Msnbc is continuing to follow the Breaking News tonight. Nbc news reporting that new York City mayor Eric Adams will be indicted on federal charges by the Southern District Of New York as soon as tomorrow. Our coverage continues on the last word with lawrence odonnell. I just minutes before you started we got the live news. I was reading it as you were handling it live. I have been following these Swarming Investigations from city hall. What i felt was relatively closely. But i have never been able to describe to anyone the full shape of it. I think by tomorrow well have the diagrams built to put on screen to show you the number of commissioners who resigned from this administration. The number of people in the Adams Administration alone who had their telephones seized. I first covered it on this program just two weeks ago for the first time when the Police Commissioner was forced to resign. It was happening at the very top and sheer we are at the top of the top. Stunning news. You heard the Breaking News from alex wagner. Mayor Eric Adams of new York City has been indicted on federal criminal charges. He is the first mayor in new York History to be indicted on federal criminal charges. Joining us now is Tom Winter who has been covering this investigation from the length of it. Tom, we dont know the specific charges of of now. What do we know . This investigation has been going on nearly a year. When federal agents searched the home of one of his top fundraisers. They conducted a search. What we learned and reported was the records for seeking information related to contributions, people involved in the adams campaign. So that is something that got peoples attention. Further reporting indicated that there were a number of potential actions involving the turkish consulate and efforts to expedite the Fdny Approval for a building because of safety concerns. You can only imagine. At the time, coming out of covid, how backed up these things were to look into these buildings but what we had been told was the process by which the building was inspected was expedited in a level that had not been noticed or seen before. To push certain numbers of the fdny to get it open. The initial search of this campaign November Third of last year. November 6th, fbi agents stopped him as he left an i vent in new York City. There has been story after story of subpoenas. You mentioned a number of city commissioners. Subpoenas sent to the Police Commissioner. The question is where does this all go. I think it is important for people to remember that there really have been five distinct. Involving the new York City sheriff. You have four or five investigations involving new York City. At least different avenues of the investigation. And you have the Police Department investigation. That is not being conducted by the fbi. That is being conducted by federal agents assigned to the u. S. Attorneys office. Looking into something, the first to report in that nightclub owners, the managers. Who would face repeated requests for inspection from City Officials and members of the nypd. At least one of those owners said he was told to contact somebody who said you can make these problems go away by contacting the brother of then Police Commissioner edward caban. And, the question for investigators is whether or not there was a pay to play or some sort of a shakedown that occurred there. It is important to note none of the people im mentioning here have been charged at all. Most of them have denied any sort of Wrong Doing. And tonight, the mayor himself issuing a statement staying i knew if i stood my ground for New Yorkers i would be a target. And a target i became. That echoes comments from him as this investigation has heated up. A number of Law Enforcement actions have become public. What tomorrow looks like, a little bit unclear, but we are reporting that the mayor of The City of new york is expected to face federal charges tomorrow. That is something if you are sitting in North Carolina wondering why do i really care when we consider how important new York City is to the global economy. To the Countrys Economy and the amount of money that new York City gets in federal aid. It is something that does impact much further than just the five burbs of The City. It is a good thing that nbc doesnt pay the same Phone Bills it did 20 years ago. We will continue to light up the phones. There is another national echo to this. Which comes from the way Donald Trump frames what he calls the political prosecutions against him by the Justice Department which he will always refer to as the biden Justice Department. Of a democratically controlled administration. With a democratically appointed attorney general. Merrick garland. This is the same Justice Department now that has indicted the democratic mayor of new York City. Thereby creating a political crisis in new York City. Where if the mayor does not resign, the power to remove him from office belongs to the governor of new york. The calls for the mayor to resign began before his indictment. Alexandria ocasiocortez being the first member of congress to call for his resignation. Doing that, the mayor has two of the most important constituents in the federal government. The democratic leader of the house of representatives. Hakeem jeffries is a resident of new York City. A constituent of the mayors. And the senate democratic Majority Leader Chuck schumer, a resident of new York City. They will be under inordinant political pressure to declare themselves on the mayors future. Should he resign. Should the governor remove him from office. These are political questions on top of this criminal investigation moving rapidly against the mayor, what can we expect procedurally tomorrow . Well i think there is a bit of a question remaining. Is It Something where a number of things can happen. First off, there is no indication here at all that any violent crime has been committed. Typically, when we see a violent crime, potential witness tacherring. Typically, this is not something that is splashed across the pages of websites and cable news. It is the kind of thing where All Of A Sudden we come on the air because someone has been arrested and they were woken up in the early morning. So the circumstances, this is more White Collar in nature. Will likely be at some point, the mayor will have to turn himself in. Others might have to turn themselves in if anyone else is charged. We dont have any information on that. At the moment that is up in the air as far as what this looks like. Typically, these types of crimes, we have seen it with senator menendez. That is typically what happens in these White Collar cases and well have to see how this plays out. Should the charges be unsealed or made public, we will at least have a lot more information i think to the point you were making before. There are all these investigative avenues. It is a Question I Cant answer at this hour. Tom winter, thank you very much for joining us in this live extended coverage of what is now the historic indictment of the mayor of new York CityEric Adams. Joiningous discussion now is eric weissman. Here is, he is an msnbc legal analyst. Also with us, lisa rubin. Andrew, your reaction to what seems to have been where the News Momentum was going. The last few weeks and more people were resigning or handing over their phones to the fbi and forced to resign. Yeah, a few observations first to your point about this being a sitting mayor. Many viewers notice there is a sitting mayor reported to have been indicted. There was a sitting senator in New Jersey. Senator menendez. Who was scythed. But you cannot indict a It Ising president. At a lower level than the presidency that might strike some people as odd. The second thing to note is Eric Adams is history before he was mayor, he was quite senior in the new York CityPolice Department. And so, like Donald Trump, that is somebody who was in charge of Law Enforcement. Who now will be facing charges by the u. S. Attorneys office reportedly in the Southern District Of New York. And finally, what im looking for, i think in any case like this, The Real Thing i will be looking for if the charges are unsealed tomorrow which i suspect they will be is how the government is going to prove intent. All the Investigations Deal with some form of Campaign Finance violations whether the money is coming from overseas or not. Whether they are quid pro quos. It would be illegal to have foreign Campaign Funds go into it. But you need to show Eric Adams the mayor knew that. That he was aware. So i suspect that we will learn that some of the people whose homes have been subject to searches are cooperating with the u. S. Attorneys office. Because thats a way into the head of the mens rea, the intent. Like Donald Trump. What he was saying and doing. Thats the thing i will be looking for tomorrow. How is the government intending to prove that Eric Adams was aware of the alleged Wrong Doing . Lets listen to what Alexandria Ocasiocortez said today before the mayor was dieted. We are seeing a steady stream of Deputy Mayors vacating, resigning, leaving The City rudderless in terms of leadership. This is ability his ability to govern new York City. Frankly, under this constant strain of scandal, i do not know if The City will be able to even name replacements. I think for the best of The City, and so we can continue to staff the administration of The City, it would be best for mayor adams to resign. Feel tree free to comment on any aspect of this. I am interested in the line of succession in city hall. And what happens if the mayor resigns or if the governor uses her unique power to remove him. Lets start with what happen ifs the mayor were to resign. I and others have picked up the City Charter which lays out a plan of succession. If mayor adams is removed from office or resigns for a period of time, it would go to the current Sitting Public Advocate who was a former city council member. Quite progressive compared to mayor adams who always positioned himself as a Law And Order democrat. The sort of democrat you dont like to see elected to high Profile Office in New Jersey city. That said, he would be a temporary custodian of the office. The Special Election would occur. If mayor adams were to resign, williams would have to call a Special Election roughly 60 days after that resignation. Or if that comes too close in time to the november election, the first Tuesday In December i believe. But mayor adams is showing no signs that he wants to resign. In fact, in response to that clip you showed. Both mayor adams and his Spokesperson Issued Sames saying no charges had yet been filed. That it was inappropriate for her to say that. Now, he has been indicted and likely the charges will be unsealed tomorrow. Lawrence . The governor with the power to remove the mayor. Her reaction to this indictment will be more important than anyone elses. Lisa, you can go back to studying more of the City Charter. Andrew, thank you very much for joining us in this Breaking News. We will continue to monitor this story during this hour. Bring you any updates that occur during this hour. 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