In a press conference outside Gracie Mansion, which was raided just hours earlier, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he wasn’t fazed by a five-count indictment that outlined detailed allegations that he accepted foreign bribes and broke campaign finance laws
“We are not surprised. We expected this,” a surprisingly chipper Adams said. “I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before they make any judgments.”
Adams also revealed he didn’t plan to step down, as calls from top city elected officials mount for his ouster.
“I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I've done throughout my entire professional career,” Adams said, alongside religious leaders and other allies who came to his defense. “Everyone who knows me knows that I follow campaign rules and I follow the law.”
“When they removed my phones ten months ago, people said the city was gonna collapse,” Adams said, referring to an earlier FBI seizure of his devices, before suggesting that prosecutors could have political motives for investigating him. “I think we should ask federal investigators and prosecutors if they were directed to take the actions that we are witnessing right now.”
The presser, which was interrupted several times by protestors calling for Adams to quit, came just minutes before federal prosecutors laid out their case.
"You are a disgrace for all Black people in this city!"-- Eric Adams's news conference is not going well pic.twitter.com/Gq0Ui8Yeyh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2024
In a DOJ press conference a few miles downtown, investigators laid out the sprawling case against Adams and revealed the extent of luxury that a Turkish airline allegedly afforded to Adams, as a Turkish official sought his help in expediting city business.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, called a Turkish official and a Turkish airline’s alleged pampering of Adams over nearly a decade a “multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise,” per the New York Times.
Williams alleged that Adams accepted “over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits,” including first-class airfare and five-star hotel accommodations, ultimately taking “corrupt official action” on behalf of those who bribed him.
