heart of. the indictment that this is a quidd. proquo 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 $115,000 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. $155,000 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 question. mark 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 mhm 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 it's 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 cover up he said this was. an attempt to th their investigation. which it does not appear worked they. still got access to a lot of information. on his devices so Emma it 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. National. 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 famo 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 off 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 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. uh 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. yeah 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. would take care of the case so I can. take care of the city my dayto 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 hokel 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 Tri early next year wow W.

mayor yes the trial could happen this. spring and this would all be truly. [Music]. 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. [Music]. office well Emma thank you very much we. appreciate it thanks for having.

me the arment 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. [Music]. we'll be right.

back here's what else you need to n day. hurricane Helen 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 a expected. to produce a wall of water up to 20 ft.

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 ft 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 novaro 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 um you look. healthy me say uh I'm going to have to. have that statement sent through this. building's fact Checkers and I don't. think either of us going to like this so. that comes.

back today's episode was produced by. Luke Vander plug Shannon Lynn and will. Reed with help from Ricky netki it was. edited by Patricia willins and MJ Davis. Lynn contains original music by Dan. Powell and Marian Lozano and was. engineered by Alyssa Moxley our theme. music is by Jim brunberg and Ben. lansberg of wonderly. [Music].

[Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Michael. Boro see you on Monday. [Music].