New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked his supporters for prayers just hours before he was formally indicted Thursday on charges that he took some $10 million in bribes and illegal campaign donations from foreign nationals in exchange for favors.
In a video statement on Wednesday night, Adams has pre-emptively dismissed the allegations as “entirely false based on lies.”
“It is now my belief that the federal government intends to charge me with crimes. If so, these charges will be entirely false based on lies but they would not be surprising,” Adams said as he became the city’s first sitting mayor to be indicted.
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The five-count indictment accuses Adams of engaging in a decade-long pattern of corruption from when he was elected as Brooklyn Borough President in 2014. He has been accused of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery.
“In 2014, Eric Adams, the defendant, became Brooklyn Borough President. Thereafter, for nearly a decade, Adams sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him,” the 57-page indictment alleges.
“As Adams’s prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City’s mayor,” it added. “Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received.”
In his remarks on Wednesday, however, Adams said he always knew he would become a target as he pointed to his fight with the federal government over broken immigration policies that have “overloaded” the city’s shelter system.
“I know I am innocent. I will request an immediate trial so New Yorkers can hear the truth. New Yorkers know my story. They know where I come from. I have been fighting injustice my entire life. That fight has continued as your mayor despite our politics,” Adams said.
“When the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded the shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics,” he explained. “I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target and a target I became.”
On Thursday morning, the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, was raided by federal agents, who seized his phone.
Alex Spiro, Adams’ attorney, dismissed the raid in a press statement as a “spectacle.”
“Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams’ phone (again). He has not been arrested and looks forward to his day in court. They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in,” Spiro said.
Adams also maintained Wednesday that he will continue as mayor as he defends himself in court, saying he has been doing that for months now with “leaks and rumors” that have been aimed at him.
“Just this past week, they searched the home of our new police commissioner looking for documents from 20 years ago, just one week after he joined my administration. Enough! I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit,” Adams said.
“Make no mistake, you elected me to lead this city and lead it I will,” he told New Yorkers. “I humbly ask for your prayers and your patience as we see this through.”
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