Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom With Pamela Brown 20240927

Unpleasant and sometimes you have to execute a Search Warrant or not give somebody an opportunity to delay or take more time. So i think that has yet to play out, but it is clear, jim, as you said, there is some bad blood here between the respective sides and theres a Pr Battle going on. I mean, Eric Adams made statements last night. Apparently hes going to speak again. Hes going to try to get in before the u. S. Attorney speaks at 11 ive been 30. Eric adams we know is not shy about what he says on camera. Its worth noting the u. S. Attorney, who again will speak in about a half hour. He is constrained as to what he can say. I think when we see his press conference, weve seen them recently. We saw when two weeks ago in the sean combs, the did he case . The u. S. Attorney can only say essentially whats already in this indictment now its a 50 some page indictment. Its very detailed. So he will have some material to work with here, but yeah, Eric Adams, i believe Eric Adams will continue to make his case in The Press and to declare his innocence and he is presumed innocent. Yeah. Eric adams trying to beat the fetch to the punchier just a few Moments Standby for that Elie And Everybody thanks so much. I want to turn it over to my colleague, pamela brown. It was also in the cnn newsroom. Its a busy morning today. Pamela, incredibly busy. The fact that you have the New York mayor, new York City mayor charged with five of federal public Corruption Charges. Very significant. Jim. Thank you for that. Lets continue our breaking News Coverage of this indictment against new York City mayor Eric Adams was shamone, gloria, an ally and just reading through this indictment, elie, i mean, this is not a bare bones indictment. I mean, there is a lot of detail in here. Im still reading through it but these charges are very significant against the air. Yep. Have sometimes when you see a federal indictment, it will just basically track the language of the statute from the law book. It doesnt give you any detail. This indictment is not that this indictment has 50 some pages of detail. If i can try to boil it down to its essence, its that Eric Adams received benefits free and sometimes discounted Luxury Travel from turkish interests. And in exchange for that, he took steps as mayor to benefit those interests. So thats the gist of it. And you mentioned before that this is a five count indictment, so let me just break that down. Count one charges Eric Adams with a conspiracy, meaning does he agreed with at least one other person in order to commit various crimes, those underlying crimes or Wire Fraud for federal program bribery, and then receiving illegal Campaign Contributions from foreign nationals. So just to break those dow count two is then the actual crime of Wire Fraud, meaning they used the wires, the internet, the phones to commit some sort of fraud. Counts three and four, then our different essentially Bribery Counts charging that again, in exchange for these benefits, he took action and then and then count five relates to him taking action on behalf of these turkish foreign nationals, that to be clear, you are not allowed as an american candidate for office to take Campaign Contributions from a foreign national or foreign interests. So thats charged in this indictment as well. So again, its a conspiracy charge, and then that breaks down into male into Wire Fraud, bribery, and taking illegal donations from foreign sources and it struck me in reading through this indictment, just how far back it goes. Right. Starting before he even ran for mayor shimon to bring you in on this and also the Search Warrant that was executed. This morning. Its unusual, right. For a Search Warrant to be executed right after an indictment comes down to the feds were there at Gracie Mansion for Hours Today . Certainly, the Mayors Lawyer was not too happy about this and said he would have happily turned over whatever they were looking for yeah. So this really set off the legal team. This morning because they were not expecting that they, were not told they claim that this indictment was coming. They were never given any information before it started leaking. They were not given a Heads Up that this indictment was going to be the Unsealed Today, and then this morning, what happens is at six in the morning, which is customary for the fbi around the time that they do these kinds of things, they went to Gracie Mansion. I mean, this is the Official Residence of any mayor while they are serving in this city. Its on the Upper East Side its this sprawling complex. Its massive. The fbi appear there at 6 00 a. M. On keep in mind, there is a Police Detail. There are nypd officers stationed all around the mansion, so the fbi arrived there this morning. They spoke with the police so security there, the nypd. And then they went onto the property and were told is that they were executing a Search Warrant. They served him with a summons, and they also took his phone. And this is not the first time that the fbi has taken the mayors phone. Remember, was about a year ago when he was leaving an event at a very aggressive Move Move by the fbi, they approached him, they took him into his Police Detail suv and that is when they took devices from him. And of course, that set off events. And that really off many of the people close to the mayor. And then again this morning, they do that again, and his legal team has just sort of frustrated trying and figure out why the fbi was being so aggressive. Yet again, we dont know and they may have very good reason for it and theyre not going to tell us, obviously and so the other thing thats indicates is that whatever reason they felt they needed to get in and get that phone again, they may have new information that they are concerned turnabout that is contained on that device. And now that they have filed this indictment, they are clearly clearly continuing. Their investigation. Into into the mayor. We know there are other investigations going on involving the mayor and the people close to the mayor. But as we saw from the mayor last night, he is defiant. He is ready for this battle. Leads, says hes not resigning his legal team says he has no house, no expectation that hes going to resign but hes going to be forced out and that hes ready to fight. And i think one of the things thats going to help his legal team and look, this indictment is certainly devastating and it contains a lot of information but just how far back this goes, you know, were talking up to a decade or so how far back their allegations go of his involvement with turkish officials. And benefits and certainly his campaign was benefiting from it, but from what ive read so far in the indictment, i think this is important it doesnt appear that at least in this indictment that there is any sort of other than campaign personal gain. There isnt any sort of money that hes getting at least from what i can see where hes using it for himself it appears to be all about his Campaign And Campaign finance laws. And so well see, look a lot more is going on there. Are a lot of many, many more investigations, as you know, pam and this could perhaps be the start of it. And so well wait to see what the mayor has to say here. Shortly. And then also from the u. S. Attorney, whos going to be speaking at around 11, 30 yeah. And just to follow up on the point youre making shimon of the prosecutors do also allege though that in addition to those, what they say, what they allege are illegal Campaign Donations that adams and its companions received free or discounted travel on turkeys national airline owed and insignificant part by the turkish government. And then they alleged that in turn for these alleged benefits that they receive that mayor adams at certain favors for the turkish officials. So britain, you and gloria, i mean, as we await for mayor adams to speak as shimon laid out, he is saying he is innocent. He is finding this very defiant what are the political implications here . Whether massive and the reason for that is because already in the past several days and not only it looks like the mayor, im going to interrupt you now, boria, were going to hear from him really. One for being here this morning and i want to thank the support is of all the groups that i hear particularly good men and women of the clergy. Thats here. That have joined me here today we are not surprised this is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last ten months yeah. A goodly, the leaks the commentary the demonizing this did not surprise us that we reached this day i asked New York is to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. In about 30 minutes, youre going to hear his story of the case that is in front of us. The story will come from the federal prosecutors and i ask to wait in here i was assigned to this narrative from here, my attorneys would take care of the case so i can take care of the city my daytoday will not change will continue to do the job for 8. 3 million New Yorkers that i was elected to do 300,000 plus employees, of our City Government well continue to do their jobs because this is what we do as New Yorkers. Its an insult to the heartbroken pet the people of the city that anyone was say that they wont do their jobs while this case proceeds in the background, there are dedicated public servant and i have been one of them for many years. And they go to continue to do their job moving the city forward every day. Its an unfortunate day and its a painful day but inside of all of that, its a day when we were finally reveal why for ten months, i have gone through this and i look forward to defending myself and defendant, the people of this city as ive done throughout my entire professional career i want to now turn it over to the person whos started me on this Journey Reverend Herbert daughtry mr. Mayor you out, man and will lead time. Come still will be our reporters, their respective, what people say. Hes still out so. We just heard mayor adams speak. There in the wake of this indictment, where he is facing five federal public Corruption Charges. He is vowing to fight. Hes vowing to stay in the job. He called this an unfortunate and painful day. Elie shimon bringing you back, ellie, to start with you. What do you make of his comments . Well, defiant tone from mayor adams, as we expected, he has every right to defend himself vigorously and i think he will certainly do that. And its interesting, i think the way this is playing out, Eric Adams understands The Press. Hes a creature of the media and he knows that Damian Williams in 18 minutes, the u. S. Attorney will be standing up in laying out the case so i think this was Eric Adams is trying to undercut it. He didnt get into any of the substantive allegations, but he is forcefully declaring that were going to go taking questions right now when we finish we will respond to questions we were just want to cover that. Are you good, robbie i affectionately call her mother dukes of has been ahead of the the naacp and just a leader that is meant to me throughout my journey, i want to now come call up. Mother thanks to do yeah. Elie, it is interesting as you were making your point, he did not take on the specific allegations and head on and deny them, right. It was more broad saying soon youre going to hear this narrative from the prosecutors but i am here to fight and vowed to stay on the job yeah. I think it would be foolish for him to try to take on these allegations directly and explain them right now, if i was his defense lawyer, i would begged him not to do that. He has not done that. And pam, now that weve had a little time to go through the indictment, the gist of it is as follows. So essentially the indictment charges that Eric Adams and his campaign would accept contrary russians and other benefits, free discount, Luxury Travel from turkish nationals and turkish state actors. And in exchange, well, first of all, the waves, those donations were sent to the Eric Adams campaign according to the indictment, is through what we call Straw Donors, meaning through use of names of people who are not i actually contributing the money in order to try to hide the fact that these donations were coming in. So for example, if i was trying to donate to you and i was a foreign national, i would send it to you to your campaign through the name of Shimon Procupecz to use an example. So the allegation here is that these turkish nationals you Straw Donors to send money to Eric Adams. Eric adams knew about that. Theres another allegation here of Wire Fraud and the allegation is in new York City has a matching Funds Program where if youre a candidate for office and you get certain donations you can then receive Taxpayer Money to match those donations and the allegation here is Eric Adams it took these these fraudulent donations and use them to get up to 10 Million worth of Taxpayer Matching Funds so thats another element of this case. And then finally, it is illegal for any american politician federal, its a federal crime for an american candidate for office to receive or accept or solicit donations from any foreign, national or foreign interests. So thats an overview of what this indictment lays out what do you make . Is there any legal significance to what prosecutors allege that he didnt just accept these illegal contributions, but he also sought them absolutely. One of the elements of the crime here is what we call solicitation. He asked for them, he accept them. We receive that. Prosecutors are definitely going to have to prove that Eric Adams, the defendant, knew what was happening here. If he was receiving illegal contributions and had no idea, did not know about it and no way to know about it. Thats not a crime. And so thats going to get to the Core Issue that i think will be disputed here, which is what did Eric Adams know . What was his State Of Mind . And she jumaane to bring you and i know youve been reading through this indictment to weve been following this you have been following this case for many months and we know that some of his aides have also been part of this investigation. Is there any indication that there are cooperators . Harris who have flipped those in the administration of mayor adams, who have flipped to help prosecutors with this investigation and bringing these five charges against him today. Hard to read that through everything that ive read so far. They do have a lot of information, right . The government was able to to obtain Text Messages from various people that were involved in this as they alleged, theyve been able to it seems talk to some people so its hard to tell who exactly. Maybe cooperating. Look, the Adams Administration has said that they were cooperating in this investigation. There have been a lot of Search Warrants and subpoenas issued. So it seems like they are actually have a lot to work with. I mean, remember this goes back a decade, so there was a lot of information and i think one of the key things and all of this also is the the allegations about the role of the Fire Department here in New York and the expediting of the turkish consulate. Thats a very big deal, right . I mean, the fact that theyre alleging saying that the mayor here because of the influence that these turkish officials had on him they basically were able to get him to The Pressure or to ask the Fire Department to do this to expedite this, the mayor will say and he has said this previously, and people close to him have certainly said this step perhaps this is just the normal course of Doing Business in this city as someone who works for the people of new York City as such good one who is a politician in the city. This is all part of the course of Doing Business. Of course, the fbi and the u. S. Attorneys office do not see this they see this really whats important. Just having covered these kinds of cases before going back to really the molar days when you and i both cover that this is a big concern for the government anytime a foreign national can exert what they say is this kind of pressure and this kind of influence its on a politician is very significant and very concerning and its also turkey and theres a lot of concern over that, certainly for the government but when you read this in diamond also, whats really interesting is that its the years of influence the years of working. Eric adams. And then when they need a favor basically with the government says is adams does that favor for them . And that is certainly something that is extremely concerning for the government, for the fbi and you can understand dan why they would do this investigation and why they would bring this case. But for the Eric Adams team, theyre going to certainly raise a lot of issues pam, with why all these years the in this goes back a decade, what took so long, what finally caused them to go ahead and act on this and perhaps they learned some information to your point, maybe they got cooperators. Theres a lot of questions here that i think we want answered. And at some point, hopefully, well get those answers and bring in elie on that point. Shimon, you know, elly a Bribery Charge is a very serious charge, right . It is. It can be a charge that is hard to prove. But what shimon just laid out with this idea of what prosecutors say in this indictment of mayor Adams Doing Concrete Action taking concrete action for these turkish officials who they say gave illegal contributions to his campaign, that kind of Quid Pro Quo as what theyre trying to establish to prove this Bribery Charge, right . Well, thats thats exactly right, pam, thats the way its laid out in the indictment. I think well hear this from the u. S. Attorney in about ten minutes. It is really difficult for federal prosecutors to bring and succeed on Bribery Charges, especially because in the last couple of decades, the u. S. Supreme court has really narrowed the scope of what counts as bribery. And so as you say, prosecutors have to be able to point to a specific official action that the defendant here, the mayor took in exchange for these benefits. And the theory here is that what Eric Adams did was he pressured the New York Fire Department to expedite to speed up their Safety Review on this place called the Turkish House, which these turkeys interests were trying to open up in manhattan on a sped up basis because they had diplomats coming to visit. So in other words, these turkish interests are trying to get construction and on this Turkish House because theyre hosting big important visitors, Eric Adams learns of that. And so as a result, and the allegation is because of these benefits hed been given Eric Adams then leans on the Fire Department. It says, essentially, hey guys, i need you to sign off on this quickly. Lets speed up the fire Safety Review and that that in fact was done. That is the essence of the but pro quo. Thats alleged here yeah. So prosecutors are alleging that those were official acts. That is why this is Bribery Charges. Shimon pointed out, mayor adams and his legal team will argue, look, this was all just part of the business of being mayor of the city. So we heard a little bit from mayor adams who said hes vowing to fight. Hes going to stay in the job clearly digging in telles at any moment now the southern district of New York, were gonna hear from the u. S. Attorney from there who brought this indictment against the mayor of new York City. 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And certainly these allegations dont dont really bode well for him because what the fbi is saying here is that when they went to get his phone on november 6, remember, this was about a year ago now, he was leaving an event and they approached them with a Search Warrant and told him that he had to turn his phones over. They alleged that he didnt have his personal phone on him that day and that he agreed to give the phone to them the next day that his phone was not on him. He provided to investigators next day, pursuant to a subpoena, and that it was locked and required a password they say that adam had changed the password a day earlier to Quote Prevent Members of his staff from inadvertently or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone and then he claimed he had forgotten in the password. The indictment states. So essentially alleging right. Some kind of a Cover Up here. I mean, lets lets call it what this is. The fbi says they go to him on November 6th they say, we want your phones. He says, i dont have my personal phone on him the next day they arranged for him to give them his personal phone and then he says, oh, i changed the password. Its locked. I dont know. The password. So thats really interesting, certainly isnt it, pam . It is. And it also says that alleges and Adam Staff are left to go to the bathroom while meeting with investigators and deleted encrypted messaging apps. I want to go back to mayor adams as he answers questions listen, city. This is a city that is extremely resilient. This is a city that have, we have gone through some difficult and hard times. Are we going to continue to move forward as a city thats what thats shown. I think the narrative here thats missing to miss two months ago when my phones would be remove, we have not theyre going backwards. We have not stood still. We showed how we operate during difficult times and when you say who is the Point Person thats going to deal with business communitys whos going to deal with the business of running the city. The Point Person is Eric Adams. Im the mayor of the city of New York. And i had a competent team with a team of Deputy Mayors accompany competent team of people are going to continue to lean forward and were excited about that. Okay. Katie, what everybody the indictment youve. Been, reporting for a year, almost a year what do you say to that intervene on behalf what is your question thats the elaborate thats eli requested. This might look listen my legal team my legal team they do my legal tea my legal team has gone perus the entire dei indictment. We got it today when it was released of the News Media received information before we did, as they had been receiving for the last ten months of it appears as though of the goal is to try to try this case publicly and not in the criminal justice system. Thats in place. And so we based on what i read its clear that if his Campaign Violations i know i dont violate the campaigns. Right if foreign donors, i know i dont take money from foreign donors and i verbalize that to the Team Both Biden 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 them city of New York and continued success that we witnessed in the last two years and nine months as the mayor of the city of New York. Thank you very much. All right we just heard there from mayor adams strongly defended himself remaining defiant, saying he is saying he is going to stay in the role vowing 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 sdny, the u. S. Attorney there who brought this excitement, bringing five federal Corruption Charges against mayor adams after this ten Month Investigation, although it is still Month Investigation the charges as you read through the indictment and as they build this case, Elie Honig goes back many years heres nearly a decade haitians in the indictment go back to 2015. And if youre wondering how that is, because typically theres a fiveyear statute of limitations on federal crimes. Its because i think prosecutors will say its all part of the narrative. We are allowed to go back beyond five years to explain where this all came from. So long as some of the conduct occurred within the fiveyear 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 well hear this from Damian Williams in a moment. Make a point that Eric Adams was continuing to do this. He didnt just do this to win his allies 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 well hear that theme sounded when Damian Williams takes the podium in a couple of minutes, i want to go to you quickly, shimon, because this week we heard mayor adams say time and time again, hes 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 theres a whole process no, not publicly. Weve not heard from her, but our reporting from last night, i believe says that at this point 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. And with any kind of Removal Process and she has that ability. She has that ability. There are other ways to do it here too. Right now. I think everyone sort we havent heard more people calling for his resignation and i think a lot of just have to do with the fact that they havent seen the indictment, they havent been able to see the information but being a New Yorker knowing Eric Adams for the many years that i know him in terms of been his political life. And just knowing how this city operates, i think its gonna be pretty hard of forehand and 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, i mean, there were people im calling for his resignation, just New Yorkers walking by City Hall saying that he has to go. He hasnt been so popular of lay people are not necessarily happy with way the city is doing and the way things are going. And when you think about his administration and their 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 oh, who resigned the fbi visiting with him. His family members, me theres so many investigations that are going on as a Region Result of the allegations and the activity of some of the city officials that he is closest to, and we dont even know the beginnings of what that investigation is. Its going to be really hard for him to continue and not to be distracted and not to get questions as he has the daily basis about whether or not he can govern whether or not he can run the city. I mean, people feel like No One is running this city right now. When you have long of course, front officials from the Police Department and Deputy Mayors, all under investigation. Its significant and how he gets out of this its going to be interesting to see because its going to itd be hard and he can be as defined as he wants for now. But the more people that come out to call for his resignation or his ouster. I mean, its going to be come 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 thats going to be an interesting thing to watch as this develops, youre right, and as we wait to hear from the u. S. Attorney with the u. S. Attorney he 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 turkey, turkish officials and foreign nationals to mayor adams. And in the indictment from what i read, the prosecutors allege that mayor adams create a fake Paper Trail to they say, hide the benefits, the perks that he was receiving from these turkish officials. How is that . Well, thats exactly right, pam and i see the u. S. Attorney looks like right now theres about this morning, everyone. Thank you for gathering. My name is Damian Williams and not 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 longrunning 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 businessmen to buy influence with him we also alleged 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 and 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 alleged that adams accepted these benefits knowing that they were given to him because of his position, and then exchange for some of those improper benefits. He intervened in the new York City Fire Departments Inspection Process for a building owned and operated by the turkish government allowing it to open, even though it had not pass the fire inspection. The corruption alleged in the indictment is as i said, long running. As we alleged in the indictment, adams is 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 us election federal law clearly prohibits foreign donations. Thats how we protect our elections from foreign influence. Get adams directed his staff to pursue this illegal money to support his campaign from air and as we allege, adams continued to pursue foreign money in secret well into 2021 and it didnt stop with his first campaign from air. As we allege in 2023, the mayor rekindle 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. An adams allegedly disguise them all in the same way by accepting the money through socalled Straw Donors a Straw Donor contribute someone elses money, hiding the moneys illegal source, such as a foreign businessman, a corporation, or a wealthy New Yorker who is already contributed the maximum amount allowed and as we allege, adam circumvented all of these laws, taking contributions from exactly the sources, though the law prohibits all to benefit his meryl campaigns now, adams also personally benefited from the illegal conduct alleged in the indictment. Adam 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 to free roundtrip upgrades for Business Class seats. Thats the highest class on turkeys 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 this nimble. 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 in excepted to 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 in accepted a free upgrade to Business Class for his companion and a freestate and a lavish suite at the st. Regis hotel in istanbul. That was worth more than 9,000 and 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 alleged 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 Food to ghana again through turkey. And accepted free Business Class Ticket Upgrades and other gifts. While he was on a layover in assembled those benefits were worth more than 12,000. And just like all the other benefits ive 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 multiyear 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 to 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 we alleged in the indictment in addition to not disclosing these benefits, adams sometimes created big Paper Trail to try to Cover Up the Travel Benefits he solicited and received. Let me give you one example. Adams or 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 would an email to staff member and told us that 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, thats just a clumsy Cover Up now, just because adams receive benefits for free, that doesnt mean that there arent strings attached as we allege a particular turkish Government Official behind many of the benefits, adam sought and accepted, gave adams all these things to gain influence over him. We alleged that adams knew that and took the benefits. Anyway we alleged that when the turkish Government Official needed him, adams also took corrupt official action in exchange for some of the Luxury Travel benefits in 2021, the turkish Government Official was trying to open a Brand New Highrise Building in manhattan that would house Turkeys Consulate there were significant time pressure because the turkish official desperately needed the building to be open in time for a visit from Turkeys President this building was important to the turkish official, and it was important to turkey but the Fdnys Fire Safety professionals wouldnt let the Building Open because the Building Hadnt passed and inspection and not just that some of the people have fdny thought the building had so many issues and defects that the building was not safe to occupy. The turkish official sent word to adams that it was, quote, his turn, unquote to support turkey and as we allege, adams delivered and pressure the Fire Department to let the Building Open the fdny professionals work convinced that they would lose their jobs if they didnt 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 alleged in the indictment the foreign money, the corporate money, the bribery, the years of concealment is a Grave Breach of the publics trust. Public office is a privilege we allege that mayor adams abuse that privilege and broke the Law Flaws that are designed to ensure that officials like him serve the people, not the highest bidder, not a foreign, bitter and certainly not a foreign power. These are bright red lines and we allege that the mirror cross 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, todays 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 has been with us every step of the way and finally, i want to commend the outstanding career prosecutor, some sdny who are handling this case celia cohen, andrew rohrbach, hagen, scotland in derek quick strum, and the chiefs of the public corruption unit, Lara Pomerantz and Robert Soul Bowman its now my pleasure to turn the podium over to Fbi Assistant Director in charge, James Dennehy 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 Todays 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 thats perverted by Greed And Dishonesty it robs us of our trust its 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 Todays Action false, not just on the indicted official but on every other Public Official who must now work harder to earn the Publics Confidence in them its important to remember, Accountability Isnt just about punishing those with alleged wrongdoings its about lifting the communities. Theyve let down its about rebuilding, restoring and reimagining what public servants can and should do its up to us to 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 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, id like to thank the u. S. Attorney for the southern district of New York, Damian Williams and his office, commissioner joshua. Joshua and strava. 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 like to welcome up Commissioner Jocelyn Strobert from the new York City department of investigation good morning. Today for the first time in new York Citys modern history we announced criminal charges against the sitting mayor of new York City as our highest elected official. The mayors 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 involve City Employees and Campaign Staff in that concealment as the indictment explains, this kind of corruption has real cost to the city and to the public as alleged, the mayors 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 10 Million in public matching funds the mayor is 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 a 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 Citys 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. Attorneys 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 Tip Line at doi doi. Nyc. Gov, or by phone at to1 to eight to five to eight to eight i want to thank the u. S. Attorneys 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 Rifkin Inspector general, Audrey Fellman Feldman deputy inspectors general, arturo sanchez, and trenton sweeney, and their supervisors, deputy commissioners, Christopher Ryan and dominics Are Ella thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you mr. Mayor 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 an exchange for that from at least one turkish official and turkish businessman at heat he did official acts. And that is a key part of this case as it pertains to the Bribery Charges, elie, they can claimed he took official acts by pressuring the fdny. Tell us about that. Exactly. So the challenge that prosecutors will have here and you just saw the u. S. Attorney grappling with this is how do you 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 youre not allowed to do, which were funneled through fake, or Straw Donors. Second of all, the indictment alleges that eric Eric Adams sought and receive free Business Travel Discount of Business Travel worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. So thats 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. Had been built. It was a controversial issue in turkey. It was extraordinary nearly 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. Theres a whole really interesting passage in the indictment were at linked hes out Eric Adams texting the Fdny Commissioner leaning on him, pressuring him to approve the building, and then Eric Adams tells the turkish interests, hey, were going to come through for you here. So thats the gist of the allegations here. I think part of what youll hear from Eric Adams and we heard this from him earlier, is that he was just doing his job. Whats wrong with a mayor or a berlin . Official trying to get the fdny to act more quickly. I think the Prosecutions Response to that will be yeah. 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, right and obviously prosecutors have to prove this right innocent until proven guilty. We know that there have been other people in the administration and the mayor Adams Administration who had 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 are the feds have been able to take electronics and you see some of what they have pulled, some of that Evidence Theyve pulled from cell phones, for example, in this indictment to help prove their case yeah. That was this morning when the fbi showed up at Eric Adams as you mentioned, the Official Residence, think of this D 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 a lot of detail in this indictment about phones. We they also allege that Eric Adams has tried to hide information concealing formation from them. It essentially what his coverup 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, didnt take any questions. Ive listened to many of his press conferences. I watched them ive been there usually takes questions. They didnt do that in this case and theres probably a reason for that and thats significant they realize what theyre up against. Here and they realized the importance of this. And theres really no room for error and he really wants to stay within that indictment. Its over 50 pages. Theyd lay it out out and theres really not much more to say. But he doesnt want to speculate and neither does the fbi or the department of investigation, which is the city agency. So all of them so there they laid out, they made their statements, but No One to questions. One other thing 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. And final they allege when they needed a favor, which is that Turkish House he came through for them and that is really significant. Yeah and that i think that is going to be the biggest point of contention. In this case for mayor adams and his team to fight claiming, look, these werent official acts. I wasnt doing it because of these benefits. This is just part of the job. Thank you all so much for bringing your Insights Analysis and thank you for joining us. You can follow me on instagram, Tiktok X at pamela brown, cnn then stay with us Inside Politics with