Eric Adams Faces Pressure to Resign After Indictment

Happy Monday! We were relieved to learn that the walking, talking, bartending, 6-foot-tall humanoid robots at a Tesla event last week were likely remote-controlled by humans, rather than actually powered by artificial intelligence.

It’d be a real shame for the AI apocalypse to come just three weeks before the election that everyone is so excited about.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• Law enforcement officials arrested a 49-year-old man at a checkpoint near former President Donald Trump’s rally in California’s Coachella Valley on Saturday, finding he was “illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine.” The man reportedly also possessed fake press and VIP credentials, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told reporters Sunday that the arrest “probably prevented” a third assassination attempt against Trump in recent months. The U.S. Secret Service and FBI issued a joint statement about the incident, concluding that it “did not impact protective operations” and that “former President Trump was not in any danger.”
• President Joe Biden ordered the Defense Department on Sunday to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery—an anti-ballistic missile defense system usually consisting of six truck-mounted launchers and 48 interceptors—to Israel, along with about U.S. 100 troops to operate it. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said its deployment would assist in Israel’s defense against attacks from Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly yet to decide how Israel will retaliate for Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack on the country—but a THAAD system could serve to help protect Israel if Tehran chooses to strike Israel again.
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that a Hezbollah drone attack killed four Israeli soldiers and injured more than 60 others at an army base near the northern Israeli city of Binyamina. The Times of Israel reported that Hezbollah had launched two drones, and, while IDF defenses successfully intercepted one, they ultimately lost track of the second, which was assumed to have crashed. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to unleash more against Israel if it continued operations in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the IDF announced on Saturday that an Israeli soldier was killed in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend. 
• The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said that a U.N. peacekeeper was shot and injured on Friday night at its base in southern Lebanon. The source of the gunfire remains unclear, though the organization noted there was “ongoing military activity nearby.” On Sunday, UNIFIL claimed that two IDF tanks forcibly entered a separate U.N. base in southern Lebanon—destroying its main gate—and remained for 45 minutes despite U.N. employees asking them to leave. In response, the IDF said one of its tanks reversed “several meters” into a UNIFIL post while evacuating two injured Israeli soldiers and taking incoming fire. “Throughout the entirety of the incident,” the IDF said, “no danger was posed to UNIFIL forces by the IDF activity.”
• Citing internal Hamas documents, the New York Times reported Saturday that the terrorist group had attempted to recruit Iran and Hezbollah, the Tehran-backed terrorist group in Lebanon, to join its October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. Hamas apparently even delayed the cross-border massacre—initially planned for fall 2022—in an effort to bring Iran and Hezbollah on board. Though Hamas ultimately carried out the attacks without Iran or Hezbollah’s direct participation, the report indicates both entities were “supportive in principle” of the planned assault. 
• The Biden administration on Friday issued new sanctions against Iran in retaliation for the country’s October 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel, targeting entities involved in the trade and transportation of Iranian petroleum and Iranian “Ghost Fleet” vessels that smuggle Iranian oil to sell in Asia. “Following that reckless attack, we made clear that Iran would face severe consequences,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. In addition, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. will issue further sanctions against those who abet Iran’s oil business.
• Ukrainian authorities said Friday that a Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa struck a commercial building and killed four civilians—including a 16-year-old girl—and injured ten others. Last week alone, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian strikes killed 14 civilians in the Odesa region as Moscow targets grain shipments from Ukraine. According to regional authorities, Russian forces are targeting foreign-flagged ships from small countries that would be unlikely to retaliate against Russia, including Panama, Palau, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. 
• The Justice Department announced on Friday that former U.S. Army Pvt. Cole Bridges had been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for trying to provide material support and guidance to the Islamic State while enlisted in the armed services. The 24-year-old was arrested in January 2021—after communicating with an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS supporter—and pleaded guilty in June 2023. “Cole Bridges used his U.S. Army training to pursue a horrifying goal,” said U.S. attorney Damian Williams. “The brutal murder of his fellow service members in a carefully plotted ambush.”
• The Justice Department on Friday sued the state of Virginia and state election officials, challenging a decision to remove ineligible voters from voter registration records. In early August, Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered election officials to send notices to registered voters identified by state officials as noncitizens, warning them they would have their voter eligibility revoked unless they were able to prove their citizenship. The Justice Department says the order violated the “Quiet Period Provision” of the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits systemic changes to voter registration in the 90-day leadup to Election Day. In response, Youngkin called the suit “a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections.”
• President Joe Biden traveled to Florida on Sunday to survey the damage from Hurricanes Milton, which made landfall last week, and Helene, which hit the state last month. While there, he announced $612 million for power grid and energy projects in states affected by the two storms. More than a million customers are still without power in Florida, and the death toll from Hurricane Milton stands at 17 people.
• SpaceX’s Starship—the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built—successfully completed its fifth-ever flight test on Sunday, with the rocket booster safely returning to its launchpad. Upon its return, two giant robotic arms grabbed the booster in mid-air in a complicated “chopsticks” maneuver. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space exploration company, said Sunday the uncrewed test was intended to demonstrate Starship’s “fully and rapidly reusable design,” with the goal of eventually landing on Mars.
• The right-wing website Gateway Pundit published a short post on Saturday acknowledging there was “no widespread voter fraud” by Georgia election workers in the 2020 election. Editor and founder Jim Hoft’s admission came days after the company reached a settlement with two former Georgia election workers—Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss—who sued the online site for defamation after Gateway Pundit published articles accusing the pair of criminal voter fraud. While the terms of the agreement weren’t made public, Hoft said it was a “fair and reasonable settlement.”

Adams in the Hot Seat

Embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams is defiant after a grand jury handed up a five-count indictment against him last month. “I think when both sides of this come out, people are going to have a second look at this entire event that’s taking place,” he said at a Tuesday press conference. 

Adams is also, possibly improbably, a believer in his own political future. “I am going to serve my term and run for the election,” he proclaimed.

With less than a year to go until New York City’s mayoral primaries, it’s an open question as to whether Adams will be able to serve out his current term—much less secure a second one. After his indictment last month by federal prosecutors, high-profile members of the mayor’s administration continue to jump ship as New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul weighs his removal.

Late last month, federal prosecutors announced they were charging Adams with bribery, campaign finance offenses, and conspiracy. In allegations stretching back to Adams’ time as the borough president of Brooklyn from 2013 to 2021, the Department of Justice is accusing Adams of soliciting and accepting benefits from foreign businesspeople and, according to the indictment, at least one employee of the Turkish government.

As we noted a few weeks ago, Adams’ indictment is just one of many corruption scandals plaguing his administration, and even more city officials have jumped ship since Adams was charged. Interim New York Police Department Commissioner Tom Donlon—appointed by Adams a month ago to replace the previous commissioner, who also resigned—is expected to step down next week as a result of a federal investigation into earlier periods in his career. 

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright resigned Tuesday after federal investigators searched her home and seized her phone last month. Deputy Mayor Philip Banks, Wright’s brother-in-law, also resigned last week in the face of federal inquiries. David Banks, Wright’s husband, resigned in September as a result of a corruption investigation.

Prosecutors investigating Adams have reportedly demanded information related to five other countries—Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea, and Uzbekistan—in addition to Turkey. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported on Sunday that Winnie Greco, a top Adams fundraiser and former director of Asian affairs for the city, had close ties to organizations and people associated with the Chinese Communist Party. The report comes on the heels of the arrest of a staffer in Gov. Hochul’s office for working as an agent of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The Adams indictment, though, is focused on Turkey—particularly the mayor’s acceptance of flights and travel expenses to visit Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. He is also accused of soliciting illegal campaign donations from individuals connected to the Turkish government and Turkish business interests, funneling campaign funds through straw donors to access a city program that matched campaign donations. Mohamed Bahi—a former aide to Adams who worked on campaign fundraising in 2021 and resigned a week ago—was charged on Tuesday with witness tampering by federal investigators. He allegedly told witnesses to lie, and himself deleted incriminating messages during the investigation into illegal campaign donations related to the 2021 mayoral campaign.

According to the Adams indictment, the mayor was devoted to Turkey’s national carrier—and it was mutual. “During the July and August 2017 trip, Adams’s Partner was surprised to learn that ADAMS was in Turkey when she had understood him to be flying from New York to France. ADAMS responded, in a text message,‘Transferring here. You know first stop is always instanbul [sic].’ 

But flights were not the only alleged benefits. Stopovers in Turkey apparently included hotel stays to the tune of thousands of dollars a night, visits to luxury resorts and Turkish baths, and free dinners. The perks also allegedly extended to others in Adams’ orbit: One fundraiser for the Adams campaign who traveled to Istanbul had her expenses covered by “Turkish hospitality services,” with a Turkish government official creating a fake hotel bill to create the impression that she had paid for her stay. On her flight back to New York, which was booked on an economy ticket, the fundraiser was given access to Turkish Airlines’ business lounge and private suite. 

As an airline manager once wrote in a text to Adams, “This is our suite for our VIPs [a]nd we want you to feel your self Vip :).” Adams replied, “thanks a million.”

According to the indictment, Adams was well aware that his actions were—at the very least—skirting the edge of legality. Prosecutors allege that Adams would often agree to pay nominal fees to Turkish Airlines or hotels that were far below the actual price of travel or lodgings, encouraged subordinates to create false paper trails, and deleted incriminating messages. This included, according to prosecutors, “in one instance, assuring a co-conspirator in writing that he ‘always’ deleted her messages.”

But how did this cash out for the Turkish government? The prosecutors’ case centers on what has felled many a politician in recent years: aiding favored interests in navigating the thicket of red tape and bureaucracy that entangles business and construction projects. In Adams’ case, he allegedly assisted the Turkish government by pressuring inspectors from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) to allow the new Turkish consular building, a 36-story skyscraper, to open without a fire inspection.

Prosecutors claim that the help was given as a direct quid pro quo for trips in 2021 and 2022. Plus, “at the time, the building would have failed an FDNY inspection,” according to the indictment. Because of Adams’ “pressure on the FDNY, the FDNY official responsible for the FDNY’s assessment of the skyscraper’s fire safety was told that he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce.” 

More than 40 elected officials across all levels of government have called for Adams’ departure. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, called on Adams to resign before his indictment had even been unsealed. Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, eight New York state senators, and at least a dozen members of the state assembly have also called for Adams to step down since his indictment. Almost 70 percent of city residents think the mayor should resign, according to a Marist poll released earlier this month. 

The ripple effects of Adams’ indictment and the ongoing waves of resignations are also extending into the upper echelons of New York state politics: Hochul, the governor, is now facing calls from many of Adams’ critics to force the mayor to resign. And unusually for an American governor, she actually has the power to do so. 

In New York City, there is no mechanism to remove a mayor by either impeachment by the City Council or recall by New York’s citizens. Instead, the City Charter contains a process so byzantine it would give Justinian the Great heart palpitations. First, a five-member Committee on Mayoral Inability—composed of the corporation counsel who’s appointed by the mayor, the city comptroller, the speaker of the City Council, a deputy mayor designated by the mayor, and the most senior borough president—is empowered, with a vote of five of its members, to declare the mayor either temporarily or permanently unable to “discharge the powers and duties of the office of the mayor.” 

But their work is not yet done. The procedure then moves to the Panel on Mayoral Inability (it’s different!) composed of all the members of the City Council. If the committee rules that the mayor is temporarily unable to discharge his duties, he can resist the ruling. If it rules that he is permanently incapacitated, he cannot. In either situation, the panel must vote within 21 days to either uphold or deny the committee’s verdict.

To make matters more difficult for local politicians who want Adams gone, the Committee on Mayoral Inability currently stands at only four members, since the City Council has not yet approved Adams’ nominee for a new corporation counsel. And to make things even more complicated, the City Charter does not define the term “inability,” so a committee or panel would be swimming in murky waters from the start. Furthermore, while many members of the 51-seat City Council have called for his resignation, they’re still in the minority. The City Council’s speaker, Adrienne Adams, has also refused to call for Adams to quit, citing his right to due process. 

But if the City Charter ties the hands of legislators, the governor’s powers under state law are breathtakingly unfettered. It’s quite simple: If any mayor in the state is presented by the governor with “a copy of the charges against him and an opportunity to be heard in his defense,” the governor has the ability to remove him. 

The catch? The last time the power was used against a mayor of New York was more than 90 years ago, in 1932, by then-Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during a lurid Tammany Hall corruption scandal. Therefore, even though Hochul may technically have the power to remove Adams, doing so would be a seismic decision in New York politics.

In relatively limited recent press appearances, the governor has sounded reticent about using her removal powers. “I’m giving the mayor an opportunity now to demonstrate to New Yorkers and to me that we are righting the ship, to instill the confidence that is wavering right now,” Hochul said last week. 

And one interpretation suggests the recent wave of resignations is an example of Adams doing just that. “With all these resignations and departures, it seems like rather than circle the wagons, he’s amputating the infected parts,” Cam Macdonald, a partner at the Government Justice Center and adjunct fellow at the Empire Center for Public Policy—a New York state think tank—told TMD. Though by that same token, the resignations could equally be an attempt at self-preservation by those close to Adams, and it’s not clear whether any of the resignations have come at Adams’ behest.

Hochul appears to be in wait-and-see mode, according to former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, writing in New York Magazine: “It appears that Hochul has placed the mayor on a double-secret employee performance improvement plan, based on some behind-closed-doors agreement with unstated parameters.”

Whether he gets to serve out his current term, Adams is already facing a very unusual situation for an incumbent Democrat in New York: a contested primary. Prominent elected officials, including former Comptroller Scott Stringer, who ran in the previous mayoral primary, and current Comptroller Brand Lander, have already begun fundraising, while Democratic politicians like former Gov. Andrew Cuomo are reportedly mulling mayoral bids.

However, Adams has projected confidence in his position. “Do you think I would be a puppet mayor and allow others to pick my administration?” he said on Friday. “The governor is a partner.”

With his entrenched position in the City Charter and a reticent governor, Adams may be here for the long haul, according to former Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Real talk, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Worth Your Time

• The online reaction to the recent hurricanes in the U.S. revealed something dark about the state of American discourse, and it’s not pretty. “The truth is, it’s getting harder to describe the extent to which a meaningful percentage of Americans have dissociated from reality,” Charlie Warzel wrote in The Atlantic. “Even in a decade marred by online grifters, shameless politicians, and an alternative right-wing-media complex pushing anti-science fringe theories, the events of the past few weeks stand out for their depravity and nihilism. As two catastrophic storms upended American cities, a patchwork network of influencers and fake-news peddlers have done their best to sow distrust, stoke resentment, and interfere with relief efforts. But this is more than just a misinformation crisis. To watch as real information is overwhelmed by crank theories and public servants battle death threats is to confront two alarming facts: first, that a durable ecosystem exists to ensconce citizens in an alternate reality, and second, that the people consuming and amplifying those lies are not helpless dupes but willing participants.” 
• Writing in National Review, Jack Butler asked, “If you could get all the benefits of exercise with none of the work, would you do it?” This question may no longer be purely hypothetical. “Regarding the supposed miracle pill, the New York Post recently reported on a study by Danish researchers in which they claimed to have developed a molecule that can re-create some of the effects of strenuous activity on the human body—without the strenuous activity. … When these studies get attention, though, it’s usually for their more exciting potential to herald the end of the need for exercise.” What’s the problem with that? “Rather than offering a pathway back to health for those who need one, they could encourage shortcuts to fitness. A drug that promises to replicate the boons of exercise and a mindset that looks for the smallest possible amount of exertion that still produces some of its benefits don’t just neglect the full range of health possibilities offered by a truly active lifestyle. They also shortchange our possibilities as human beings.”

Presented Without Comment

Former President Donald Trump, speaking to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo: 

Well, I always say, so, we have two enemies: We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within. And the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia, and all these countries. Because if you have a smart president, he can handle them pretty easily. I handled, I got along great with all—I handled them. But the thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside like Adam Schiff, Adam “Shifty” Schiff. … But I call him the enemy from within.

In the Zeitgeist

Kenyan runner Ruth Chepngetich made history on Sunday at the Chicago Marathon, breaking the women’s world record with a time of 2:09:56—nearly two minutes faster than the previous record. And just to prove she had some juice left, she grabbed the Kenyan flag and ran some more. 

Toeing the Company Line

• Mark your calendars: Steve and Jonah’s annual “State of The Dispatch”—with a special fifth-anniversary twist—will take place during Dispatch Live (🔒) on Tuesday evening. Get your questions ready—we’ll have more details on how to tune in tomorrow.
• In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics crew finished up their Pennsylvania swing, Jonah explored an untapped market for Hollywood’s villains, Nick explained why (🔒) Trump’s national popular support may be on the rise, Chris dug into (🔒) the GOP’s favorable outlook in the 2024 Senate races, and in Dispatch Faith, Samuel D. James argued that a desire to control can obscure our dependence on God and each other. 
• On the podcasts: Jonah ruminated on The Dispatch’s fifth anniversary and the contradistinction between patriotism and nationalism. 
• On the site over the weekend: Isabel Soto reviewed Mike Madrid’s new book, Latino Century, which explores why Latinos have shifted rightwards in the Trump era, and Anastasia Boden argued that Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s new book, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, understates the Supreme Court’s responsibility to strike down bad law. 
• On the site today: Seth Masket explores the history of political realignments—and whether we’re currently living through one—in this week’s Monday Essay.

Let Us Know

Do you think Kathy Hochul will force Eric Adams out?