Adams Prosecution Update

Amina Srna: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Amina Srna, a producer for the Brian Lehrer Show, filling in for Brian today. Good morning, everyone. Coming up on today's show, we'll talk about the new 25% tariffs announced by President Trump on steel and aluminum imports, what they mean to you, and their implications on broader trade policy. Then we'll turn to local news and the reports on how Nassau County has authorized its police detectives to work with ICE agents to arrest undocumented immigrants who have been charged of a crime. Later, we'll check in on legalize cannabis. Our guest argues legalization has led to more frequent consumption and increased potency of the product. He says that those factors raise a range of concerns for both mental and physical health. We'll end the show with the news that New York City is getting a new area code. We'll open up the phones for you out there who have strong feelings about your own area codes.

First, after months of Mayor Adams seeming to cozy up to President Trump, the Department of Justice has ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop the corruption charges against the mayor. With me now to talk about the DOJ's reasoning and what might come next for the mayor is Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior politics reporter. Hey, Brigid.

Brigid Bergin: Hey, Amina.

Amina Srna: First, can you remind listeners what the mayor was charged with?

Brigid Bergin: Sure. This goes back to just this past September, there was a five-count criminal indictment. Prosecutors alleged that Adams accepted about a hundred thousand dollars in luxury travel perks. They also said he took illegal foreign campaign contributions from people connected to the Turkish government, and this was all in exchange for official acts from City Hall. Specifically, they alleged he helped speed the opening of a new Turkish consulate in Manhattan even though it had failed fire safety inspections.

Amina Srna: Can you lay out what happened here? What was the reasoning the DOJ gave to direct that the U.S. attorney drop the charges?

Brigid Bergin: Yes, so they sent a memo to federal prosecutors and basically it boiled down to two specific reasons. First, they said that the charges were just filed too close to the mayor's reelection. As we often talk about on this show, the mayor is up for reelection this year. We've got a primary in June, and these charges came just in this past September. Not a traditional argument by Department of Justice in a case like this, but that was their first rationale. The second relates more specifically to the priorities of the Trump administration and their ongoing immigration enforcement actions.

The memo actually quotes from a Trump executive order that describes the administration's aim to, ''protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement.'' Basically, the Trump administration is saying that Mayor Adams they're expecting him not to stand in the way of their enforcement efforts, which is something that is, as you might imagine, already raising all kinds of flags, both from his political opponents and, of course, from immigration advocates.

Amina Srna: Mayor Adams has always stated that the investigation and the case would not interfere with his ability to govern. On the point the memo makes about the mayor needing to devote his attention to cooperating with the feds on an immigration crackdown, as you were just saying, what does that mean exactly as far as you can tell?

Brigid Bergin: I think there are a couple things going on here, Amina. First, from what we have heard from Mayor Adams himself, there's obviously undoubtedly a shift in messaging that's now trickling down through his administration. During the first Trump administration when Adams wasn't facing the threat of prosecution, he was much more openly critical of then-President Trump. Since his indictment, the mayor has really refrained from criticizing Trump in any way. He's visited Mar-a-Lago, he went to the inauguration, he's made other trips to D.C. which many have viewed as attempts to curry favor. Now that messaging is you're starting to hear it in some of the dictates that commissioners are receiving from City Hall.

Amina Srna: Since the letter cited the city's cooperation with ICE in its crackdown on immigrants, what is the latest on that? How is the mayor handle that?

Brigid Bergin: Even before we got to this point, the mayor's absence in some of these high-profile enforcement actions was something that was getting a lot of attention. He had that period of time where he was taking a sick week. That was also the same time that there was some high-profile enforcement actions in the Bronx. It was also a week that the New York Times reported his lawyers met with the Justice Department about his case. There was also a lot of confusion over guidance issued last month to certain parts of his administration.

Just yesterday, he met with commissioners and told them explicitly not to criticize President Trump on social media. The city is also expected to issue some updated guidance to city workers if they're approached by, ''non-local law enforcement.'' That includes asking visitors to show identification, a judicial warrant, as well as calling agency attorneys. I think still at this point, there remains a lot of confusion exactly about what city workers are supposed to be doing in these cases.

Amina Srna: The letter also said that prosecutors should drop the charges ''without prejudice.'' For the non-lawyers listening, what does that mean and why is it important?

Brigid Bergin: That is really a key phrase in this memo. Ultimately, by dropping the charges without evidence, they are saying that these charges could be revisited. In fact, the memo very explicitly states that these charges are being dropped without evidence without weighing the merit of the evidence or the case against the mayor, and calls for there to be review after the general election in November. In many respects, this is like a temporary dropping of the charges, but it then feels like the mayor is very much on the hook for how we got to this point.

Amina Srna: Politico noted that ''Trump's fingerprints are all over the memo,'' and cites the argument it made, which Adams himself has also said that the charges were payback for the mayor's criticism of the Biden administration's immigration policies. As far as you know, is there any evidence of that?

Brigid Bergin: We have definitely heard Mayor Adams say from the beginning when these charges were filed that he thought that this was politically motivated because he was so openly critical of the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis. This office, the Southern District in Manhattan, this is an office that has known for handling very high-profile political corruption cases and handling them without fear of favor, without any leaning toward one political party or the other, and so I don't think that there is a lot of evidence supporting that claim, although it is something we have also heard from President Trump himself in terms of some of the cases that have been prosecuted against him.

Amina Srna: Just yesterday, our colleagues at Gothamist reported that the mayor had directed his commissioners to refrain from criticizing President Trump on social media. The Comptroller, Brad Lander, who is also running for mayor, jumped on that in an X post where he wrote, ''And now we know why.'' How might this reshape the mayoral primary race?

Brigid Bergin: It is actively engaging the opponents right now down at City Hall. State Senator Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn, another mayoral candidate, is expected to hold a press conference with reporters, essentially calling for the Southern District prosecutors to reject this memo from the Department of Justice. We also know that City Comptroller Brad Lander will be having his own press conference at 11:00 o'clock. I spoke with State Senator Jessica Ramos from Queens, who's actually up in Albany with budget hearings, but she is also a candidate for mayor.

She's also talking about how this raises some real questions and erodes people's faith in government and institutions. There is one of the many mayoral forums that these candidates, aside from Mayor Adams, have been attending. In this Democratic primary tonight in Lower Manhattan, you can be certain that this will be one of the main topics. There's also this big weekend up in Albany. It's caucus weekend for the Black, Latino, and Puerto Rican Caucus.

I was talking some former lawmakers who were saying that this is going to dominate the conversation there and it has the potential for really influencing the race. One of the things that we all continue to watch is the candidate that many people talk about who has not declared that he is running yet for mayor, and that is former Governor Andrew Cuomo. How does this contribute to his decision of whether or not he formally decides to get into this race? Lots to be talking about with you, Amina, now and going forward.

Amina Srna: We have to leave it there for today. Mayor Adams's schedule notes that today instead of his usual off-topic press conference, he'll deliver a live address at noon. On tomorrow's show, WNYC's City Hall reporter Elizabeth Kim will be here like she is every week to talk about this news and to take your calls. Brigid Bergin is WNYC's senior politics reporter. Brigid, thanks so much for joining us.

Brigid Bergin: Thanks for having me.

 

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