The News
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted following an expansive federal corruption investigation, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing sources.
He will be the first sitting mayor in the city’s history to be criminally charged.
The charges against him have not been made public, but the investigation has involved several of his senior aides and their family members. Prosecutors have reportedly probed whether Adams’ mayoral campaign received illegal foreign donations from Turkey’s government to expedite the approval process for the Turkish consulate’s new building in the city.
Adams has denied all wrongdoing. In a statement Wednesday night, he said he expects to be charged with federal crimes and that “these charges will be entirely false, based on lies.” A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
Earlier on Wednesday, New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the first member of Congress to call for Adams’ resignation, writing that the “nonstop investigations” made it impossible for him to continue governing effectively. Adams retorted, calling the allegations “rumors and innuendo” and noting that not “a single charge” had been filed.
Adams is the latest in a string of US politicians embroiled in scandals tied to Turkey. Past cases illustrate that Turkey’s leaders think they can influence policy in the US based on a belief that the two countries’ politics work in similar ways, a Council of Foreign Relations expert wrote in Politico last year: “[They] believe that what goes in Ankara also goes in Washington — and now, New York City.”
Kadia Goba contributed to this report.