State Sen. John Liu Reacts to Mayor's Indictment

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. As we continue to follow the breaking news of the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams this morning, again, we thank the mayor. We were told that the mayor is going to speak to reporters imminently. As Tiffany was just telling you, the US attorney has scheduled an 11:30 news conference to describe the indictment and take reporters' questions. The indictment now has been released. I have the text. The top line would be that he has been indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions. We're going to bring on our next guest in just a couple of minutes, state Senator John Liu of Queens. I thought before we do that, I would just read some of the text of the actual indictment as it's been released.

I'm going to read just from the very, from the very start of it and it actually starts a decade ago. It says "In 2014, Eric Adams, the defendant, became Brooklyn borough president. Thereafter, for nearly a decade, Adam sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.

By 2018, Adams, who had by then made known his plans to run for mayor of New York City, not only accepted but sought illegal campaign contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign, as well as other things of value from foreign nationals. As Adams prominence and power grew, his foreign national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City's mayor."

It continues. "Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits received. After his inauguration as mayor of New York City, Adam soon began preparing for his next election, including by planning to solicit more illegal contributions and granting requests from those who supported his 2021 mayoral campaign with such donations." That's in the indictment and here is the mayor himself speaking now.

[unintelligible 00:02:46]

Brian Lehrer: There is obviously a protest going on at the same time, apparently targeted at the mayor, but he is standing at a microphone. I'm not sure exactly where this is. It's outdoors, I think. Oh, it's at Gracie Mansion or just outside Gracie Mansion. We will listen in and let's give it a shot again, see if we can hear the mayor.

Mayor Eric Adams: First of all, I want to thank you for being here this morning, and I want to thank the supporters of all ethnic groups that are here, particularly the men and women of the clergy that's here that have joined me here today. We are not surprised. We expected this. This is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last ten months, the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing. This did not surprise us that we reached this day.

I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. In about 30 minutes, you're going to hear his story of the case that is in front of us. This story will come from the federal prosecutors, and I ask to wait and hear our side to this narrative. From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city. My day-to-day will not change.

I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do, and the 300,000 plus employees of our city government will continue to do their jobs because this is what we do as New Yorkers. It's an insult to the hard-working, pitied people of the city that anyone would say that they won't do their jobs while this case proceeds in the background. They are dedicated public servants, and I have been one of them for many years and they're going to continue to do their job moving the city forward every day.

It's an unfortunate day, and it's a painful day but inside of all of that, it's a day where we will finally reveal why for ten months I have gone through this. I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city, as I've done throughout my entire professional career. I want to now turn it over to the person who started me on this journey, Reverend Herbert Daughtry.

[applause]

Reverend Herbert Daughtry: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You are mayor--

Speaker 1: As we continue to monitor what is going on there in New York City. We just heard--

Brian Lehrer: We are going to jump out of the mayor's news conference. If it is a news conference, we'll see if he actually takes questions from reporters as he has now handed it off to one of his supporters, the legendary Brooklyn civil rights oriented Reverend Herbert Daughtry. We heard the mayor there say he expected this, and he's asking New Yorkers to wait to hear his defense before making any judgments about him.

The mayor said his day to Day will not change. He was surrounded by supporters there, as you could hear some clergy members and others. You heard them saying amen a few times after things the mayor said. Our coverage will continue. We may jump back into that press availability, especially if the mayor takes questions from reporters. We're still expecting the 11:30 or so news conference from the US attorney Damian Williams.

State Senator John Liu, from Queens, is with us for a few minutes now on the indictment of Mayor Adams. He questioned earlier this week before the indictments came down, whether the mayor could continue to do his job while facing all these investigations. Now there's an actual indictment. Senator Liu, thank you for coming on. Welcome back to WNYC.

Senator John Liu: Thanks, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: You heard the mayor just there. One of the things that he said before handing it off to Reverend Daughtry was that he would continue to do his day to day. I think that's the part that you have the most questions about.

Senator John Liu: I think the mayor made clear in his video last night and again in his comments just now that he expects to have his lawyer work on the case as he works for the people of New York City. I'm sure that is his full intention. Eric Adams is a human being like the rest of us and he's only human. To fight these charges and they're voluminous and significant charges while being able to devote while--

That's already taking a lot of his bandwidth and it's hard to imagine that all the attention can be put on the interest of New Yorkers as a whole, from housing to education to all sorts of issues. I think the most practical problem that he or any mayor in this circumstance would have to deal with is the loss of top leadership from the administration. We already have several important positions that are vacant, and he would need to find people for those positions. People who are top-notch, ready, willing, and able to do the work for New Yorkers and also stem the tide of additional departures, which based on my knowledge of city government, it's going to be imminent.

It was already going to happen in the last term next year, but that's just going to be catalyzed by these indictments.

Brian Lehrer: You mean so many people leaving the administration all at once. I'll point out to our listeners that you are chair of the state senate's New York City Education Committee. I imagine you'll have something to say about the departure of school's chancellor, David Banks, which was suddenly announced this week. Technically, it's a retirement at the end of this calendar year, but it came right after the resignation of a number of other top officials, police commissioner and others. How do you think the announced retirement of David Banks will affect the schoolchildren of New York City, at least in the short term, in your role as chair of the state senate's New York City education Committee?

Senator John Liu: That was the concern that I had voiced these last couple of days that the chancellor was leaving. Let me say from the outset that I think Chancellor David Banks has been one of the best, if not best chancellors we have seen in many, many years. His departure is not supposed to take place until the end of December, but a successor has already been announced. There's a lame duck status that we're going to be seeing, even though they're couching it in terms of continuity.

There is a big change of leadership at the Department of Education, and that's going to affect the deputy commissioners and many of the other division chiefs and people of authority at the Department of Education. At the beginning, all the teachers, the principals, and everybody at the DOE, they're going to continue to do their jobs but as time goes by for the next few weeks and possibly months, there will be a loss of direction unless somebody clear is running the show at the top.

Given the system of mayoral control that we have for New York City public schools, if the mayor is not totally there in terms of having the city's priorities at top of mind, that's going to affect how the schools are being run. What if there's another emergency that comes up, then mayoral control is supposed to handle those emergencies? There's going to be a big question as to how much a single human being can actually handle. These are the dilemmas that we have. By the way, as you know Brian, education and public schools is by far the largest responsibility of New York City government. It's almost a third of the entire city budget.

Brian Lehrer: That's right. It's a third of the city budget. It's almost a million of the city's residents. That's just the students in the system. Then, of course, all their family members who rely so much on the education of their children being of high quality. You like Chancellor Banks and the job he did, it sounds like. Do you have an impression? Are you familiar with Melissa Aviles Ramos, the incoming chancellor now appointed by the mayor? She was a top aide to banks. I'm not familiar with her, but I gather she's a very experienced educator in her own right. Do you have any impression of her going in and confidence in her from day one?

Senator John Liu: I do not have an impression or confidence or lack of confidence. I know that based on what I've been told, she's got a lot of experience in New York City public schools. She was the right hand for David Banks for a long time and I think they are trying to project continuity with her appointment. Being the right hand of somebody who wants to leave, that is a positive as well as a negative.

I think she's going to need to establish her authority at the Department of Education with the full confidence and support from the mayor, which again, she may have to be flying without air traffic control for some time just because he's got to deal with these charges. This is serious stuff. I don't envy him. I feel bad for Mayor Adams for what he needs to go through. I'm not excusing him in any way, but any person going through this, they got to deal with this, especially if they feel they've done nothing wrong. That's going to take a lot of time, effort. He's human, so there's a lot of emotion involved. I'm concerned about the public schools and the school kids.

Brian Lehrer: Would it if your concern is continuity, be even more disruptive if the mayor does resign or if Governor Hochul removes him? She has the authority to do that if she chooses because then we'd have a brand new mayor who would have to ramp up his ability to lead the city right away. That, of course, is public advocate Jumaane Williams because that's the line of succession law. If Mayor Adams leaves office, if any mayor leaves office, it's the public advocate who steps in at least for 90 days before a special election could be held as I understood it. That's even more uncertainty. That's even more change. Would it not be?

Senator John Liu: There would be more change, but there'd be certainty at the top as opposed to no change and uncertainty at the top. I think if a change is needed or if a change is going to happen, it's better to have it happen sooner rather than later.

Brian Lehrer: I remember 2013 when you were in the democratic primary for mayor, the year that Bill de Blasio was nominated and then elected. Any plans yourself to run again? 2025.

Senator John Liu: Brian, you know I got my ass kicked in 2013 already.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] I take that as a no. State Senator John Liu of Queens, among other things, the chair of the state senates New York City Education Committee. Thank you for giving us a few minutes.

Senator John Liu: Take care, Brian.

[00:16:23] [END OF AUDIO]

 

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