New York City Mayor Eric Adams has reportedly been indicted by a grand jury following a federal corruption investigation.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday night that Adams became the first sitting mayor in the city’s history to face a criminal indictment. The nature of the charges is unclear, as the indictment remains sealed, with further details expected on Thursday.
“I always knew that If I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target—and a target I became,” Adams said in a statement. “If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”
In a prerecorded video statement, Adams said that he would “request an immediate trial so that New Yorkers can hear the truth,” while rejecting calls to resign and asking residents for their “prayers and patience.”
The mayor also suggested, without evidence, that he was being investigated because he “began to speak out for all” New Yorkers.
Shortly before the indictment was announced, Adams was at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art attending a reception with President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others.
In July, a federal subpoena was issued to obtain information from Adams, his campaign and City Hall. It arrived eight months after FBI agents confiscated the mayor’s phones and iPad as he left a Manhattan event.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a CNN appearance shortly after the indictment was announced that he felt “shock and concern for our city,” while urging the public to remember that “innocent until proven guilty is the American way.”
A number of top figures in the Adams administration have also been targeted in federal corruption investigations, with agents confiscating the phones the mayor’s schools chancellor, two deputy mayors and a senior adviser overseeing migrant shelter contracts this month.
Read more at Newsweek.com
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