NYC mayor insists law was followed amid FBI probe into his campaign
Published:Tuesday | November 14, 2023 | 8:39 PM
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Eric Adams declared that “we follow the law” but deflected key questions Tuesday about an FBI investigation into his 2021 campaign, while his lawyer said there were no signs that the inquiry was targeting the mayor.
After the FBI seized his phones and iPad last week, the first-term Democrat reiterated Tuesday that he was cooperating with what he called a “review” and said he wouldn't speculate on its outcome.
Insisting that he didn't want to impede the investigation, he and his chief City Hall lawyer declined to say whether other administration or campaign figures' electronics were turned over, whether the FBI had asked to interview the mayor, or who or what another Adams attorney meant in saying last week that “an individual had recently acted improperly.”
But Zornberg did say that “there has been no indication that I've seen that the mayor is a target.”
The federal investigation burst into public view on November 2 when agents searched the home of Adams' chief fundraiser during his 2021 mayoral campaign, Briana Suggs.
The development prompted Adams to bail out of a scheduled White House meeting and fly home from Washington, later explaining he wanted to be among his staffers because “a leader needs to be here during those difficult times.”
Four days later after the search at Suggs' home, FBI agents stopped Adams as he was leaving a public event, asked his police security detail to step away and took his electronic devices.
The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which is overseeing the probe, is declining to comment. A spokesperson for Suggs has also declined to comment.
Neither she nor Adams has been accused of wrongdoing.
The New York Times reported that a search warrant indicated authorities have been examining whether the Adams campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources, funnelled through straw donors.
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