WEBVTT - NYC Mayor Indicted & Government Sues Visa 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.000 This is Bloomberg Law with June Brusso from Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:14.440 Today, we are announcing campaign finance, bribery and conspiracy charges 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.040 against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. As 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.520 the indictment alleges Mayor Adams engaged in a long running 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:26.279 conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:31.600 contributions from foreign donors and corporations. As we allege Mayor 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.920 Adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal. 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:40.240 Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams announced the first federal charges 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.639 ever against a sitting mayor of New York City. The 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.840 indictment charges Eric Adams with engaging in years of sustained 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.720 corruption and accepting more than one hundred thousand dollars in 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:56.920 lavish bribes from foreign nationals. Williams said that Adams repeatedly 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:02.160 crossed bright red lines, leading to the charges of bribery, conspiracy, 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:04.840 and breaking campaign finance laws. 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:09.000 The conduct alleged in the indictment, the foreign money, the 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.399 corporate money, the bribery, the years of concealment, is a 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.160 grave breach of the public's trust. 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:16.800 Public office is a privilege. 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.920 We allege that Mayor Adams abused that privilege and broke 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.479 the law flaws that are designed to ensure that officials 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.080 like him serve the people, not the highest bidder, not 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.840 a foreign bidder, and certainly not a foreign power. 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.399 These are bright red lines, and we. 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.759 Allege that the Mayor crossed them again and again for years. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.119 That is the only reason we are here today. 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:44.000 Adams denied wrongdoing and struck a defiant tone in a 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.480 press conference, vowing to remain in office. 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:52.040 My day to day will not change. I will continue 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.440 to do the job for eight point three million New 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.560 Yorkers that I was elected to do. 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.440 Joining me is Richard purflt. A professor at Columbia Law School. 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:06.559 Rich this was a really detailed indictment. What struck you most? 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.400 Good question? I think the level of fact that the 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.480 government has put in the indictment means that at least 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.160 some of the counts there are five counts, my sense 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:18.519 is that at least four of them are pretty straightforward, 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.600 and if the government is able to prove in court 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.799 the facts that they're alleging in the indictment, it would 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:26.560 be very hard to defend against them. 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.040 What are the four that seemed straightforward. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.880 So they are the two that are about foreign campaign contributions, 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.840 and that's one for the twenty twenty one campaign and 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.680 one for the twenty twenty five campaign. That is flat 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:40.639 out illegal. I mean in fact when you actually get 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.359 to the count I mean, obviously there's a long factual backdrop, 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.440 but those counts are like two paragraphs long. It's extremely 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.520 shortened to the point. And if they can show that 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.440 he kind of intentionally and with his team his associates 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.760 worked with foreign donors knowing they were foreign donors to 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.600 get them to contribute to his campaign, that's pretty close 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:02.640 to open and shut if the facts prove out. And 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.239 the other the other two that are pretty close those 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.480 two just served very powerful is the federal funds ribery ones, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.679 which is the ones that basically charge him with kind 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.919 of bilking the New York City Matching Funds program through 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.280 various ways, again getting the foreign donations, but also other 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.120 donations where they broke them down and then persuaded the 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:26.079 donors to use straw donors so that larger donations were 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.880 funneled through smaller donors so that they were matchable under 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.720 the New York City Matching Funds program. That also is again, 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.560 if they can prove that, that does seem like a 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.680 straightforward effort on the part of the mayor to the 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.200 City of New York. And you know that's what the 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.640 federal funds bribery thing is. You know, is he in 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.680 effect using this for his own benefit? 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.560 Since this is an indictment of the first indictment of 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.040 a New York City mayor on federal charges, and you 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.720 know that this has been cleared all the way to 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.240 the top of the Justice Department. I mean, are you 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.160 pretty confident that they have the evidence to back up 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:05.520 what they allege? 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.000 No? I mean, I don't know enough, but certainly the 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.960 indictment is very, very detailed, So they certainly have laid 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.160 out a set of facts that if they can prove them, 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.120 you know, are pretty strong. They've laid out a lot 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:18.960 of facts. There are no gold bars in this one 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:22.000 like Menendez, but they've laid out a lot and a 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:22.719 lot of detail. 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.800 So the US Attorney a big focus of his press 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:32.200 conference was that Adams accepted luxury travel. And they had 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:33.560 a poster board. 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.840 Right showing pictures of the fancy hotels and. 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.120 Things, right and showing the undisclosed travel benefits which are 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.839 also listed. It was almost a duplicate of what's in 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.440 the indictment. Is that because it catches the public's eye 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:48.880 or is that a very important part of this. 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.560 I'm sure they use of the photographs are designed to 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.120 catch the public eye, just like in the Menendez case 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.560 when they were showing off the gold bars or pictures 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.280 of the gold bars. Obviously it's playing them the court 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.200 of public opinion. All was on the court of law. 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.320 It's not clear that having pictures of fancy hotel rooms 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.679 in istan bulas that the pictures of the fancy hotel 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.520 rooms are crucial. The fact that the rooms were renting 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.280 for a certain rate and night that he wasn't paying. 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:12.240 That's actually enough. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.719 And it might be surprising to many that this goes 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.560 back nearly ten years. I mean they went to the 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:20.600 time before. 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.200 He was mayor, right, well, I mean his initial interactions 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.239 with the Turkish representatives go back to time he's borough president. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.120 Of course, he was beginning to organize his campaign to 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.440 become mayor, so a lot of the fundraising, you know, 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:35.760 goes back two years before the election. But he knew 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:37.719 he was running and he was borough president, so he 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.479 did have an official position and had some prestige that's 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.599 connected to that. Some official powers, powers that borrow president 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.960 are not great. But you know, the one official thing 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.080 that he's accused of doing is actually kind of borderline 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:54.040 because it's pressuring the Fire Department to accelerate the approval 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.279 of the opening of the new Turkish building. He actually 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.960 wasn't mayor yet and he had no formal power over 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:00.800 the Fire department. On the other hand, and he was 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:02.520 just in the process of winning the election, and he 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:04.640 was a city official, and the looral presidents have some 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.800 role in city government. But I think in some sense there, 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.080 I think the issues goes more to the fact that 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.440 at that point he was on the verge of becoming mayor, 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.360 So you know, at that point he didn't have any 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.640 formal leverage over the Fire Department, but he would soon. 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:24.960 Williams also spoke about how Adams failed to disclose this 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.359 free and discounted travel. Where does that fit in. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.240 That's a good question, because I think a lot of 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.280 what they described in course are violations of New York 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.839 City conflict of interest law, which is not a violation 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.279 of federal law. I mean, the failure to disclose all 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.360 of these things violated city law. They're giving that as 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.280 all background, but they're not charging him per se for 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.320 not disclosing, because that's not a federal violation. I think 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.920 it goes to the idea that he was hiding it, 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:52.320 that he knew that he was getting these benefits, and 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.520 that there was something improper about the benefits that he 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.400 was getting, and that he was getting them in order 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.400 to subsequently influences official actions. So to me, it's more 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.359 a sense of maybe guilty conscience, but that he was 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:08.040 covering his tracks. Because even receiving benefits from these Turkish 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.840 interests don't necessarily violate federal law. They might have violate 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.800 at New York City conflicts law, but it was ultimately 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.960 the connection between getting the benefits and then using them 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.520 either for his own personal benefit or to get people 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.920 to support his campaign. That's where I think the connection 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.400 comes in. There's not a federal crime to violate New 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.000 York City conflicts laws, but I think they were using 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.720 it to show that this is part of a broader 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.400 scheme to get money from these Turkish interests, either just 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.520 support his campaign and or in exchange for him ultimately 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:38.239 doing them favors official favors. 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:43.640 There's also allegations that he created a fake paper trail 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:47.080 to suggest that he had paid for this. It's the 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:47.640 cover up, of. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.280 Course, the idea that it wasn't just sloppy, it wasn't 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.320 just unintentional, that this was all part of a conscious plan. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:57.520 The business is circumventing the city's ban on corporate contributions. 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.320 How has that been to a federal. 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.840 Again, so I think part of this idea that he 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.520 was using the wires, because they says all technically wire 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:10.320 fraud to defraud New York City. Because again he was 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:14.360 taking those corporate contributions, turning them into individual contributions and 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.360 matching them. So in effect, this was again part of 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:21.200 a scheme to use the wires to defraud New York City. 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.720 And New York City received federal funds. That's why it's 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:28.040 federal program bribery aten US Code six sixty six. I mean, 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:32.800 the foreign donations are clearly illegal under federal law. The 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:37.440 domestic corporate ones, no. But what they're saying is that 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.160 he was engaged in a scheme to defraud New York City. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.520 Because it's not so much that he got the donations, 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.200 as he was leveraging the donations to get matching fund money, 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:46.800 and that's taxpayer dollars. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.040 They mentioned a lot of techs. Most of the texts, though, 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:54.440 that are long and outlined, are with a businessman, a 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:58.760 Turkish official, a staffer, not Adams himself. There are a 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.880 few references to Addam, but it's mostly other people and. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.000 Right, they're going to have to show that he was 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.360 part of this, that his staff was doing it on 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:08.959 his behalf, and that he knew what they were doing. 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:14.680 So the indictment doesn't name names, but there's an unnamed 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:19.600 Adam's staffer, and airline manager and several businessmen. Do you 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.679 think they're already cooperating with prosecutors. 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.720 I can't speak to that. I mean they've obviously interviewed 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.840 them and gotten this information from them. Whether they have 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.280 arrangements with them or not, I don't know, but they 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.120 wouldn't be going forward and I think unless they felt 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:34.920 they had the evidence that they could bring it to court. 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:36.520 Do you see any defenses? 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.280 I didn't know, you know one of the I didn't know. 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:42.080 I mean that somewhere along the lines that where you 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.000 were just hinting, which is these are my staff. I 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:45.800 didn't know what they were doing. It's hard to say 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.240 I didn't know this was illegal, and it could be 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.319 a I didn't know this was happening, And certainly I 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.920 think it's probably the strongest defenses if they're already would 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.040 be in some sense that taking all of these Turkish 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.920 benefits really, you know, didn't violate the federal law. The 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.480 government isn't going to have to link up of all 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:05.920 the benefits he got to the fact that he took 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.199 them knowing they were intending to influence him in official actions. 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.080 That's the bribery standard, that he knew that he was 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.160 being influenced, that he took them knowing they were intended 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.880 to influence his official actions. That may be frankly, that 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.720 may be a challenge for the last count. I haven't 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.080 really spoken about the last count until now. And that's 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.880 the straightforward bribery that he took these things. He took 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.800 all these benefits in exchange for basically pressuring the fire 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.880 department to accelerate the approval of that building. The challenge 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.080 there is that he was taking benefits for years and 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.480 years before, so I think the government is going to 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.679 have to kind of link up all of the free 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:43.120 travel and the free hotel rooms that he got and 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.280 connect that to the fact that he then did this 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.240 favor for the Turkish government. 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.040 Yeah, that's what struck me is that it just seemed 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.240 like there was one thing that he did after he'd 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.839 been you know, graegidly taking these trips, etc. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.320 That's going to be the hardest count because you've got 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.000 the quid and you've got the quote, but do you 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.240 have the pro you have the linkage, Whereas I think 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.720 the easiest counts for the foreign funds because to me, 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:10.360 if they made the payments and he knew about it 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:14.080 or was involved in making that happen, that's all you 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.040 need to show for the foreign funds, and for the 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.439 matching funds, it's pretty close. If he knew him he 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.920 was directing his team to work with these donors to 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.760 break up their donations into smaller ones and funnel them 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:30.320 through employees so that they were all matchable. That's also, 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.679 you know, a violation of the city law. It connects 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:35.960 up with the federal law that makes it a crime 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.720 basically to defraud a government that's receiving federal funds. 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:43.520 Coming up next, I'll continue this conversation with Columbia Law 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.080 school professor Richard Brefalt, could Adams be removed from his 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.280 position as Mayor of New York. I'm June Grosso and 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:56.080 you're listening to Bloomberg. Manhattan. US Attorney Damian Williams announced 0:11:56.120 --> 0:12:00.400 the first criminal charges ever filed against a citty of 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:05.679 New York. Today, Eric Adams was indicted on charges of bribery, conspiracy, 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:11.440 and breaking campaign finance laws, and Williams promised, or rather warned, 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:12.720 there's more to come. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:15.439 This investigation continues. 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.680 We continue to dig and we will hold more people accountable, 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.080 and I encourage anyone with information. 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.400 To come forward and to do so before it is 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:24.840 too late. 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.840 The charges were made public hours after FBI agents entered 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:35.240 the mayor's official residence, Gracie Mansion, and seized his phone 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:40.040 and electronic devices. It caps an extraordinary few weeks in 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:44.200 New York City that have seen a drumbeat of raids, subpoenas, 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.400 and high level resignations of members of Adam's inner circle. 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.480 Adams said the indictment didn't come as a surprise. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:57.160 The actions that have unfolded over the last ten months. Yeah, 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:06.319 the leaks, the commentary, the demonizes, This did not surprise 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.640 us that we reached this day. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.199 The mayor vowed to stay in office. I've been talking 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.880 to Richard Brfalt, a professor of Columbia Law School. Rich 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.960 the Supreme Court has been narrowing the scope of anti 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.360 corruption laws for more than a decade. 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.200 Yeah, I mean, I think that's a legitimate point. So 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:30.160 one thing, those will not affect the foreign campaign contributions, Well, 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:31.599 I think those are the ones that's going to be 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.920 the hardest term to fight. That should not affect the 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:38.480 foreign campaign contributions. For the others, they do require either 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.600 the showing of an official action. And you know, that's 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.559 the question of whether or not pressuring the fire department 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.440 was an official action. It may be in that it 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.600 was trying to affect a government decision and he was 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:53.840 making phone calls or whatever he was doing to do that, 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.400 but that's going to be the issue. The issue there 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.240 will be did he take an official action and was 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.760 it sufficially tightly linked up to the benefits he received. 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.600 That one, I think is going to be tricky. And 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.000 even the first one about the scheming to get the 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:11.280 matching funds again is going to have to show that 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:13.960 he was kind of showing that he would be influence 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.920 in some way by these supportive people, So that's what 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:22.000 I'm saying. I think the most straightforward is the accepting 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.640 of foreign funds. First campaign, the foreign campaign contributions. 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.160 Is that against campaign finance laws? 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.400 Yes, yes, absolutely. The federal ban on foreign campaign contributions 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.440 applies to federal, state and local elections. 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:36.720 And I think it was on the last day of 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.440 the term that the Supreme Court came down with that 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:44.960 controversial opinion six to three, with the conservatives of course 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.200 and the majority basically finding that the federal law that 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:53.200 prescribes bribes to state and local officials doesn't make it 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.280 a crime for those officials to accept gratuities for their 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:58.120 past acts. 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.920 Snider, yes, so on about right illegal gratuities, but that 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.720 he hadn't been charged with taking a bribe, so that's 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.840 not the same thing. They are charging bribery here. The 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.080 problem in that case is the way the government framed 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.520 what the man did is first he did the favors 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.360 for of the private companies, and then he went to 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.320 them and said, you know, give me a no show 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.960 job or something like that. The government didn't charge bribery. 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:28.040 The government basically charged accepting an illegal gift. Here they're 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:28.880 charging bribery. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.040 And I'm wondering if the fact that they in the 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.520 indictment keep repeating that he solicited it, you know, Adam solicited, 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.560 whether that's just to be sure that they don't end 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:40.960 up with a Snyder situation. 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.640 Right, the language is corruptly solicit anything of value. 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:46.480 You never know what the Supreme Court would do. He 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.160 could get convicted below and the Supreme Court could say. 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.760 Wait a second, yeah, And the Supreme Court has rejected 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:53.720 many many corruption convictions. 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:55.000 Is there a reason why? 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:57.960 It's hard to say? I mean, one argument is the 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.360 Supreme Court. These are all involved state and localists, and 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.640 maybe the Supreme Court is a little nervous about federalizing 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.760 the state and local misconduct. Maybe they think it should 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.360 be better handled by local DA's. I don't know. And 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.160 sometimes there's sort of a First Amendment element that which 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.840 I think is pretty thin about. You know, people are 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.880 trying to influence government all the time, and we don't 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.040 want to make it a crime to try and to 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.480 be a lobbyist, for example. But I think a lot 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.840 of the concerns of federalism concerned and almost all those 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.720 cases have involved the Snyder case involved a small city, Indiana. 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.200 I mean McDonald, he's a governor, you know, Kelly was 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:36.200 port authority, the Buffalo billions or state officials one of them. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.200 One of the early cases did involve a pecharive agriculture. 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.040 So it's not like they're they're always going to support 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.440 the federal and addictments of federal officials, but most of 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.920 the cases have involved state and local officials. 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:50.360 Now he vows he's going to continue in his role 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:54.360 as mayor, right, explain how he could be removed? 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.720 Okay, Well, so obviously the metre of factive indictment doesn't 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:01.400 mean anything in terms of his eligibly to hold office. 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:03.960 I actually have to don't know what happens if he's convicted. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:05.920 So let's hold off on that. The city law city 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.840 charter does not have any provision for impeachment. It does 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:12.560 have a provision for removal of the mayor for either 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.959 temporary inability or permanent inability, but it creates a committee 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.199 on Inability that does this. That committee is supposed to 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.680 have five members, actually right now it only has four 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:24.840 if there's a vacancy and when the positions the Corporation 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.920 Council and require the votes of four out of the five. 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.399 Are now require four out of the four. One of 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.719 them is a deputy mayor, who is, of course an 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.480 appointee of the mayor. At the moment, I'm skeptical that 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.240 the deputy mayor who is his appointee, and I think 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:41.880 the deputy may is Sheena Wright, who is also connected 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.960 with some of these other scandals, would actually be part 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.600 of a group that would vote to declare him unable 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.959 to continue in office. There's no impeachment. There is this 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.919 procedure to have the mayor declared unable, either temporarily or permanently. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.359 But the first step in the process requires the action 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.240 by this committee, and the way the committee is set 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:06.200 up that would currently require the agreement of the deputy mayor. 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.119 I've been reading that the governor could remove him. 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:11.760 The governor can remove him. The governor has authority under 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.280 state law to remove the mayor, and I think Sdr 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.119 when he was governor, came very close to removing Mayor Walker, 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.680 who resigned while he was subject to the procedure for removal. 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.320 The state law says very little about the grounds for removal. 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.119 It gives a little bit more on the process. The 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.240 kinds of the little bit of due process that the 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.400 governor would have to afford the mayor in terms of 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:34.280 being able to you know, the charges against him and 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.639 being able to present a defense. But yes, state law 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:43.720 most definitely, very vaguely, but definitely does authorize the governor 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:44.560 to remove the mayor. 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:46.879 Who would be the next mayor? Is it the barble? 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:48.719 I think then it we'd go back to the New 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.160 York City Charter for filling vacancies, so then it would 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:52.680 become again the public advocate. 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.679 Is there any case in history that compares with this 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.199 or they say that no New York City mayor has 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.560 been into on federal charges. I don't know if there 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.040 was any mayor that's been indicted on SI. 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:06.159 I don't know that they were ever indicted, and I 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.600 you know, my sense is, of course, thinking about Greater 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:10.919 New York, Greater New York only goes back to eighteen 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:12.919 ninety eight, so I'm I'm not quite sure in the 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:17.119 Tammany era whether anybody was ever indicted. But there were 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.040 some scandals involving mayors. I mean, obviously I mentioned Mayor Walker, 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.679 and then there's also Mayor O'Dwyer who resigned from office. 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:28.040 And I'm not quite sure to what extent they grew 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.119 out of a kind of a police corruption scandal or 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:33.160 around nineteen fifty and I think there were hints of 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:35.639 some corruption, but he was never charged with anything. I 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.159 think even in the Tammany era, a lot of the 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:41.400 corruption was all around the mayors, but I'm not sure 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:43.480 of any of the mayor's. 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:47.920 William said there's more to come. I mean, federal investigators 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:54.000 have been pursuing several corruption investigations involving Adams, his senior 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:57.560 aides and some of their relatives. And in the last 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.679 two weeks alone, the police commission and the school's chancellor 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:04.879 have resigned. Neither has been charged with a crime or 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.240 even publicly accused of wrongdoing, right, And. 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.640 You know, based on the news so far only, it's 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.000 not clear how those really, if at all, to these 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:16.720 The police commissioner who resigned, it sounds like he was 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.760 caught up in some misconduct involving his brother, some kind 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:21.600 of corruption, so I don't know if that relates to this. 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:24.320 I have no idea what was what was going on 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.400 with the school's chancellor, but the bank's brothers, I think, 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.800 based on the media accounts, the issues I think more 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.040 involved the one of the bank's brothers who wasn't in government, 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:36.320 But I don't know about the ties of the ones 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:37.159 who were in government. 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.679 With the mayor under indictment and all these investigations and 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:45.520 city officials resigning, how is he going to run a 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:48.000