Comptroller Brad Lander Reacts to Eric Adams's Indictment

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 7: New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander attends the annual Labor Day Parade on September 7, 2024 in midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York.

Brad Lander, New York City comptroller, shares his reaction to the news that Mayor Adams has been indicted.

[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC with our continuing coverage of the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams this morning on federal charges that include bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. We are expecting the US Attorney's news conference in about five minutes to officially announce those charges. The written indictment has been released, so we know that those are the specific charges now: soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations, also bribery, also fraud.

Joining us with more reaction now is the Comptroller of the City of New York and an announced mayoral hopeful for 2025, we should say, so that context is important. He already intended to run against Eric Adams next year. That's Brad Lander. Comptroller Lander, welcome back to WNYC.

Comptroller Brad Lander: Good morning, Brian. Thank you so much.

Brian Lehrer: Are you surprised by this? I mean, even with as dramatic as it is and all the investigations that we knew were taking place, I think for me, honestly, for a lot of people in New York, they hear the news of these actual indictments and they think, "Wait, what? Really?"

Comptroller Brad Lander: I feel the same way. I mean, we've known it's coming, the drip, drip, drip of investigations, but it's still shocking. Deleting emails to cover up the fraud, taking foreign contributions, getting matching funds for them, doing favors. It's terrible. It's sad for the city. It's a violation of trust. It's hard to read for people who love government, who love the city. Yes, I feel sad and angry and surprised and disappointed, even though I knew this was probably coming.

Brian Lehrer: He's innocent until proven guilty. That's one of the reasons that the Mayor said in his remarks just a few minutes ago and in the video that he released last night that he intends to stay on and do the job that the people elected him to do. Are you calling for him to step down?

Comptroller Brad Lander: I am. He does deserve the presumption of innocence and due process and his day in court, but New Yorkers deserve a mayor who's totally focused on their problems and not his own. We just have so many big challenges of housing affordability and public safety in our schools, like you were just talking with State Senator Liu about, and no one who was facing this serious of federal indictment and was losing their inner circle could provide the level of focused leadership that running this wonderful but very big and complicated city requires.

Brian Lehrer: What the Mayor seemed to indicate in his remarks just a few minutes ago was that his legal team is going to handle these legal matters and he can still focus on running the city.

Comptroller Brad Lander: That's malarkey and everyone knows it. He's going to be focused-- he's facing very serious legal charges of bribery and corruption. He will be talking with his lawyers a lot. It'll just be in his mind constantly. It'll be on the minds of everyone else around him. At City Hall. I think people just know this. It couldn't be you, you wouldn't have done this, but if you were facing something like this, you would not be able to do the job of mayor of New York City in the way that New Yorkers deserve, and teachers deserve, and firefighters and cops and New York City hardworking employees. It just is impossible.

Brian Lehrer: We're going to jump back in to the Mayor's media availability for a minute here. He's taking some questions from reporters. Let's listen.

[crosstalk]

Reporter 1: Mayor, who is your point person dealing with major city business as you deal with this? That's number one. Number two, is there any circumstance by which you would resign?

Mayor Eric Adams: No, no. Listen, I'm here. I was elected by the people of this city, over 700,000 strong-

Reporter 1: Absolutely, absolutely.

Mayor Eric Adams: -and this is a city-- [crosstalk] this is a city that is extremely resilient. This is a city that we have gone through some difficult and hard times, and we're going to continue to move forward as a city and that's what it has shown. I think the narrative here that's missing, 10 months ago when my phones were removed, we have not gone backwards. We have not stood still. We showed how we operate during difficult times. When you say, who's the point person that's going to deal with business communities? Who's going to deal with the business of running the city? The point person is Eric Adams. I'm the mayor of the City of New York, [crosstalk] and I have a competent team, [crosstalk] a competent team of deputy mayors, a competent team of people who are going to continue to lead forward, and we're excited about that.

Okay, go ahead, Katie. What's your-- Yes?

[crosstalk]

Reporter 2: You say this is retaliation for speaking out against the migrant crisis, but according to the indictment, it [unintelligible 00:05:08] your 2021 campaign [unintelligible 00:05:09] a co-conspirator that you said you deleted messages from. I mean, the allegations seem to go in line with what we've been reporting for at least a year, almost a year. What do you say to that? I mean, you have-- you've said you travel to these countries. Do you deny that you took any kickbacks from these countries? Do you deny that you intervened on behalf of [crosstalk]--

Mayor Eric Adams: What is your question? [chuckles]

[crosstalk]

Mayor Eric Adams: Yes, that's an elaborate question [crosstalk]--

Reporter 2: [unintelligible 00:05:29] denies all the allegations in the 54-page indictment.

[crosstalk]

Mayor Eric Adams: Listen, my legal team-- [crosstalk] [laughter] Thank you. My legal team is going to peruse the entire indictment. We got it today when it was released. The news media received information before we did, as they have been receiving for the last 10 months of-- It appears as though the goal is to try to try this case publicly and not in the criminal justice system that's in place. We-- Based on what I read, it's clear that if it's campaign violations, I know I don't violate the campaign. If it's foreign donors, I know I don't take money from foreign donors, and I verbalize that to the team both in writing and both in communication. We will continue to do that, and we look forward for the legal team to handle this as I handle the City of New York and continued success that we've witnessed in the last two years and nine months as the mayor of the City of New York. Thank you very much.

[crosstalk]

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: I think the Mayor is ending that press availability right now, yes, as he's starting to walk away. That was outside Gracie Mansion. We still have New York City Comptroller and 2025 mayoral hopeful, Brad Lander, with us. We will go to the US Attorney Damian Williams news conference, officially announcing and describing and, we think, taking reporters' questions about the indictment as soon as it starts. We're expecting that any minute.

Comptroller Lander, you and the Mayor are both Brooklyn people. You were in city council when he was borough president, both representing; him, all of Brooklyn; you, part of Brooklyn. Did you have any indication then or any suspicion that anything the Mayor was doing as borough president, which the indictment seems to refer to, as well as his time as a mayoral candidate and a mayor, that he was involved in anything potentially nefarious in terms of campaign contributions or other gifts that were influencing any of his actions?

Comptroller Brad Lander: There had been rumors. This goes back to when he chaired the gaming and casino committee in Albany, and there were some indictments around him at that time, and concerns about this were part of why he was not-- I didn't rank him on my ballot in 2021. I was not aware specifically of the contributions from foreign nationals and the government of Turkey until it, about a year ago, became something that was in the news.

I've long been pushing the administration for tighter protections against corruption. The Mayor said they haven't gone backwards, but they have gone backwards. We've been pleading with them just to put a request for proposals out on asylum-seeker services instead of using no-bid emergency procurement, which is vulnerable to corruption, and they haven't done it. On the critical things New Yorkers are facing on getting the housing department working better, on delivering all the 3-K and pre-K seats the last year has been walking backwards.

On top of the concerns that the US Attorney Damian Williams will articulate, which are very serious, at least as I've been able to review the indictment so far, just from the point of view of what matters to everyday New Yorkers, this administration is not able to focus on the core issues of safety and affordability and quality of life and good government that they need every day.

Brian Lehrer: We've been given the two-minute warning now from the US attorney's office, so assuming that that is accurate, that's going to start momentarily. Just talk to New Yorkers about what would happen if Mayor Adams does resign. I guess your colleague, the other citywide elected- the only other citywide elected official besides you and the Mayor, the Public Advocate of the City of New York, Jumaane Williams, would take over. What would happen?

Comptroller Brad Lander: That's right. The Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is a very close friend and we're in close touch. He would, under the charter, become the interim mayor. He would, within just a few days, within three days, set a special election for the first Tuesday after 80 days. Then he would go about trying to restore trust, and let the teachers and firefighters and cops and public servants of the city know he has their backs, fill some of those vacancies, and try to provide stability to the city through the special election and the time of transition.

Brian Lehrer: Does that mean there would be two mayoral elections in 2025, if this resignation were to happen soon, one about 80 days from now? That would just about take us into the new year, I think, or maybe not quite. Then, of course, next November there's already another mayoral election.

Comptroller Brad Lander: That's right. It depends on the calendar. If it would happen soon, there would be a special election. If it would happen in March or later, then it would get rolled together.

Brian Lehrer: Ah, then that would become the election and [crosstalk]--

Comptroller Brad Lander: If he resigns after March, then the Public Advocate serves the rest of the year. Then there's a primary and a general election, and whoever wins that would take office immediately.

Brian Lehrer: I see. All right. Well, they're already past two minutes after they gave us the two-minute warning, so I guess I can give you 15 seconds or whatever we have to make your case since you want to be the next mayor.

Comptroller Brad Lander: [chuckles] Look, what New Yorkers are hungry for is a safer, more affordable, more livable and better-run city that begins with trustworthy leadership, 100% focused on the problems of New Yorkers. That's what I've been doing as comptroller, it's what I did in the city council, it's what I did as an affordable housing advocate and developer before that, and that is what I would do every single day as mayor.

Brian Lehrer: The Mayor does have the right to defend himself. How are you going to refer to him? Opponents of Donald Trump call him our 34-time-indicted former president-- Oh, I think we're starting now, right?

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