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New York City Mayor Eric Adams attends a ceremony in New York City on Nov. 20, 2023.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams indicted on federal charges
There aren’t many things left to happen for the first time in New York City, but on Wednesday night Eric Adams became the first sitting New York mayor to be indicted on federal criminal charges.
The details aren’t yet public, but they’re believed to stem from a corruption investigation that has focused at least in part on improper relations with the Turkish government.
A former cop who grew up in a poor neighborhood, Adams, a Democrat, was elected as the city’s second black mayor in 2021, pledging to be tough on crime, to right the city after the pandemic, and to win the city’s endless war on rats.
He has been mired in scandal for much of that time. There are at least four ongoing federal probes of Adams or his top officials. This month alone, those investigations have led to the resignations of the police commissioner and the chancellor of New York City’s public school system.
Adams says he is innocent, but he is already facing calls to resign, including from New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
As details emerge, we’ll be watching to see if this unprecedented corruption scandal in America’s largest city bleeds into the national conversation as the Presidential election approaches.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams
NYC mayor in hot water over Turkey
The mayor of America’s largest city is now ensnared in a scandal involving one of America’s ficklest allies.
Federal agents are currently investigating whether New York Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign violated financing rules during his 2021 run for office – the feds are reportedly focusing on alleged contributions from a Turkish-owned construction company.
The plot thickens: Did Adams, before taking office, pressure local Fire Department officials to rush approvals for a new consulate building in Manhattan that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was eager to unveil during United Nations General Assembly week in 2021? Thus far, Adams hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.
Adams, a centrist Democrat, is an eccentric former police officer who styles himself, variously, as a homeopath, crimefighter, bon vivant, and rat killer. Elected as the city’s second-ever Black mayor in 2021, he has faced criticism over the city’s sluggish post-pandemic recovery and has clashed with Washington over responsibility for absorbing the more than 100,000 asylum-seekers who have arrived in the city since 2022.
Turkey, of course, is one of Washington’s great frenemies. A NATO member, yes, but one that maintains especially warm ties with Moscow, has attacked US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, and has sought to complicate NATO accession for Sweden.