New York City Mayor Eric Adams was charged with five federal crimes last week, including bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.
Federal prosecutors said the former police captain spent years accepting free airline tickets, lavish overseas accommodations and illegal campaign donations from Turkey.
Should Adams resign?
Yes, but not because he was indicted. Under the law, Adams is innocent until proven guilty, and he has the right to have his day in court.
But New York City is the financial engine of the country if not the world and should not be subject to the chaos already surrounding the Adams administration amid a plethora of federal investigations
In the last month alone, the city’s police commissioner and City Hall’s top lawyer have abruptly resigned, and the schools chancellor and health commissioner have announced plans to leave in the coming months. Several others are said to be on the way out.
The odds of the city attracting top talent to run it with a distracted mayor at the helm are slim to none. If he wants to do the honorable thing, he will step down.
Will Adams resign? Not a chance. At least for now.
Should Adams, a Democrat, be removed from office?
As governor, fellow Democrat Kathy Hochul has the power to do so. But that would force Hochul to overturn the will of New York City’s voters who elected him based on charges not proven in court.
It also seems unlikely that many Republican officials will call for Adams’ removal given their support for former President Donald Trump, who not only was charged with more than 90 felonies but has been convicted by a jury of his peers of 34 counts so far.
Adams responded to his indictment in a defiant tone, saying he was innocent of all charges, as is his right.
But then Adams joined other recently indicted elected officials in impugning the integrity of the legal system by lashing out at federal prosecutors and suggesting he had been unfairly targeted.
He cited his criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of migrants sent to New York City by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a motive for the prosecution.
As opposed to his receiving free and steeply discounted flight upgrades valued at more than $100,000, free stays in opulent hotel suites and expensive meals, and campaign contributions from straw donors, some of whom helped him qualify for more than $10 million in matching public campaign funds, as federal prosecutors allege.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, took a similar approach after he and his wife were accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for wielding his power to enrich three businessmen and benefit the Egyptian government.
According to prosecutors, those bribes included gold bars, a luxury convertible car, home mortgage payments, and more.
“The United States Attorney’s Office has engaged not in a prosecution, but a persecution. They seek a victory, but not justice,” Menendez said at one point. He was later convicted of the charges.
Like Adams, Menendez was trying a technique that Trump has popularized over decades.
Trump has regularly blamed the “corrupt” DOJ and the Biden administration for his three federal indictments – while consistently fighting a speedy trial that would allow him to clear his name.
But Trump has gone even further than Adams and Menendez by smearing attorneys, judges, clerks, and their family members by name.
Many have endured death threats and harassment because of Trump’s baseless attacks.
This has had a highly corrosive impact on the country’s legal system, but it has succeeded in keeping him out of prison.
Trump has also benefited from a loyal base of supporters among voters, some parts of the media and Republican elected officials.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in April 2023 for indicting Trump on felony charges – five days before the sealed indictment was opened without him knowing the contents.
The county executive, who served as the Nassau County Republican Party’s liaison to the 2020 Trump presidential campaign, called the expected indictment a “political and malicious prosecution.”
Blakeman’s opinion did not change after a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of all 34 felony charges.
“I think this is the biggest miscarriage of justice that I have witnessed in my life,” said Blakeman, who campaigned for county executive as a protector of law and order.
U.S. Rep Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park), who is running for re-election against former Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen, called Bragg “corrupt” and said he and “his leftwing allies have completed their shameful witch hunt against President Trump.”
Blakeman and D’Esposito remain strong backers of Trump’s presidential bid – notwithstanding his conviction.
Adams seems to think he can survive with similar support – and decreased trust in the American legal system.