CNN senior legal analyst Ellie Honig breaks down the evidence prosecutors will present in Thursday's guilty plea hearing on bribery and fraud charges against New York City's Democratic Mayor Eric Adams.
The Southern District of New York issued a 57-page federal indictment alleging that Adams “solicited and accepted improper benefits” from wealthy foreign businessmen and at least one Turkish government official over nearly a decade. Prosecutors will need to “simply and specifically” prove how Adams violated the law by allegedly receiving campaign funds through dummy contributions in 2021 and giving favors to foreigners, Honig said.
“The challenge that prosecutors face here, as we just saw the U.S. Attorney's Office grapple with, is how to explain this simply and concretely, and I think the SDNY [Southern District of New York] The theory laid out in the indictment goes like this: “Eric Adams, during his time as mayor, and before that as Brooklyn borough president, received two types of benefits from foreign nationals. First, he accepted impermissible campaign contributions from foreign nationals that were made through bogus donors and sprinkler donors,” Honig said.
“Second, the indictment alleges that Eric Adams received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free and discounted travel expenses, that's the quid pro quo,” Honig continued. “And what he provided in return was basically [that] The Turkish people wanted to get this skyscraper, called the Turkish House, which was already built, but it was a controversial issue in Turkey and very expensive. The Turkish people wanted it approved for opening by the time the Turkish leadership and a group of U.S.-based diplomats arrived, so they asked Eric Adams to put pressure on the FDNY to approve the building sooner than normal.”
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Adams Charged He was charged with “conspiring to commit wire fraud, bribery of federal programs, and accepting campaign contributions from foreign nationals,” and was indicted on one count of wire fraud, two counts of soliciting contributions from foreign nationals, and one count of bribery. (Related: Federal charges filed against New York City Mayor Eric Adams: Report)
According to the indictment, Turkish officials who sent fake donations to Adams' campaign offered the mayor free or discounted travel on Turkish Airlines to international destinations in exchange for Adams agreeing to set up a Turkish diplomatic base in the city. Honig said Adams was “just doing his job” and that he would question whether it was criminal to ask the New York Fire Department to fast-track construction of a skyscraper.
“I think part of what you're going to hear from Eric Adams, and part of what we've heard for some time now, is that he was just doing his job. What's wrong with mayors and borough officials asking the FDNY to act more quickly? And I think the prosecutors' response will be, 'Yeah, but you received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donations and personal benefits to do so, so that's a crime,'” Honig continued.
According to the indictment, Adams is accused of failing to disclose travel allowances in his annual financial reports.
Mayor of New York said He said he wasn't surprised by the indictment and promised to continue “looking after the city.” He accused President Joe Biden's administration of retaliating against him for criticizing his “broken immigration policies.”
“I'm not surprised that we've reached this day,” Adams said. “I ask the people of New York to wait to hear our side of the defense before passing judgment. You'll hear a story about the case that we have in about 30 minutes. That story will come from the federal prosecutors, so I ask you to wait to hear our side of the story.”
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