By Ariama C. Long
Report for America Corps Member / Amsterdam News Staff
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been in the hot seat for the last few weeks as a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe, mostly into his 2021 mayoral campaign donations, ramps up tensions around City Hall. So far he’s maintained that he is cooperating, but refuses to “speculate” on what the federal authorities are looking for.
The FBI has raided the Brooklyn home of Adams’s chief election campaign fundraiser, 25-year-old Brianna Suggs, and seized his electronic devices, reported the Associated Press (AP). No charges to this point have been filed.
In an earlier debriefing at City Hall, Adams didn’t mention to the press that the FBI had taken his devices.
“First of all, last week my information was completely accurate on what I shared with you. Accuracy is important and we were (accurate)… . I cannot emphasize this enough and I’m just going to continue. It takes a lot of discipline,” said Adams in his defense at a later meeting in November. “This is an ongoing review. And as a former member of law enforcement, it is always my belief, don’t interfere with an ongoing review and don’t try to do these reviews through the press.”
Lisa Zornberg, chief counsel to the mayor, also was adamant that the administration is “proactively cooperative” with FBI investigators.
The AP and other media outlets have reported that the FBI investigation centers around two things: illegal campaign contributions funneled through straw donors or possibly a foreign country, and whether or not Adams colluded with the Turkish government to get a 35-story skyscraper approved.
Earlier this year, Adams’ mayoral campaign and transition team was called into question a few times. The New York City Campaign Finance Board fined him $19,600 in May for three violations: the account for Adams’ transition and inauguration committees had accepted prohibited donations, failed to respond to requests for documents, and failed to properly track expenses. Then in July, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted six people “for conspiring to use a straw donor scheme” for Adams’ campaign for mayor, two of whom pleaded guilty in October.
Amsterdam News attempted to contact Evan Thies, a lead consultant on Adams’ mayoral campaign, but has not received a response yet. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan has been pretty quiet about what they are looking for currently. AmNews reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for comments as well but there was no response by post time.
The investigation has been left vague by the FBI, almost deliberately so, said political sources. Naturally, that’s turned the gossip mill in, out, and around the city’s political scene. It has also dragged mayoral candidates from 2021, like Andrew Yang, out of the woodwork on social media to throw shots at Adams.
Lupe Todd-Medina is the creator of Effective Media Strategies and has worked on numerous political campaigns in the city. She noted the straw donor situation, when someone falsely uses a person’s name or information to give more money to a candidate, is not uncommon and there are usually checks and balances to catch it.
Former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin was brought up on federal fraud charges in 2022, later dropped, and is in ongoing litigation over records falsification charges. Even former Mayor Bill de Blasio was the beneficiary of an illegal scheme and bribes to get him elected, reported the New York Times.
“Your campaign is supposed to make sure that doesn’t happen. Before you’re even submitting your paperwork you have people that are cleaning, that’s what we call it,” said Todd-Medina. “That’s why sometimes campaigns give back money even before they file.”
Ben Weinberg, director of public policy at Citizens Union, said, essentially, the system to maintain campaign finance integrity and oversight over contributions is working as it should. “We had hundreds of candidates that took part in the 2021 elections, we had tens of millions of dollars in the system. The fact that there are both honest and dishonest mistakes and attempts to violate campaign finance law is probable in any kind of system,” said Weinberg. “The cases that we do see are when the system worked and caught them.”
One vibrant theory about the investigation purports that President Joe Biden has weaponized the FBI to take Adams down a peg because of his criticisms on federal immigration policies and the very public ongoing asylum crisis. Adams has said repeatedly that he’s “not speculating” on what is motivating the FBI – whether this is a retaliation, or about him resigning.
“Our criticism, critique, analysis is based on the fact that this (the influx of asylum seekers) is unsustainable for New York City. And I can’t speculate that it was people are upset because I’m raising that. I must fight on behalf of New Yorkers,” said Adams, “And I’ve stated that last year, this is not an attack on the president. And in fact, I kid myself by calling myself the ‘Biden of Brooklyn.’ I thought that what he helped us around crime and other initiatives were important, but this is a real issue for our city. As we just mentioned, the economic strain on this city is something that is not sustainable and we have to get the assistance that we need from the federal government.”
Adams said that his lawyer, Boyd Johnson, has been retained “for over 30-something years” for legal counsel and is being paid out-of-pocket and within the law. A compliance attorney, he added, is determining if any campaign money is being used. He added that his donors have definitely called him, some of whom go back to his days as a state senator, and pledged their support.
Should Adams be suspended or unable to hold office, the city’s charter mandates that Public Advocate Jumaane Williams temporarily fill in for him as mayor.
“The ongoing developments and circumstances surrounding the FBI investigation are very troubling. As this investigation continues, New Yorkers deserve consistent transparency and clarity about the situation,” said Williams’ spokesperson.
AmNews reached out to the Campaign Finance Board, but a press secretary declined to comment on the record.
This article was originally published by the Amsterdam News.
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