Left: NYC Mayor Eric Adams reacts to indictment by suggesting he’s a victim of politically motivated persecution (Molly Crane-Newman/X). Right: Attorney General Merrick Garland (AP Photo/Susan Walsh).
While U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has often been accused of heading up a “weaponized” DOJ out to get Donald Trump and his Republican allies, the Wednesday news of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ federal indictment is the latest example of a high-profile Democrat facing a criminal case of historic proportions.
The indictment, unsealed Thursday, charges Adams with bribery, wire fraud, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, and conspiracy to commit those offenses, a development that was not out of the blue considering the feds nearly a year ago seized the mayor’s phones while probing campaign donations of Turkish origins.
But Adams, the longtime NYPD officer who rose to power in 2022 and just last year awarded fellow federal indictee Sean “Diddy” Combs with a key to the city, reacted to the news of the indictment by claiming the DOJ was weaponized against him, too.
New videotaped statement from Mayor Eric Adams: “It is now my belief that the federal government intends to charge me with federal crimes. If so, these charges will be entirely false, based on lies.” pic.twitter.com/7D94LsuSNC
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) September 26, 2024
“I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be targeted. And a target I became,” Adams said, putting out his version of Trump’s “In the end, they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you — and I’m just standing in their way.”
Adams, adding that the imminent charges would be “entirely false” and “based on lies,” also slammed the DOJ for searching the home of Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon on a reported tip that he was in possession of classified documents (sound familiar?) from as far back as two decades ago.
“Just one week after he joined my administration,” Adams said, with emphasis. “Enough. I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit.”
As the mayor suggests the Biden administration’s DOJ is targeting him for political reasons, it should be noted that the very same DOJ recently achieved historic firsts in the successful prosecutions of prominent Democrats, including with the felony convictions after trial of President Joe Biden’s own son, Hunter Biden.
Never before had a sitting president’s child faced a federal criminal trial and conviction, but Hunter Biden was twice indicted, convicted of gun charges, and most recently pleaded guilty to tax offenses.
Bob Menendez, the longtime New Jersey Democrat and former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was found guilty by a jury of his peers in July for bribery and fraud conspiracies and for acting as a foreign agent, the lattermost charge and conviction a first in its own right for a U.S. Senator. Menendez has since resigned from office, but the case against his wife Nadine remains, albeit in a state of delay.
As recently as May, the DOJ secured bribery indictments against Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and his wife in yet another foreign agent case.
Now Adams has become first sitting NYC mayor to face federal criminal charges, and a case like it has not been seen since the 19th century.
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