NYC Mayor Eric Adams under corruption investigation, again

[SunsetBengal]

Democrats and that foreign money..


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/adams-left-washington-abruptly-a-widening-corruption-scandal-greeted-him-in-nyc/ar-AA1jiPUb?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8431603588eb43cbadc9f790ffb8085f&ei=14

Quote:NEW YORK — When New York City Mayor Eric Adams aborted his trip to the nation’s capital Thursday to rush back to the city, he may have been heading toward political peril.

The FBI had raided the home of his lead fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, as part of a public corruption investigation into Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign. The question in particular, The New York Times first reported, is whether the campaign was involved in a straw donor scheme with the Turkish government and a Brooklyn construction company to direct foreign donations to Adams’ campaign coffers.

“I hold my campaign to the highest ethical standards,” Adams, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, responded Thursday evening at an unrelated event for the first time since his return.
“Any inquiry that is done, we are going to fully participate and make sure that it’s done correctly. I have not been contacted by anyone from any law enforcement agency. And that’s why I came back from D.C. to be here, to be on the ground and look at this inquiry as it was made.”

The latest development could put Adams in a tight spot politically.

No clear challenger to Adams has emerged yet, and the moderate Democrat remains popular with his base of largely middle-class Black and Latino voters. But Thursday’s raid, which comes on the heels of several other probes targeting figures in the Adams orbit, had some on the left smelling blood in the water.

“Drip, drip, drip, drop,” said Daniel Altschuler, a prominent progressive organizer and co-executive director of immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York, referring to the multiple accusations of corruption touching upon Adams’ campaign and his inner circle.

Relatively little is still known about the investigation. Suggs couldn’t be reached for comment, and her spokesperson Jordan Barowitz declined to comment late Thursday afternoon.

KSK Construction, the construction company tied up in the probe, declined to comment, as did the U.S. attorney offices in both the Eastern and Southern districts — though the FBI confirmed to POLITICO that agents executed a law enforcement action at Suggs’ address.

The raid adds to a growing snowball of law enforcement actions targeting figures in and around the administration.

In July, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused six contributors to Adams’ campaign of running a straw donor scheme, and two of them have pleaded guilty. Two months later, Bragg charged Adams’ buildings commissioner with taking bribes in exchange for favors and access to the administration (the commissioner, Eric Ulrich, stepped down after the allegations were made public and has denied wrongdoing).

While the allegations hit close to his administration and campaign, none of them have implicated Adams himself. And the probes from the Manhattan district attorney have not seemed to cause any mortal harm to the mayor’s political standing.

Then Thursday’s bombshell from the FBI dropped.

Political operatives who just Wednesday were speculating about whether Adams would even face a formidable challenge for a second term in 2025 were suddenly entertaining the idea of a serious race — and wondering whether the probe would expand.

One person in the labor movement who was granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation told POLITICO that Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose name has been floated as a potential 2025 candidate, was calling around to potential supporters Thursday.

Ramos has been an ardent critic of the mayor and her spokesperson Astrid Aune did not deny she was reaching out. She suggested the political problem was affecting Adams’ ability to govern.

“I think it’s very concerning, particularly regarding the ability to secure federal funds for the crisis we’re facing,” Aune said, referring to the city's housing needs and serving a surge of migrants. “We really need to focus on managing this crisis, and this is a huge distraction.”

City Hall didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Adam's political standing.

Other potential candidates were getting courted, like Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who “is getting a lot of incoming” from prospective donors, a person familiar with his political operation told POLITICO.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican anti-crime crusader who lost to Adams in 2021, has already said he planned to challenge Adams again. Does this change his plans for 2025? “He may be in the big house by then,” Sliwa told POLITICO. “Not the White House like he hoped for.”

Not everyone was as convinced of Adams’ downfall. The previous mayor, Bill de Blasio, faced a federal campaign finance investigation, but prosecutors never brought charges, and he was reelected without facing serious opposition. Adams’ poll numbers have been relatively strong with his base.

It’s still early in the investigation, and the public doesn’t know everything yet, one political insider who donated to Adams’ campaign cautioned: “But I’ve seen mayors overcome investigations and innuendos and unsavory characters.”

If there was any question as to the seriousness of the allegations and their potential impact, Adams seemed to answer them Thursday with his abrupt change in travel plans.

The mayor was supposed to be lobbying the White House and Congress members alongside the mayors of Chicago and Denver for help with the migrant crisis — the most pressing problem facing the city. Instead, Adams was nowhere to be found, even after touting on social media a video of him on a plane to Washington in the early morning.

The decision to fly home left congressional members miffed and the Biden administration uncertain how to explain away his absence.

"You saw the reports. Obviously, I can't speak to his schedule and why he couldn't attend," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about Adams' whereabouts.

A person familiar with the mayor’s inner circle who was granted anonymity to discuss his actions was shocked by the mayor’s move to leave Washington: “It makes it look way, way, way worse. It, at best, makes him look dumb. And at worst, makes him look guilty and paranoid.”

Fabien Levy, the deputy mayor for communications, responded: "The mayor heard of an issue related to the campaign and takes these issues seriously, so he wanted to get back to New York as quickly as possible."

Levy added, "He plans to return to D.C. and reschedule these meetings as soon as he can.”

Joe Anuta and Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.

[*Nately120*]

You have to wonder why Joe Biden is after this guy again.

[SunsetBengal]

(11-03-2023, 10:07 AM)Nately120 Wrote: You have to wonder why Joe Biden is after this guy again.

I don't know why, but if they assign the same team that was tasked with finding out who brought in and left cocaine in the White House, Adams could be in the clear. 

[*Nately120*]

(11-03-2023, 12:30 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I don't know why, but if they assign the same team that was tasked with finding out who brought in and left cocaine in the White House, Adams could be in the clear. 

Well, cocaine should be legal and taxed anyways.

[HarleyDog]

(11-03-2023, 12:30 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I don't know why, but if they assign the same team that was tasked with finding out who brought in and left cocaine in the White House, Adams could be in the clear. 

Sounds like it's about time for a bunch of FBI evidence to come up missing. 

[SunsetBengal]

(11-03-2023, 12:55 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Sounds like it's about time for a bunch of FBI evidence to come up missing. 

The real irony here is that Adams had to abruptly end his visit to Washington, the purpose of which was to do his share of the begging, along with several other Liberal Mayors, for $5B to handle illegal alien accommodations and concessions. He had to do an about face from begging for money to run home and defend some ill gotten money.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

Adams seems better than DeBlasio, but that's not exactly a high hurdle. I do enjoy seeing the sanctimonious get busted. Much like Mark Ridley Thomas here in LA, a complete POS and corrupt to the core.

[Belsnickel]

Corruption exists all across the political spectrum and all of them should meet the same fate. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

[basballguy]

(11-03-2023, 12:44 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Well, cocaine should be legal and taxed anyways.

This is one of those posts where if you like it, you get judged and if you dislike it, you get judged.

[SunsetBengal]

(11-03-2023, 06:28 PM)basballguy Wrote: This is one of those posts where if you like it, you get judged and if you dislike it, you get judged.

I'm fine with recreational drugs being legalized and taxed, I just also feel like if we choose that route we should stop resuscitating overdose victims at taxpayer's expense.  The freedom to enjoy should also come with the freedom to experience the consequences of abuse.

[*Nately120*]

(11-03-2023, 06:50 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I'm fine with recreational drugs being legalized and taxed, I just also feel like if we choose that route we should stop resuscitating overdose victims at taxpayer's expense.  The freedom to enjoy should also come with the freedom to experience the consequences of abuse.

You aren't the first person I've heard complain about this.  I have to admit it's a morbidly fascinating thing to think about.  If you aren't wearing your seatbelt and/or if you are going over the speed limit and you crash your car should you just lie in a ditch and think about how much you deserved it?  Should the nearly 75% of Americans who are overweight be allowed to have heart attacks while everyone says "Well, was that Big Mac worth it?"

Our society fascinates me in the sense that we love to act like risk taking is admirable and if you don't take risks you aren't really living...but we also enjoy seeing other people suffer the consequences of their actions.  Drug users are easy to just toss in this "don't bother saving them, they deserve it" pile, but when you think about it a lot of people do a lot of things that they may not "deserve" to be saved from.

There is something shamefully satisfying about watching someone reap what they sow.  With that being said, it's also a little odd to admit we'd want to see more of it, but again you aren't the first person who has proposed we stop saving at least specific people from dying preventable deaths.

I'll admit when I lived in a slum of Pittsburgh I'd be trying to sleep while hearing motorcycles go speeding down the street and night and any time one of them woke me up I'd think "please crash...please crash."

[*michaelsean*]

(11-03-2023, 06:50 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I'm fine with recreational drugs being legalized and taxed, I just also feel like if we choose that route we should stop resuscitating overdose victims at taxpayer's expense.  The freedom to enjoy should also come with the freedom to experience the consequences of abuse.

Tangent. I’m always curious about that. If cocaine would be legal, why would I need a prescription for other far less dangerous drugs?

[*Nately120*]

(11-03-2023, 09:41 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Tangent. I’m always curious about that. If cocaine would be legal, why would I need a prescription for other far less dangerous drugs?

Ida know.  If I need a prescription to lower my blood pressure why can I just waltz into the liquor store an buy a lethal amount of alcohol no questions asked?  

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(11-03-2023, 06:50 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I'm fine with recreational drugs being legalized and taxed, I just also feel like if we choose that route we should stop resuscitating overdose victims at taxpayer's expense.  The freedom to enjoy should also come with the freedom to experience the consequences of abuse.

I think you need to draw a line somewhere on that, though. 

Fentanyl, Heroin, Meth, and things of that caliber probably shouldn't ever become legalized (for selling, I am not adverse to decriminalizing having it in a personal use level) as they seem like they're largely only there to addict and destroy and/or kill you. They also seem to pretty much exclude you from the capability of being a productive member of society. That doesn't feel like it's the same with Weed, Mushrooms, Cocaine, LSD, etc, which I would be fine with legalizing as it would also allow some regulations to be put in place to make sure the product isn't tainted with other things unknown to the user.

Of course with the taxing you're likely then risking falling right into the problem going on with weed right now as some states are seeing it as something they can tax the shit out of in order to get more money for their budget for other things. No interest in making it actually affordable because they can milk them to pay for some special interest pork projects. It's then made it so expensive that now there's an even stronger black market.

[Belsnickel]

(11-03-2023, 09:54 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Ida know.  If I need a prescription to lower my blood pressure why can I just waltz into the liquor store an buy a lethal amount of alcohol no questions asked?  

Also, nicotine was once used as an insecticide in the US. Just food for thought, there.

[Tiger Teeth]

Adams isn't the only one being investigated in NYC. Someone else is actually on trial. With a "corrupt" Judge, I'm certain?

[Tiger Teeth]

Note to self...LEAVE!

[Mickeypoo]

(11-03-2023, 01:01 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: The real irony here is that Adams had to abruptly end his visit to Washington, the purpose of which was to do his share of the begging, along with several other Liberal Mayors, for $5B to handle illegal alien accommodations and concessions.  He had to do an about face from begging for money to run home and defend some ill gotten money.

But I thought illegal immigration was harmless and did not cost taxpayers any money.