New York City Mayor Eric Adams ran into a wall of heckling as he began his public response to an indictment released Thursday.
Adams was indicted on allegations that he illegally accepted foreign campaign donations and tried to cover up the donations by having so-called straw donors claim they donated the money instead.
The embattled Adams staged a Thursday morning media event to respond to the allegations, but part of the event ended up being drowned out by a protester identified as Hawk Newsome of the Black Lives Matter chapter of Greater New York, according to a video clip posted to X.
Adams had been smiling and starting to speak when he was drowned out by Newsome.
NOW: Hawk Newsome of BLM Greater NY can be heard shouting “You are a disgrace for all Black people in this city!”- as NYC Mayor Adams holds press conference at Gracie Mansion following his indictmentpic.twitter.com/74jIt2ztmB
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) September 26, 2024
“You are a disgrace to all of the black people in New York City,” Newsome shouted at one point as Adams stopped smiling and talking.
“The black Mayor Eric Adams is not being targeted because he is black,” Newsome said in a video clip posted to X.
“This man is being targeted because of his illegal activities,” Newsome added.
Should Eric Adams resign?
Yes: 93% (136 Votes)
No: 7% (10 Votes)
NEW: “The Black Mayor Eric Adams is not being targeted because he is Black”, BLM activist Hawk Newsome spoke after Gracie Mansion press conference following indictment, “This man is being targeted because of his illegal activities”.
Video by @peterhvideo @FreedomNTV… pic.twitter.com/1dqzzRctCr
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) September 26, 2024
The indictment said that “for nearly a decade, Adams sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”
“By 2018, Adams-who had by then made known his plans to run for Mayor of New York City-not only accepted, but sought illegal campaign contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign, as well as other things of value, from foreign nationals. As Adams’s prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him,” the indictment alleged.
After alleging that Adams gave “favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received,” the indictment said that after winning the 2021 election Adams was “planning to solicit more illegal contributions.”
The indictment said that because of New York City’s fund for matching campaign donations, the illegal donations allowed Adams to receive $10 million from that fund.
Adams is charged with concealing the donations, which took place over a number of years.
After he was elected mayor, the indictment said Adams allowed the Turkish consulate to receive city approval for its new skyscraper in spite of safety concerns, in exchange for luxury travel and other items.
The indictment cited one instance of alleged efforts to block the federal investigation.
“On November 6, 2023, FBI agents executed a search warrant for the electronic devices used by Eric Adams, the defendant. Although Adams was carrying several electronic devices, including two cellphones, he was not carrying his personal cellphone, which is
the device he used to communicate about the conduct described in this indictment,” the indictment said.
“When Adams produced his personal cellphone the next day in response to a subpoena, it was ‘locked,’ such that the device required a password to open. Adams claimed that after he learned about the investigation into his conduct, he changed the password … and increased the complexity of his password from four digits to six,” the indictment said.
“Adams had done this, he claimed, to prevent members of his staff from inadvertently or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone because, according to Adams, he wished to preserve the contents of his phone due to the investigation,” the indictment said.
But, Adams further claimed, he had forgotten the password he had just set, and thus was unable to provide the FBI with a password that would unlock the phone, the indictment said.
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