As the news broke on Thursday Federal agents seized the phones of five of Mayor Eric Adams’ top officialsCity Hall officials called an emergency meeting.
About 50 members of the administration who participated in the 3:45 p.m. call were told by the mayor’s chief of staff, Camille Joseph Warlake, that she understood the development would provoke concern. But she asked that they focus on serving New York City, according to two staff members on the call.
A few hours later, Mr. Adams addressed the FBI’s raids for the first time, resorting to what has become his response to growing problems: He will “stay focused, no distractions and grind,” he said. Television interview on Fox 5.
But the remarkable avalanche of investigations and raids that have struck at the heart of the mayor’s circle is no ordinary distraction, and it raises immediate questions about the mayor’s ability to manage the nation’s largest city amid an onslaught of investigations now affecting his senior leadership.
On Wednesday, federal agents seized the phones of the city’s police commissioner, first deputy mayor, school chancellor, deputy mayor for public safety and a senior adviser and searched at least one of their homes.
The nature of the investigation by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is unclear, but it appears one is focused on senior City Hall officials and the other involves the police commissioner. The investigation is separate from the same office An ongoing investigation into the mayor and his campaign finances.
Separately, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York is investigating whether federal agents in February Discover two houses owned by the Mayor’s Director of Asian Affairs.
Mr. Adams has not been charged with any crime, and has repeatedly said that as a retired police captain, he has a certain loyalty to the law. But the investigation has backfired on City Hall and prompted a feeding frenzy for its critics.
They come at a time of already acute vulnerability for the mayor, once considered a rising Democratic star whose stature has rapidly declined. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month, The mayor was rarely presentEven without a normal speaking role.
A Quinnipiac University poll in December put his approval rating at 28 percent. The lowest for a New York City mayor Since Quinnipiac began surveying the city in 1996. The Democratic primary for mayor next June is expected to be unusually competitive, with Many severe candidates are already in the race, and others are considering jumping in.
The investigation is sure to be the focus of the primary campaign, with some of Mr. Adams’ opponents getting an early start.
Brad Lander, the city controller who is running for mayor, cited an endless stream of stories about the Adams administration are being raided and investigated by federal law enforcement,” and said it was “clear that New Yorkers are not getting the stable leadership we deserve.”
State legislator Zohran Mamdani of Queens, who is considering entering the race, Said the city is facing the cost of living crisis And better deserved: “An administration beset by corruption and distracted by scandal cannot effectively deal with it.”
Mr. Adams, the city’s second black mayor, and his allies argue that his background holds him to a different standard, and he accuses unnamed forces of conspiring to deny him a second term — Often compares himself The city’s first black mayor, David N. For Dinkins, who Rudolph W. He lost re-election to Giuliani.
But Mr. Dinkins has never faced the same federal inquiry that has descended on Mr. Adams and his circle.
It’s not hard to find signs that the investigation has distracted the mayor and his team. In November, When Mr. Adams learns that his chief fundraiser’s home has been raidedHe immediately canceled a series of meetings with federal officials in Washington, D.C., about immigrants — an issue he had raised for New York City — and rushed home to comfort his staff, he said.
After Thursday’s news, the police commissioner, Edward A. Caban failed to attend an event organized with the American Cancer Society. The school’s chancellor, David C. Banks, who should have celebrated the first day of school, Canceled a television interview with WPIX-TV.
The upheaval comes amid significant and waxing challenges for the city: an affordability crisis that is pushing families out of the city, an influx of migrants from the southern border that is straining the city’s asylum system, continuing fears about crime, concerns about the reality of the commercial real estate market, Traffic Congestion and Sanitation.
Maya Wiley, who is running for mayor against Mr. Adams in 2021 and has served as an adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio as he faces his own federal investigation, said the investigation would undoubtedly affect the work of high-ranking officials, but that daily tasks like collecting trash that day The operation will continue.
“It’s incredibly stressful and distracting for people at the top level of government who need to make big decisions and move policy,” she said.
Five city officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said they were stunned by the expanding investigation, and two of them said they were concerned about how the inquiry could affect their work.
However, some of the government’s wheels continued to turn as planned.
Mr. Adams sought to keep a regular schedule Wednesday even after the FBI raided him, which has not yet been announced.
When a city subcontractor mistakenly drilled a hole in the casing of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, causing river water to seep in and cause the tunnel to close, Mr. Adams visited the site and spoke to the news media. On Thursday, he appeared at Public School 257 in Brooklyn with Mr. Banks, the school’s chancellor, smiling and high-fiving students at him. first day of school.
Shortly after the news broke Thursday, Mr. Adams was scheduled to participate in a 2 p.m. roundtable discussion at City Hall about electric bike safety. Queens City Council member Robert Holden said he had been trying to get a meeting for six months, and after seeing the news about the raid, he worried the mayor would cancel.
But Mr. Adams came to listen to accident victims and members of the street safety group Transportation Alternatives. Mr. Adams was joined by top adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin and Jennifer Rajkumar, a state legislator from Queens and a near-constant fixture at Mr. Adams’ side.
“He was patient – he listened,” Mr Holden said. “He didn’t say much. He wanted to hear both sides.
But as he tries to focus, Mr. Adams is unlikely to escape the issue — and his critics are unlikely to let him off the hook. Jumane Williams, the public attorney, said the investigation “affects New Yorkers’ trust in government” and called on the mayor to “provide clear and immediate explanations to the public to help restore trust.”
When Mr. Adams was asked Thursday on Fox 5 how he could convince New Yorkers that he was not distracted, he said he had opened schools for nearly one million students, an effort he called no small feat.
“Remember, this was going on for a 10-month period,” he said, referring to just one federal investigation, one related to his campaign finances. “And we’re seeing everything from record jobs to reduced crime.”
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