For months, New York Mayor Eric Adams – a former police officer – refused to criticize federal authorities investigating his administration.
Not anymore.
The day news of his indictment After the corruption charges were dismissed, Adams defiantly suggested, without providing evidence, that U.S. prosecutors had gone after him for criticizing President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
“Despite our advocacy, when the federal government did nothing because its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system without relief, I placed the people of New York above party and politics,” he said. “I always knew that if I stood my ground before all of you, I would be a target – and a target I became.”
Adams’ accusation marked a sharp turn for a retired police captain turned politician whose commitment to law and order was a calling card during his time in office.
The rhetoric was also similar to that of other politicians facing various accusations.
After he was indicted for corruption Through the same U.S. attorney who prosecuted Adams, former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez blamed his prosecution on “forces behind the scenes” who had “tried repeatedly to silence my voice.”
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 accepting illegal campaign contributions and free travel benefits from Turkish officials and businessmen looking to buy his influence.
He suggested that prosecutors had been instructed to defame him. By whom, he did not say.
“We need to ask them, ‘Who gave the directive to implement what we’ve seen 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 in dealing with an influx of international migrants. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration had nothing to do with the Justice Department’s decision to file charges.
“The president was clear, even when he was a candidate in 2020, that he would ensure that the DOJ would be independent and that the DOJ would handle this case independently,” she said.
Before he was charged, Adams consistently said he was cooperating with investigations and emphasized that he was following the law. He laughed off reporters’ questions about various aspects of the investigations. And he refused to criticize the investigators because, as a former law enforcement officer, 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 talking about the charges. “He’s just saying the people who filed the charges don’t like him,” he said. “If the facts are against you, move on to something else. If the facts are against you, try going after the accusers. against you, go after your opponent.”
At a news conference announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams rejected 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 right or left, we are only focused on good and evil.”
Williams heads a large office of prosecutors so famous for its independence that it has long been nicknamed “The Sovereign District.”
Williams was appointed by Biden in 2021 and has overseen other major, news-making prosecutions. His office won the case against Menendez, who is awaiting sentencing. It recently released one sex trafficking charges against Sean “Diddy” Combs, who has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. It also brought charges against cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of fraud.
The mayor and his attorney, Alex Spiro, have yet to provide evidence to support the theory that Adams was prosecuted for being a thorn in Biden’s side.
On Wednesday evening, just hours before the first news reports of the indictment, Adams spent part of his evening attending a reception for leaders of the United Nations General Assembly hosted by Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
Adams’ suggestion that the charges are politically motivated drew comparisons to Trump. The former president told reporters at an unrelated news conference Thursday that he wishes Adams luck in the case and said he saw charges against the mayor coming.
“I watched about a year ago when he was talking about how the illegal immigrants are hurting our city, and that the federal government should pay us, and we shouldn’t have to take them,” Trump said. “And I said, ‘You know what? He will be charged within a year.’ And I was absolutely right.”