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NYC Mayor Takes Questions After Indictment On Fed Corruption Charges; NYC Mayor Indicted On Five Federal Corruption Charges; Any Moment: Prosecutors Speak After NYC Mayor Is Indicted. Aired 11:30a- 12p ET

Aired September 26, 2024 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: That's the elaborate question. Like, listen, listen. My legal team -- my legal team. Thank you. My legal team -- my legal team is going to peruse the entire indictment. We got it today when it was released. The news media received information before we did, as they have been receiving for the last 10 months.

You know, it appears as though the goal is to try to try this case publicly and not in the criminal justice system that's in place. And so we, based on what I read, is clear that if it's campaign violations, I know I don't violate the campaigns?

If it's foreign donors, I know I don't take money from foreign donors, and I verbalize that to the team, both in writing and both in communication, and we will continue to do that, and we look forward for the legal team to handle this as I handle the city of New York and continue the success that we've witnessed in the last two years and nine months as the Mayor of the City of New York. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, We just heard there from Mayor Adams, strongly defending himself, remaining defiance, saying he's going to stay in the role, bowing to fight, digging in his heels and saying, Look, he is innocent.

On the other side of the screen, you see the room set up for the FDNY, the U.S. attorney there who brought this indictment, bringing five federal corruption charges against Mayor Adams after this 10-month investigation. Although it is 10-month investigation, the charges as you read through the indictment and as they build this case. Elie Honig, it goes back many years, nearly a decade.

ELIE HONIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Asians in the indictment go back to 2015, and if you're wondering how that is, because typically, there's a five-year statute of limitations on federal crimes. It's because, I think prosecutors will say it's all part of the narrative. We're allowed to go back beyond five years to explain where this all came from, so long as some of the conduct occurred within the five year statute, which is certainly does a lot of the conduct occurred in 2023, 2022. Also important to note, Pam in this indictment prosecutors, and I

think we'll hear this from Damian Williams in a moment, make a point that Eric Adams was continuing to do this. He didn't just do this to win his election as mayor back in 2021 but according to prosecutors, he was engaged in the same kind of conduct, the same kind of accepting of straw donors illegally from Turkey, looking ahead to his 2025 mayoral reelection campaign. So I think we'll hear that theme sounded when Damian Williams takes the podium in a couple of minutes. I

BROWN: I want to go to you quickly, Shimon, because we heard Mayor Adams say time and time again, he's going to continue to stay in his role as mayor. Have we heard from Governor Hochul about this because my understanding is she is the one who could request that he be removed, and then there was a whole process.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, not publicly. We have not heard from her, but our reporting from last night, I believe, says that at this point, and this was last night, because no one had read the indictment, and no one had seen what the charges are, that there was no, she was not going to move ahead with any kind of removal process. And she has that ability. She has that ability. There are other ways to do it here too.

You know, right now, I think everyone sort of, we haven't heard more people calling for his resignation, and I think a lot of it just had to do with the fact that they haven't seen the indictment. They haven't been able to see the information. But you know, being a New Yorker, knowing Eric Adams for the many years that I know him in terms of his political life, and just knowing how this city operates, I think it's going to be pretty hard for him to continue without more and more people calling for his resignation.

I mean, just walking the streets here, I have to tell you, outside of City Hall, there were people calling for his resignation, just New Yorkers walking by city hall saying that he had to go.

He hasn't been so popular of late -- people are not necessarily happy with the way the city is doing, and way -- the way things are going. And when you think about his administration, and the number of people who have now resigned or will be resigning, who have been under investigation, have been part of an investigation, have been given subpoenas, have been -- have had the FBI visit their homes.

The police commissioner who resigned, the FBI visiting with him, his family members. There are so many investigations that are going on as a result of the allegations and the activity of some of the city officials that he is closest to, and we don't even know the beginnings of what that investigation is. It's going to be really hard for him to continue and not to be distracted and not to get questions, as he has on a daily basis about whether or not he can govern, whether or not he can run the city.

[11:35:13]

People feel like no one is running this city right now when you have law enforcement officials from the police department and deputy mayors all under investigation. It's significant, and how he gets out of this. It's going to be interesting to see because it's going to be hard, and he can be as defiant as he wants for now. But the more people that come out to call for his resignation or his ouster, I mean, it's going to become difficult.

And it is, Pam. I think the Governor Hochul factor here is important, what it will she do? What will happen? Because she does have the power. That's going to be an interesting thing to watch as this develops.

BROWN: Right. And as we wait to hear from the U.S. attorney with the U.S. attorney lays out, we see a board next there to the podium that I briefly was able to look at as they scan to it. And Elie it lists, from what I read, it says undisclosed travel benefits over the years, from Turkish officials and foreign nationals to Mayor Adams. And in the indictment, from what I read, the Prosecutors allege that Mayor Adams created a fake paper trail to they say, hide the benefits, the perks that he was receiving from these Turkish officials. How damning is that?

HONIG: Well, that's exactly right, Pam and I see the U.S. attorney -- one second, coming up to the podium no.

BROWN: Let's listen right now. He's about to speak.

DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Good morning everyone. Thank you for gathering. My name is Damian Williams and of the United States Attorney here in the Southern District of New York.

Today, we are announcing campaign finance, bribery, and conspiracy charges against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. As the indictment alleges Mayor Adams engaged in a long running conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations.

As we allege, Mayor Adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal, and even though he knew these contributions were attempts by a Turkish government official and Turkish businessman to buy influence with him. We also allege that the mayor sought and accepted well over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits from some of the same foreign actors who arranged many of the illegal campaign contributions.

These benefits included free International Business Class flights and opulent hotel rooms in foreign cities. The mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual public disclosure forms so that the public could see who was giving him what. But as we allege, year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark. He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them.

We allege that Adams accepted these benefits knowing that they were given to him because of his position, and in exchange for some of those improper benefits, he intervened in the New York City Fire Department's inspection process for a building owned and operated by the Turkish Government, allowing it to open even though it had not passed the fire inspection. The corruption alleging the indictment is, as I said, long-running. As we allege in the indictment, Adams's solicitation of illegal campaign contributions began in 2018.

After he started raising funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign, he agreed to take contributions offered by multiple Turkish businessmen, several of whom he met in Turkey. Adams knew that these wealthy individuals could not legally donate in a U.S. election. Federal law clearly prohibits foreign donations. That's how we protect our elections from foreign influence. Get Adams directed his staff to pursue this illegal money to support his campaign for mayor.

And as we allege, Adams continued to pursue foreign money in secret well into 2021 and it didn't stop with his first campaign for mayor. As we allege in 2023, the mayor rekindled these corrupt relationships, seeking more illegal campaign contributions from some of the same foreign sources to support his reelection campaign.

Adams also took contributions that broke other laws. As we allege, he saw contributions from businessmen far in excess of what the law allowed. He also allegedly sought contributions from corporations which are not allowed to contribute at all in New York City elections, many of those illegal corporate contributions were organized by the same people who organized the illegal foreign contributions. And Adams allegedly disguised them all in the same way, by accepting the money through so-called straw donors.

A straw donor contributes someone else's money. Hiding the money's illegal source, such as a foreign businessman, a corporation, or a wealthy New Yorker who has already contributed the maximum amount allowed. And as we allege, Adam circumvented all of these laws, taking contributions from exactly the sources the law prohibits all to benefit his mayoral campaigns.

[11:40:19]

Now, Adams also personally benefited from the illegal conduct alleging the indictment. Adams solicited and accepted over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits for years from wealthy Turkish business people and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.

Adam started accepting undisclosed luxury travel benefits at least as early as 2016. He took these benefits nearly every year through 2021. Here are some of the benefits that we uncovered during our investigation.

In 2016, Adams flew to India through Turkey and received two free round-trip upgrades for business class seats. That's the highest class on Turkey's national airline. Those upgrades were worth more than $12,000 and none of it was publicly disclosed. In 2017, Adams accepted free business class tickets for himself and his travel companions to France, Turkey, and China, and he was put up in the Bentley suite in the St. Regis Hotel in Istanbul.

All of that was worth more than $41,000 and none of it was publicly disclosed. Also in 2017, he flew to China again through Turkey and accepted two free business-class tickets for himself and a companion. Those were worth more than $16,000 and none of it was publicly disclosed.

In 2018, he flew to Hungary through Turkey and accepted free upgrades for business class seats. Those were worth more than $12,000 and none of it was publicly disclosed. In 2019, he flew to Turkey and accepted a free upgrade to business class for his companion in a free stay in a lavish suite at the St. Regis Hotel in Istanbul that was worth more than $9,000 and again, none of it was publicly disclosed.

In 2021, Adam solicited business class tickets to Istanbul stays at luxury hotels and resorts, yacht tours, and meals. As we allege, he asked to pay a nominal fee for all of this in order to disguise what we allege were, in fact, bribes. He canceled that trip at the very last minute, but the benefits that he solicited were worth more than $21,000.

And later in 2021, Adams flew to Ghana again through Turkey and accepted free business class ticket upgrades and other gifts while he was on a layover in Istanbul. Those benefits were worth more than $12,000 and just like all the other benefits I've just run through, none of it was publicly disclosed.

Now, I want to be clear, these upgrades and freebies were not part of some frequent flyer or loyalty program available to the general public. As we allege, this was a multi year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise, Eric Adams.

Now this is a chart with all of the undisclosed travel benefits that we uncovered during the investigation. We just listed all out. Here you see the year, 2016, 2017, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, the destination, India all the way to Ghana, the benefits, the free upgrades or free tickets altogether, the hotel stays and the value, and if you just sum up all the dollar amounts here, you get to more than $100,000. And of course, as I said before, every single trip that we list here was undisclosed.

As we allege in the indictment, in addition to not disclosing these benefits, Adams sometimes created fake paper trails to try to cover up the travel benefits he solicited and received. Let me give you one example.

Adams wrote emails to his staff suggesting he paid for his 2017, business class flights on the Turkish airline, when, as we allege, he did not. Those flights were worth a lot of money. Just one ticket alone cost more than $10,000 but months after taking the flights, Adams wrote an email with staff member and told the staff member that he had left cash in her desk drawer and that she should send the money to the Turkish airline to pay for a trip he had already taken. As the indictment makes clear, that's just a clumsy cover-up.

Now, just because Adams received benefits for free, that doesn't mean that there weren't strings attached. As we allege, a particular Turkish government official behind many of the benefits Adams sought and accepted, gave Adams all these things to gain influence over him. We allege that Adams knew that and took the benefits anyway. We allege that when the Turkish government official needed him, Adams also took corrupt official action in exchange for some of the luxury travel benefits.

[11:45:10]

In 2021, the Turkish government official was trying to open a brand new high rise building in Manhattan that would house Turkey's consulate. There was significant time pressure because the Turkish official desperately needed the building to be open in time for a visit from Turkey's president. This building was important to the Turkish official, and it was important to Turkey, but the FDNY is fire safety professionals wouldn't let the building open because the building hadn't passed an inspection.

And not just that, some of the people of FDNY thought the building had so many issues and defects that the building was not safe to occupy. So the Turkish officials sent word to Adams that it was, quote, "his turn", unquote, to support Turkey. And as we allege, Adams delivered and pressured the fire department to let the building open.

The FDNY professionals were convinced that they would lose their jobs if they didn't back down. And so they did. They got out of the way and let the building open. The Turkish official got what he wanted, and as we explained in the indictment, just four days after Adams held up his end of the bargain, he went right back to soliciting more travel benefits from the Turkish airline.

Now I want to make three things crystal clear. First, the conduct alleging the indictment, the foreign money, the corporate money, the bribery, the years of concealment, is a grave breach of the public's trust. Public office is a privilege. We allege that Mayor Adams abused that privilege and broke the law, laws that are designed to ensure that officials like him serve the people, not the highest bidder, not a foreign bidder, and certainly not a foreign power. These are bright red lines, and we allege that the mayor crossed them again and again for years. That is the only reason we are here today.

Second, this investigation continues. We continue to dig and we will hold more people accountable. And I encourage anyone with information to come forward and to do so before it is too late.

And third, the Southern District of New York remains committed to rooting out corruption without fear or favor and without regard to partisan politics, we are not focused on the right or the left, we are focused only on right and wrong. That is our duty, and we will fulfill it.

Now, today's charges are the product of a tremendous partnership. I want to thank our partners at FBI and the New York City Department of Investigation, who have been with us every step of the way. And finally, I want to commend the outstanding career prosecutors from FDNY who are handling this case, Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach, Hagan Scott, and Derek Wickstrom, and the chiefs of the Public Corruption Unit, Laura Pomerantz and Robert Sobelman. It's now my pleasure to turn the podium over to FBI Assistant Director in Charge, James Dennehy.

JAMES DENNEHY, FBI NEW YORK ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE: Good morning, and thank you for being here today. The indictment of a sitting mayor is not just another headline. It is a stinging reminder that no one is above the law or beyond reproach, and it serves as a sobering moment for all of us who place our trust in elected officials.

Today's indictment sends a powerful message to every elected official in this country. Public service is a profound responsibility and should be a noble calling. When that's perverted by greed and dishonesty, it robs us of our trust. It's a pact between leaders and their communities built on the pillars of trust, accountability, and transparency. When that pact is broken, the consequences ripple far beyond one office or one election cycle.

We know not all leaders are corrupt. We know there are countless public servants who wake up every day with the intention of doing right by their constituents. But we cannot ignore the shadow cast by moments like this. When trust is eroded, it takes years, sometimes decades, to rebuild. The weight of today's action falls not just on the indicted official, but on every other public official who must now work harder to earn the public's confidence in them. It's important to remember accountability isn't just about punishing those with alleged wrongdoings.

[11:50:09]

It's about lifting the communities they've let down. It's about rebuilding, restoring, and reimagining what public servants can and should do. It's up to us to demand more from our leaders, to hold them to the highest standards, and to remind them that the power of public office should never be abused, while some may be disappointed today, let me encourage you not to be defeated. The strength of our communities, our faith in one another, and our collective resilience are far greater than the alleged failings of any one individual.

In closing, I'd like to thank the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, and his office, Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber and the New York City Department investigation and her team, as well as my team, the public corruption squad here at FBI New York. Thank you.

WILLIAMS: I'd to like to welcome up Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber from the New York City Department of Investigation.

JOCELYN STRAUBER, COMMISSIONER, NYC DEPARTMENT OF INVESTIGATION: Thank you, Damian. Good morning. Today, for the first time in New York City's modern history, we announced criminal charges against the sitting mayor of New York City. As our highest elected official, the mayor should set the standard for all of city government and exemplify the integrity, transparency, and dedication to serving the public that all New Yorkers deserve.

Instead, the indictment unsealed today alleges that Mayor Adams abused his power and position for nearly a decade as Brooklyn Borough President and as mayor to enrich himself and his mayoral campaigns. As charged, he sought and received illegal campaign contributions, luxury travel, and other personal benefits from foreign nationals as well as individuals and businesses.

He allegedly took steps to conceal those illegal contributions and personal benefits, and involved city employees and campaign staff in that concealment. As the indictment explains, this kind of corruption has real costs to the city and to the public. As alleged, the mayor's 2021 campaign falsely certified compliance with campaign finance laws in order to conceal those illegal campaign contributions, and as a result of those false certifications, received over ten million in public matching funds.

The mayor's alleged acceptance and concealment of illegal contributions and personal benefits gave overseas benefactors, wealthy individuals, and businesses undue influence over the mayor, influence that federal and local laws seek to prevent. And as charged, in exchange for certain personal benefits, the mayor pressured the New York City Fire Department to forgo a required fire safety inspection before the opening of the new Turkish Consulate building.

As the city's inspector general, the Department of Investigation, a city agency conducts its investigations confidentially and wholly independent of City Hall. We handled this investigation as we would any other, following the facts and seeking to hold wrongdoers accountable no matter their role or title.

Our unique access to city records and expertise in matters of city government make us a critical partner in the fight to root out corruption, working closely with our law enforcement colleagues at the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office. If you have information about this case or about illegal conduct by any New York City official or employee, I encourage you to contact DOI by email at tipline@doi.nyc.gov or by phone at 212-825-2828.

I want to thank the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI for their partnership on this investigation. And I want to recognize and thank the dedicated, hardworking DOI. Investigators who are handling this matter, Senior Inspector General Eleanor Rivkin, Inspector General Audrey Feldman, Deputy Inspectors General, Arturo Sanchez and Trenton Sweeney and their supervisors, Deputy Commissioners Christopher Ryan and Dominic Sorella, thank you.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, everyone.

[11:55:25]

BROWN: We just heard from law enforcement and prosecutors there and this case, they brought this indictment, five corruption charges against the mayor of New York City and Elie Honig to bring you in on this, they laid out their case, saying that Mayor Adams took illegal contributions and at least $100,000 in travel benefits that they say he tried to cover up, and in exchange for that from at least one Turkish official and Turkish businessman, he did official acts, and that is a key part of this case as it pertains to the bribery charges. Elie, they claim he took official acts by pressuring the FDNY tell us about that.

HONIG: Exactly. So the challenge the prosecutors will have here, and you just saw the U.S. Attorney grappling with this, is how to explain this simply and specifically. And I think the SDNYs theory this case is laid out in the indictment is like this. Eric Adams, when he was mayor, and before that, when he was Brooklyn Borough President, took two types of benefits from Turkish nationals.

First of all, he accepted campaign donations from those foreign nationals which are not allowed to do, which were funneled through fake or straw donors. Second of all, the indictment alleges that Eric Adams sought and received free business travel, discounted business travel worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. So that's the quid part of it, and then the quo, what he delivered in exchange for that is essentially Turkish nationals wanted to get this skyscraper called the Turkish house.

It had been built. It was a controversial issue in Turkey. It was extraordinarily expensive. They wanted to get it approved to open by the time a group of Turkish leaders, diplomats arrived in the United States, and so they asked Eric Adams to pressure the FDNY, the fire department here in New York, to approve of the building quicker than they would otherwise there's a whole really interesting passage in the indictment, where it lays out Eric Adams texting the FDNY commissioner, leaning on him, pressuring him to approve the building, and then Eric Adams tells the Turkish interest, hey, we're going to come through for you here.

So that's the gist of the allegations here. I think part of what you'll hear from Eric Adams, and we heard this from him earlier, is that he was just doing his job. What's wrong with the mayor or a borough official trying to get the FDA why to act more quickly? I think the prosecution's response to that will be, yes, but you accepted thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contributions and personal benefits for that, which is what makes it a crime.

BROWN: Right. And you know, obviously, prosecutors have to prove this right, innocent until proven guilty. Shimon, we know that there have been other people in the administration and the mayor Adams's administration who have been under investigation as well.

The question is, are they cooperating? And also, there have been several search warrants executed, including just this morning at Gracie Mansion, where prosecutors or the feds have been able to take electronics. And you see some of what they have pulled, some of that evidence they pulled from cell phones, for example, in this indictment to help prove their case.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. that was this morning when the FBI showed up at Eric Adams Gracie Mansion, the official residence. Think of this, the official residence of the mayor for the city of New York. The FBI was there this morning serving him a search warrant for his phone. Again, we have seen there's a lot of detail in this indictment about phones. They also allege that Eric Adams has tried to hide information, conceal information from them. It essentially what is a cover-up by not providing his phone and not providing a password for his phone.

I just want to make one point about this press conference. What I found really interesting is that the U.S. Attorney Damian Williams didn't take any questions. I've listened to many of his press conferences. I've watched them. I've been there. He usually takes questions. They didn't do that in this case. And there's probably a reason for that, and that's significant.

They realize what they're up against here, and they realize the importance of this, and there's really no room for error, and he really wants to stay within that indictment. It's over 50 pages. They lay it out, and there's really not much more to say, but he doesn't want to speculate, and neither does the FBI, or does the Department of Investigation, which is a city agency. So all of them stood there. They laid out, they made their statements, but no one took questions.

One other thing I want to that I think is really important, and what this is all really about in the end, you know, you talk about the campaign, finance, violations and all of that, and the $100,000 that he got, but this is a key line I think that is really troubling for the government, is that the Turkish officials here, they built a multiyear scheme to buy favor from Eric Adams, a politician in this country.