Katie Honan
Appearances
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
Eric Adams is like a real New York story. He's a former police officer. He often talks about his path to the NYPD.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
And he was a very activist police officer, challenging a lot of the racism within the department for members like himself as a black police officer. And then he became a state senator representing neighborhoods in central Brooklyn and then the borough president of Brooklyn.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
So when he ran for mayor in 2021, it was on a public safety message that really, especially towards the later months of the election season, really resonated.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
It's funny, when I speak to the friends of mine who don't pay attention to politics, I think because the mayor himself talks about his personality and his own word, which is swagger.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
He has his own message about who he is. You know, we all have stories about ourselves that we share. His, however, was very easily debunked. You know, his big thing is, I'm a vegan mayor.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
A few months into his tenure in 2022, he's going out to dinner and the waiter is saying, yo, he ordered the fish, you know, which is not vegan. So there was that.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
And I think even his partying, it became a negative because people are like, why are you not out doing your job? Why are you out at clubs with French Montana, a rapper? Why are you out at these private clubs?
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
He is such a large personality. His clothing, everything's embroidered. It says Mayor Adams, in case you didn't know who he was, on his hat, on his jacket. His phrase is, get stuff done. There's GSD everywhere. So that's what we see of the colorful character of Mayor Adams.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
Well, we found out that the investigation into him started in 2021 when he was still a borough president, but we saw it publicly. I would say it was the fall of 2023 when his top fundraiser's home was raided by the feds. That morning, the mayor was on his way to Washington, D.C.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
to meet with the Biden administration to talk about the asylum seeker crisis, which continues to be sort of winding down now, but it was for years a large issue in the city financially. And just in terms of organizing, in terms of what the mayor had to focus on, a lot of it was taken up by the asylum seeker crisis.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
So the mayor flies to D.C., and then immediately returns. And all we knew initially was that he had to return for, quote, a matter. So that was when we realized there might be an investigation into the mayor. And then we saw trickles of this until September 2024.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
And then in late September, the mayor himself was indicted on five counts, including bribery and wire fraud. What are the details there, bribery and wire fraud? What was going on, allegedly? The mayor allegedly, in short, was helping out the Turkish government. The Turkish government? The Turkish government expediting a building that they have in Midtown, getting the fire permit expedited.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
You know, these things, it's New York City, it's a big city, and things take a lot of time.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
In addition to that, there was supposed to be a superseding indictment, so additional charges filed, but we don't know if we're ever going to see those.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
The mayor immediately reported a video and he said, I have done nothing wrong. This is a political attack.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
because he says that he was targeted by the Biden administration because he was critical of their lack of help financially in New York City for the asylum seeker crisis. I'll point out that the investigation predates the asylum seeker crisis, and you can repeat that to the mayor as much as you want, but he's never gonna listen to it.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
He insists that he is a pure victim of a political persecution, and he's continued to say it, and this is a kind of a note that's been picked up by a lot of particularly right-wing outlets across the country.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
I'll point out Eric Adams was, at least up until the early 90s, registered as a Republican. And he's always been a more moderate Democrat. Here in New York City, there's lots of different shades of Democrats, right? And he's been more towards the right. I think when it really solidified was before the election. There's something known as the Al Smith Dinner.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
It's a fundraiser for Catholic charities. Candidates always go. This was the first year that Vice President Harris did not go, or last year was. So now President Trump, then candidate and former President Trump spoke.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
He sympathized. He showed empathy for what Eric Adams was going through, which was sort of the first signal of, huh, if this guy wins, what can he do to help Eric Adams? We actually would pressure the mayor. Are you going to vote? Who are you going to vote for? He wouldn't say Vice President Harris's name. We did go to him when he voted, and it's home voting site in Brooklyn.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
He finally said Kamala Harris. But there was a lot of speculation that if President Trump became the president again, he would help Eric Adams out, which is what we saw with the Justice Department memo.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
Explain what happened there. So a few weeks ago, this memo drops from Emile Beauvais and the Justice Department to the federal prosecutors here in Manhattan. requesting that they drop the charges against the mayor, never saying it's because the charges are without merit or there's no evidence behind it.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
But they said the charges restrict Eric Adams from assisting President Trump in carrying out his plans for undocumented immigrants here in the city. We saw immediately this sort of plainly political reasoning for wanting to drop the charges, and we saw the fallout of that.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
And then you even see a further domino effect of the mayor's four top deputy mayors stepping down or announcing they will resign in mid-March. because of what the mayor is doing. And it's, you know, working with the Trump administration on things they don't believe in.
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
Judge Dale Ho last week decided on Friday. to basically bring in a third party legal expert because his argument was, look, we've only heard from one side arguing, yes, we need to drop the charges. We need to have perhaps someone else to argue or to review the facts of the case and the circumstances and maybe make the argument that it should be
Today, Explained
Quid pro bros
kept, and they should continue to pursue these charges, and here's why. In appointing this person, he's delaying the process, but this does not get the mayor off the hook as easily or as quickly as I think he, his lawyers, and the Justice Department had hoped.