NEWYORK: New York city Mayor Eric Adams said that his legal team is going to peruse the entire indictment and asked New Yorkers to wait to hear his defense before making any judgments.
Addressing a media briefing and replying to the questions, Mayor Eric Adams, who is facing legal trouble after being indicted by the federal authorities under bribery and other misuse of authority charges, said that they 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. You know, 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,” he said.
“And so, 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 continue the success that we’ve witnessed over the last two years and nine months as the mayor of the City of New York,” he said.
“We are not surprised. We expected this. This is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last 10 months, the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing, this did not surprise us that we reached this day. And I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments,” he said.
Mayor Adams said that his attorneys will take care of the case so he 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,” he said.
“It’s an insult to the hardworking people of this 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,” he said.
To a question about indictment and initiation of proceedings against him, Mayor Adams said that he said that we need to ask the federal prosecutors who gave the directive or the order.
“Everyone that knows me knows I follow campaign rules and I follow the law. That is how I live my life and I don’t see coming into the 60s, in my age, all of a sudden changing what I’ve done all the time. I follow the law and I follow the campaign rules,” he said.
Replying to another question about resign from the office, Mayor Adams said that he will not step down.
“I think that people fail to properly realize that we have over 300,000 dedicated employees, over 300,000. Those who decided to transition to do some more things with their lives, many of them told me ahead of time they were going to do that,” he said.
“We have an amazing, incredible team of dedicated New Yorkers, and they’re going to continue to do that. I think that’s what’s going to surprise everyone. 10 months ago, when my phones were removed, like today, today, it was about my phones. Same thing that happened 10 months ago. Today was about my phones. Let’s get clear on that. When they removed my phones 10 months ago, people said that all of a sudden the city was going to collapse. It was not going to move forward. Look what has happened over 10 months,” he said.
“Over 10 months, more jobs in the city, more small businesses open. Decrease in crime. You are seeing over and over again success and success over and over again. So we’re going to continue to prosper, we’re going to continue to move forward, and we’re looking forward to that in this city,” he said.
Mayor Adams said that we should ask those who are conducting this investigation, we should ask them who gave the directive to carry out what we have witnessed over the last 10 months.
“Over the last 10 months, you knew information before my attorneys knew information over the last 10 months. You reported that there was an indictment before my attorneys knew there was an indictment. Over the last 10 months, this has happened over and over again, and this is not how our system of justice should operate,” he said.
Mayor Adams also thanked the supporters of all ethnic groups particularly the men and women of the clergy.
