It’s the go-to play nowadays. If you’re a politician collared for alleged crimes, feign indignation, call it a “conspiracy,” blame the “corrupt” Department of Justice and refuse to resign. New York Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on five federal charges related to 2021 campaign contributions, wire fraud and bribery.
The scathing 57-page indictment was unsealed Thursday, and according to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, Adams was “showered” with gifts from foreign entities — namely Turkey — that he knew were illegal.
According to the indictment, there were luxury travel, free airline tickets, meals and hotel rooms from Turkish officials, and Adams allegedly tried to hide the gifts , the value of which exceeded $100,000 — all in return for political favors. Adams is innocent until proven guilty. But the SDNY isn’t dumb.
As my CNN colleague Elie Honig, a former state and federal prosecutor, said, “I’m going to put this real unscientifically for you: if you’re going to charge the sitting mayor of New York City, you better be damn sure that you have the evidence on him, because if you don’t, it will be a disaster.” Gone are the days of bowed-head press conferences and resignations in the wake of painful, costly, ugly and damaging scandals. So Adams has done what others before him did — some unsuccessfully, one very successfully .
First, he denied all charges and called them “lies.” “My fellow New.