The long-running corruption inquiry on New York City Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 campaign continues, with federal prosecutors serving another round of grand jury subpoenas to Adams himself, City Hall and his election committee, according to The New York Times.
The new batch of subpoenas were initially issued in July, seeking communications and documents. The controversial Mayor later confirmed receipts of the subpoenas during a taped interview with WABC anchor Bill Ritter.
"Like previous administrations that have gone through subpoenas, you participate and cooperate," Adams said. "You see the subpoena, and you respond. At the end of the day, it will show there is no criminality here."
The campaign's investigation, at least in part, explores whether Adams and his campaign sought illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for pressuring the fire department to rush an inspection of the new Turkish consulate, and whether the Mayor accepted upgrades on Turkish Airlines flights, ABC News reports.
The subpoenas contain similar language, focusing particularly in a number of areas including travel by the mayor, his aides and others, as well as fund-raising. They are likely to seek information related to some aides to the mayor and people who worked both in City Hall and Adams' campaign, The New York Times reports.
Nevertheless, the full scope of the investigation remains unknown.
The corruption investigation came into the public eye nearly nine months ago, changing the political landscape in the city. Since then, Adams has become a political target, with plummeting approval ratings and at least three challengers in the 2025 Democratic primary.
However, despite the investigation and the acquired spotlight since then, Adams repeatedly denies any wrongdoing.
"As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has been clear over the last nine months that he will cooperate with any investigation underway. Nothing has changed. He expects everyone to cooperate swiftly and bring this investigation to a close," Fabien Levy, the deputy mayor for communication, said in a statement provided to ABC News.
At the same time, Adams' attorneys, Brendan McGuire and Boyd Johnson, said in a recent statement, they have conducted their own investigation of the areas federal prosecutors are reviewing and have concluded the mayor did nothing wrong.
Both lawyers in the past two decades oversaw public corruption prosecutions for the same federal prosecutor's office that is now investigating Mayor Adams. Their examination has included "an evaluation of campaign documents, an analysis of tens of thousands of electronic communications, and witness interviews," the statement said.
"To be clear, we have not identified any evidence of illegal conduct by the mayor," the lawyers said. "To the contrary, we have identified extensive evidence undermining the reported theories of federal prosecution as to the mayor, which we have voluntarily shared with the U.S. attorney."
It remains unclear what prompted the new round of subpoenas, as grand juries operate in secret and federal law bars prosecutors and federal agents from speaking about subpoenas or the materials or testimony that the subpoenas seek.
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