Scandal plagued New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been waiting for the other shoe to drop. It finally did and he still has no idea what he’s up against, other than he’s been indicted for something by a federal grand jury. The specific charges remain under seal. For weeks, federal investigators have been hounding his cabinet members. One-by-one, they’re resigning. Some because they were charged, others, like his attorney, because they haven’t been charged and want to keep it that way.
Adams indicted on federal charges
Whatever Eric Adams is about to be accused of, it’s a federal level crime. He doesn’t care what the sealed indictment, announced September 25, has to say.
He released a statement Wednesday evening, officially and categorically proclaiming his total innocence. “I always knew that If I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target-and a target I became,” he writes.
“If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit,” Adams declared. After working his way up through the ranks to become mayor, the Democrat “police officer turned politician” instantly became, as he predicted, a target.
Just about everyone in his inner circle “has spent nearly a year under the cloud of federal investigations,” including him.
Adams knew something was brewing and he’s been waiting for “the other shoe to drop” so he could find out what it’s all about. The footwear finally hit the floor but he’s still in the dark. The Federal Bureau of Instigation seems to be playing cat and mouse with him psychologically.
“His cell phones were seized and, in recent weeks, the residences of some of his closest confidants were searched by federal agents working on several related corruption probes.” He insists he’s not losing sleep over any of it.
A sinking ship
The dark clouds started forming November 2, 2023, “when FBI agents conducted an early morning raid on the Brooklyn home of Adams’ chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs.” Over the past two weeks, the mayor has been watching his city administrators diving overboard like rats leaving a sinking ship.
His “handpicked police commissioner,” Edward Caban, handed in a resignation letter “after the authorities issued a subpoena for his phones.” Not long after that, Adams got a call from his chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg. She stepped down. This week, Schools Chancellor David Banks “announced plans to retire at the end of the year.”
Not only was David Banks left without a phone by the feds, his “younger brothers, Philip, the deputy mayor for public safety, and Terence, also had their phones seized.” If that wasn’t enough, “David Banks’s fiancée, Sheena Wright, the first deputy mayor, had her phone seized as well.”
None of them have been charged with anything. Like Adams, all any of them know is that the feds are investigating “corruption” which could mean just about anything. It may or may not have ties to other investigations at the state level involving influence peddling to China by a gubernatorial aide.
Mayor Adams has insisted all along that no matter what anyone around him is being investigated for, he didn’t do a single thing wrong. He swears up and down that, “as a former police officer, he has always followed the rules.”
To the best of his own personal knowledge, he has known of no “misdoings” within his administration. He refuses to talk about the “rumors and innuendo.” There’s no reason for him to step aside. “The people of this city elected me to fight for them, and I will stay and fight no matter what,” Adams proclaims.
