Indicted New York City mayor adopts familiar defense: He was targeted for his politics

For months, New York City Mayor Eric Adams — a former cop — refused to criticize the federal authorities investigating his administration.

Not anymore.

The day news of his indictment on corruption charges broke, Adams defiantly suggested, without providing evidence, that U.S. prosecutors had gone after him because he had criticized President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

“Despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics,” he said. “I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target — and a target I became.”

The accusation from Adams marked a sharp turn for a retired police captain turned politician, whose commitment to law-and-order has been a calling card during his time in office.

The rhetoric was also similar to that of other politicians who have found themselves facing various accusations.

After he was indicted on corruption charges by the same U.S. attorney prosecuting Adams, former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez blamed his prosecution on “forces behind the scenes” that had “repeatedly attempted to silence my voice.”

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Former President Donald Trump blamed the lawsuits and criminal charges against him on a political “witch hunt” orchestrated by Democrats.

Adams echoed some of that rhetoric after he was charged with accepting illegal campaign contributions and free travel perks from Turkish officials and businesspeople looking to buy his influence.

He suggested prosecutors had been told to smear him. By who, he didn’t say.

“We should ask them, ‘Who gave the directive to carry out what we have witnessed over the last 10 months?’” Adams told reporters.

The White House has pushed back on the idea that Adams was targeted because of his complaints about not getting enough help from the federal government dealing with an influx of international migrants. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the administration had nothing to do with the Department of Justice’s decision to bring charges.

“The president was clear, even when he was running in 2020, that he was going to make sure that DOJ is independent and the DOJ is handling this case independently,” she said.

Before he was indicted, Adams consistently said he was cooperating with the investigations and stressed that he was following the law. He would laugh off questions from reporters about various aspects of the probes. And he would refuse to criticize the investigators, saying that as a former law enforcement official, he understood they had a job to do.

Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School in New York with a specialty in government ethics, described Adams’ current defensive posture as “a standard technique.”

“He’s not discussing any of the charges. He’s just saying the people who brought the charges don’t like him,” he said. “If the facts are against you, move onto something else. If the facts are against you, try to go after the prosecutors. If the facts are against you, go after your opponent.”

Speaking at a news conference announcing the indictment, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, dismissed the idea that the case was political.

“The Southern District of New York remains committed to rooting out corruption without fear or favor and without regard to partisan politics,” Williams said. “We are not focused on the right or the left, we are focused only on right and wrong.”

Williams leads a large office of prosecutors so famous for its independence that it has long been nicknamed “The Sovereign District.”

Appointed by Biden in 2021, Williams has overseen other several other big, news-making prosecutions. His office won its case against Menendez, who is awaiting sentencing. It recently brought a sex trafficking indictment against Sean “Diddy” Combs, who pleaded innocent and is awaiting trial. It also brought an indictment against cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of fraud.

The mayor and his lawyer, Alex Spiro, have yet to provide evidence backing the theory that Adams was being persecuted for being a thorn in Biden’s side.

Wednesday night, just hours before the first news reports of the indictment, Adams spent part of his evening attending a reception for United Nations General Assembly leaders hosted by Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

Adams’ suggestion that the charges are politically motivated drew comparisons to Trump. The former president, at an unrelated news conference Thursday, told reporters that he wishes Adams luck with the case and said he saw the charges against the mayor coming.

“I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us, and we shouldn’t have to take them,” said Trump. “And I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted within a year.’ And I was exactly right.”