Three days after New York City Mayor Eric Adams was hit with bribery and other charges by federal prosecutors following an investigation into his 2021 mayoral campaign finances, and two days after he pleaded not guilty to bribery charges relating to his alleged actions going back a decade or so, which he later moved to dismiss, the mayor continued his weekend citywide tour of religious institutions, visiting the Emmanuel Presbyterian Reform Church in Woodlawn Heights on Sunday, Sept. 29, to mark its 25^th anniversary.

 

Before entering the church, the mayor responded to questions from the media at the end of a week that saw more of his senior officials announce their resignations or retirements, including Schools Chancellor David Banks, Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, and public safety advisor, Tim Pearson.

 

“We have to continue to deliver for the City and I’m going to fight on behalf of the City,” Adams said. “I’ve always stated that that has been my commitment throughout my entire lifetime, and this is a great moment to step up and show all New Yorkers who are going through complexities in their lives how you must remain focused on your agenda, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

 

Asked if the mayor had spoken to Gov. Kathy Hochul over the weekend and if she had pressured him to resign, Adams said, “I never go into private conversations, but I believe that we have a great chief executive in the State, and I’m going to continue to dialogue with her throughout this entire weekend and going into next week as we continue to deliver.”

 

Asked why houses of worship had been his focus over the weekend, the mayor said, in part, “Every weekend, this is how I spend my weekends from Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sabbath observers, synagogues, as well as mosques and particularly the [inaudible] community. This is an African community, the community from Ghana, so this is not new.”

 

He added, “People who know me know that I am a man of faith, but we’ve done more than just houses of worship.” He said other scheduled weekend events were focused on moving the city forward.

 

On Friday, Sept. 27, the mayor’s scheduled events included meeting with senior administration officials, meeting with Schools Chancellor David Banks and staff, participating in a monthly birthday celebration at the Action for the Retired Community (ARC) at Philip Randolph Older Adult Center in Harlem, meeting with members of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary (MACJ), and an interview with Giornale Italo-Americano.

 

On Saturday, they included delivering remarks at the installation service for Rev. Stephen Green at Greater Allen AME Cathedral in Queens, and delivering remarks at a “Gospel Explosion Concert” at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in Bedford Park.

 

Asked what he would say to those who no longer had confidence that he could do his job, the mayor replied, in part, “To watch me!” He said there was always a “numerical minority” who were the loudest and sometimes people interpreted them as the majority.

 

Adams said when he speaks to New Yorkers at townhalls and other events, they are concerned with affordability, housing, and public safety. “They’re talking about educating our children, and that is what is my north star,” Adams said. “They said, ‘Eric, we elected you to move our city forward and for two years and nine months, you have accomplished that and we need you to stay focused on that.’”

The mayor said his lawyers would handle the indictment and what he described as “the complexity of the life of a mayor and of an individual.” He added, in part, “My job is to stay focused on running this city.”

 

Adams said there are always “political operatives who are going to use this as an opportunity for their agenda.” He alleged these were the same “usual suspects” who on his first day in office were against him. “We have been able to ignore their commentary and say their noise is not going to get in the way of the numbers, and the numbers show we have moved this city forward,” Adams said.

 

The mayor went on to say that he is going to handle the management of the city, that he was excited to do so, and that what New Yorkers believed in was what America believed in: due process. “We should never get away from that,” he said. “If we get away from due process, we’re getting away from what’s the cornerstone of who we are as Americans.”

The mayor, self-described as a proud son of Brownsville, retired NYPD captain, former State senator and Brooklyn borough president, is charged with bribery, including from foreign business people and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him. According to the 5-count indictment, as reported, Adams sought and accepted valuable benefits, including luxury international travel for favors, including pressuring the FDNY to facilitate the opening of a foreign government’s Manhattan skyscraper that had not passed a fire inspection.

 

Prosecutors allege the building would have failed the inspection and that in exchange for bribes by a Turkish official, Adams did as instructed. They allege because of Adams’ pressure on the FDNY, a department official responsible for the fire safety assessment of the skyscraper was told he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce, and after Adams intervened, the skyscraper opened as requested by the Turkish official.

 

Additionally, the indictment read, in part, that Adams allegedly sought “straw” or “nominee” donations from [third party] U.S.-based contributors, meaning the true contributors paid through such nominal donors who allegedly falsely certified they were contributing their own money. This allowed foreign actors to allegedly circumvent laws designed to prevent foreign influence.

 

According to the indictment, wealthy individuals also allegedly evaded laws designed to limit their power over elected officials, since the law restricts the amount of money any one donor can donate to a candidate, and businesses allegedly circumvented a ban on corporate contributions by funneling their donations through multiple employees, frustrating a law designed to curb corporate power in politics.

 

They allege Adams went on to use the donations received “to defraud New York City and seek public funds” [taxpayer money]. The City’s matching funds program matches small dollar donations from individual City residents with up to eight times the original amount in public funds. The program was founded to democratize the electoral system to allow greater participation by candidates who do not have wealthy backgrounds.

 

According to the indictment, Adams applied for public matching funds, fraudulently obtaining as much as $2,000 in such public funds for each individual illegal contribution made. Adams, and those working at his discretion, allegedly falsely certified compliance with campaign finance rules despite the mayor’s repeated acceptance of straw donations, allegedly relying on the donations’ concealed nature to falsely portray them as lawful.

 

As a result, prosecutors allege Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10,000,000 in taxpayer dollars, and allege Adams also sought and received other improper benefits from some of the same co-conspirators who funneled straw donations to his campaigns.

 

Prosecutors allege Adams and others working at his direction repeatedly took steps to shield his solicitation and acceptance of luxury benefits from public scrutiny. They allege he did not disclose the travel benefits he received in annual financial disclosures he was required to file as a New York City employee.

 

They also allege sometimes the mayor agreed to pay a nominal fee, creating the appearance of having paid for heavily discounted travel, while other times, he allegedly created and instructed others to create fake paper trails, falsely suggesting he had paid, or planned to pay, for travel benefits that were actually free.

 

They went on to allege that the mayor also deleted messages with others involved in his misconduct, including in one instance allegedly assuring a co-conspirator in writing that he “always” deleted her messages.

 

Appearing in a video shared with the media on Wednesday night, after news of the expected indictment broke, and though his words and posture were defiant, the mayor’s hands were initially trembling until he pressed his fingertips together to make them stop. Since then, at various events, he has presented with an air of confidence and relaxation, at times dancing, laughing, and taking selfies with supporters, including on Sunday in Woodlawn Heights.

 

As the mayor was wrapping up his comments in Woodlawn, Norwood News asked him what he would say to New Yorkers who were having difficulty reconciling two different stories (Hizzoner’s and that of federal prosecutors). He did not respond.

Norwood News spoke to some of the mayor’s supporters, congregants of Emmanuel Presbyterian Reform Church, on Sunday, including Maxwell Kwason and his wife, Sarah Kwason. Maxwell said it was his first time to meet Adams. We asked if news of the indictment bothered him or if he had complete faith in the mayor. “Yeah, currently,” he said.

 

“You know, with New York, it’s not guilty until proven guilty. He has been charged, but we have also heard of stories where people have been charged and have been exonerated. So, we wait to see what happens, but for now, I will say I will support him.”

 

Asked if he supported Adams to the same degree that he supported him prior to news of the indictment, Maxwell said, “Absolutely, until I hear…we see the evidence and other things that [inaudible], I’ll have a change of mind. I follow the news. I’ve heard what is going on but, as I said, innocent until proven guilty, so I still stand by him.”

 

Asked if Maxwell had faith in the judicial system, he said, “Sure.” Asked if he could share what the mayor said inside the church, Kwason said, “No. Actually, I reserve my comments. I have my reservation, so I think I hold it like that.”

 

Asked for her opinion on the mayor, Sarah said, “Until he [the mayor] is proven guilty, we are all in support with everything he’s doing.” Regarding the mayor’s remarks to the congregation, she said, in part, “He said he’s not going to step down. He’s going to move forward because during his time, many homeless people have been given a permanent place for almost two years now, and that is what we want for everybody. The weather is about to change, and it’s not nice to see people in the train, on the roadside.”

 

She continued, “And so, if you have somebody who has the people’s side, why won’t we support him?” Sarah said sometimes she saw that when some people were moving forward, others who should be supporting [the people] do not do so and instead look for weaknesses in the person moving forward, “sometimes making up stories” to pull the person down.

 

Sarah said this was not okay, because society needed people who stood up for other “needy, homeless and poor people” to enable them to move forward and help them make the best of themselves. “It may even be fruitful in the society to help other people,” she said.

 

“Why won’t we support them instead of pulling them down?” she said. “So, I stand to support him that whatever he’s doing, he should go ahead. If he’s not guilty, he should feel free and continue with what he’s doing, and God is with him in Jesus’ name.”

 

Asked if she believed the charges, Sarah said, “I’m not going to conclude by saying I’m not, but between him and his God, he knows the truth about everything they are saying about him, and if he’s not guilty, that’s where I’m standing, that I’m supporting him because I’ve seen his good work.”

 

Sarah added, “So, if he knows in his heart that he’s not guilty about this, he should continue to do whatever he’s doing until the process is done, and then God’s name will be on it.”

 

Asked if she believed it possible for a person to do good things on the one hand, and also be charged with a crime, Sarah said, “I can say that one person can be good, and then they can charge him, but the charge will not be true.”

She concluded, “The reason is this. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, did so many good things, and the people that envy him and people that were surprised and didn’t believe in God find many faults with him, and they even crucified him. But still, God glorified himself in his life, proving that he sent him to do what he came on earth to do. So, I believe that he [Adams] is doing good, and if he’s not proved guilty, he’s not guilty.”

 

On Oct. 1, the mayor sought sanctions on the federal prosecutors who charged him, alleging the prosecutors leaked grand jury material and other sensitive information in “brazen violations” of the rules. The mayor, 64, is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

To view some video footage of the mayor’s visit to Woodlawn Heights, click here and here. To view some of the mayor’s remarks inside the church, click here to watch on YouTube News 12’s coverage of the mayor’s visit.

 

Read our latest related coverage on the topic here, here, here, and here.