Mayor Eric Adams vehemently denied knowing anything about a grand jury being convened to investigate a federal corruption case against him in connection with his campaign fundraising.
“I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. I’m Eric Adams. I’m the mayor. I’m a former cop!” Hizzoner told gathered reporters on Saturday as he arrived at the 39th annual 116th Street Festival in East Harlem.
“We have no idea. We have no idea. We have no idea,” he added, as his team brushed off further questions from the media.
Adams, 63, arrived two hours late to the Latin festival, just a day after The Washington Post reported that a grand jury was considering evidence in the FBI investigation, likely to issue subpoenas in the case.
At least one person with ties to the mayor has received a subpoena in connection with the investigation, the sources said.
Adams maintained that he was unaware of recent developments, despite repeatedly acknowledging he is an avid reader of The Washington Post.
“They won’t tell me anything. Follow the procedure. Talk to a lawyer. A lawyer will explain the normal procedure,” he said.
The mayor, who appeared upbeat despite the looming investigation, didn’t say any more about the incident before taking to the stage for a few minutes.
But former rival and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Suriawa had plenty to say about the embattled mayor.
“The walls are closing in,” the 2021 Republican mayoral candidate said at the festival.
“Swagerman has no plan to get out of this. He’s not going to the White House, that’s what he thought at first. He might end up in chains and shackles and going to the big house.”
“Maybe there are people in the administration who have decided it’s time to become confidential informants, because they won’t jump ship. That’s how the federal government gets you. They catch the small fish, but they want the big fish. And we all know they’re after Eric Adams.”
Suliawa was referring to rumors that a former City Hall aide who was suspended for inappropriate conduct amid a federal investigation had turned on Adams and was working as an FBI informant.
The New Jersey home of former Bureau of International Affairs protocol chief Lana Abasova was also searched by the FBI as part of a federal corruption investigation.
Also searched were Adam’s campaign fundraising chief, Brianna Suggs, and Cenk Ocal, a former Turkish Airlines executive who worked on the mayor’s transition team.
“All these people are not going to protect him. They are going to abandon him,” Sliwa added.
The crowd’s reaction to the mayor turning up at the festival two hours after he was scheduled to arrive was mixed.
“I’m here two hours late, but I’m always on time,” Adams teased.
“It just seems like a pointless pandering to the Puerto Rican base,” Orlando Plaza, 56, a historian who was born and raised in the LES and once owned a restaurant in Spanish Harlem, said of the mayor’s visit.
As he passed, some people shouted at him, demanding that he focus on helping the homeless, addressing the city’s sanitation problems or other urgent issues.
“We shouldn’t be spending our hard-earned money on fancy parties for him and his entourage. We should be spending it on parks that need to be maintained and cleaned for the youth and for New York City, which is definitely more important than a police city, that’s for sure,” Stephanie Sanchez, 35, a professional dancer and dance instructor, told The Post.
Simone McBride, a 41-year-old social worker from Spanish Harlem, agreed. “I’m not happy with the mayor. Not at all.”
“I don’t believe that defunding the police and other sundry activities like partying for citizens is going to help our city,” McBride said.
The FBI is investigating whether Adams’ team conspired with the Turkish government to support his campaign with foreign donations and whether Adams asked the New York Fire Department to expedite a construction permit for the Turkish consulate that had failed a previous safety inspection.
Neither Adams nor members of his campaign are suspected of wrongdoing.
