New York Mayor Eric Adams Indicted

Tonight, my thoughts are with people in Florida who are in Helene’s path as it comes ashore as an “extremely dangerous” category 4 Hurricane. 750,000 homes in Florida are already without power as I’m writing this tonight.

Although there are reports that Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed his opening brief on presidential immunity with Judge Chutkan, as of now, nothing is publicly available. PACER, the federal courts online filing system, which is how lawyers access pleadings in cases, shows no entries. You can see that there are no entries at all for today, September 26. I’ll keep an eye on that and, although we’re expecting a heavily redacted document, we’ll take a look at what’s there as soon as it becomes available.

The 57-page, five-count federal indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams was unsealed this morning. It is comprehensive. The specifics range from more than $10 million in matching public campaign funds Adams received using straw donors to free and discounted luxury travel. Flight upgrades alone were valued in excess of $100,000. Adams did not disclose any of them. Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would be proud. The alleged grift began while Adams was an elected official in Brooklyn and has continued during his time as mayor.

You can read the full indictment here.

Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams was careful to note that the charges in the indictment are allegations and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. But it doesn’t look great for Adams. In fact, some folks have complained about Williams’ painstaking care and the fact that he hasn’t moved on to other cases. That he chose to go on this one suggests that he evaluated the evidence and charges carefully and believes they will succeed. No U.S. Attorney files a case like this unless they are confident it is strong.

The indictment starts with a section labeled “overview,” which continues for 48 and one-half pages. It’s a comprehensive assessment of the criminal conduct that forms the basis for the five criminal charges that follow:

• Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, soliciting and accepting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and federal programs bribery

• Wire Fraud

• Two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national

• Bribery

Public officials are required to disclose gifts they accept. The public has a right to know that impartial officials are performing their duties. If they are receiving gifts or favors from an entity that could bring influence to bear on them, the public has the right to know that. That’s why public officials fill out annual disclosure forms. But it doesn’t seem to have mattered to Adams, who took more than $100k in luxury trips, none of it disclosed.

Then there’s the building for the Turkish Consulate. Adams’ Turkish friends wanted it open in time for a visit from Erdogan, Turkey’s president, but the building didn’t pass muster under New York Fire Department standards. It flunked the tests so badly that they concluded it was unsafe. Adams pressured them to let the building open nonetheless, which they ultimately did, believing they’d lose their jobs if they didn’t go along.

The indictment is also full of details about efforts to cover up the crime by Adams and his associates, even when they knew they were under investigation. Like this:

Nothing says “I’m guilty” like trying to destroy evidence.

Whether all of the folks whose conduct is referenced in the indictment are cooperating—Adams is the only defendant named in the indictment—remains to be seen, but it’s clear from the allegations contained in the indictment that prosecutors have access to at least some information only participants in Adams’ crimes could have told them about.

It’s entirely possible that this indictment won’t be the final word on the charges the mayor faces. Prosecutors could still have deal offers on the table with some of Adams’ co-conspirators and witnesses who can provide investigators with information about additional crimes, and participants often emerge only after the target is charged. The indictment could be superseded in the future to add additional defendants or charges.

Jumaane Williams, the New York City Public Advocate, would become mayor by operation of law if Adams were to resign, but as of tonight, Adams continues to maintain vigorously that he will remain in office.

Public corruption cases are challenging to prosecute. Anyone who tells you they are easy has never tried one. And the Supreme Court has made them even more difficult over the past couple of decades by narrowing the types of conduct that qualify for prosecution under federal statutes, notoriously reversing convictions for defendants like Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and top Chris Christie aides involved in the Bridgegate Scandal, and reversing some of the convictions a jury imposed on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. But prosecutors do not indict these cases cavalierly, and it’s almost a certainty that this indictment was flyspecked for accuracy by top prosecutors in the Southern District to ensure they were confident they could both obtain a conviction and sustain it on appeal, the conditions federal prosecutors must satisfy before they can bring an indictment.

Adams, who maintains his innocence, is due to be arraigned Friday morning, according to reports. He will enter a plea of not guilty, and the magistrate judge will decide then, or perhaps at a separate hearing shortly after, whether he will be permitted to remain out on bond. That seems likely since Adams wasn’t arrested at the time the indictment was announced.

Donald Trump tried to add Adams to the political witch hunt victims column today, saying he had predicted Adams would be indicted when Adams began complaining about migrants last year. “You take a look at what they do, these are dirty players. These are bad people,” the Washington Post reported Trump said at a news conference, although he acknowledged he was unfamiliar with the details of the indictment. No word on whether Adams welcomes Trump’s embrace.

This morning, as he announced the indictment, U.S. Attorney Williams called Adams’ crimes a “Grave breach of Public Trust,” saying, “We allege that these are bright red lines and the mayor crossed them again and again. For years.”

Williams referenced the obligation of prosecutors to pursue cases without fear or favor. Then he said something that will have resonated deeply with every current and former federal prosecutor, and especially people who have endured Trump’s claims—lies, all of them—that DOJ is biased against him. Williams said that his office was “not focused on right or left. Only on right or wrong.” “That,” Williams said, “is our duty, and we will fulfill it.”

That’s what we are entitled to expect from DOJ as citizens in a rule of law country. Honor, hard work, decency, and fidelity to the law.

We’re in this together,

Joyce