President Joe Biden on April 4, 2023, in Washington. (AP/Patrick Semansky)/Mayor Eric Adams on July 1, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing a growing crisis as the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigates his 2021 mayoral campaign for potential illegal donations from the Turkish government. The investigation comes in the wake of a federal raid on the home of Brianna Suggs, Adams’s chief campaign fundraiser, raising questions about the legality of campaign contributions. While Adams has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, the situation comes after he and President Joe Biden had a public fallout over the migrant crisis in New York City.
“I cannot tell you how much I start the day with telling my team, ‘We’ve got to follow the law, got to follow the law,’ almost to the point that I am annoying,” Adams, who spent 22 years in the New York Police Department and retiring from the NYPD as captain, said in a press conference six days after the raid, The New York Times reported.
Federal agents conducted a pre-dawn raid on Suggs’s home, sparking an investigation into whether Adams’s campaign received illegal donations from the Turkish government. While neither Adams nor Suggs has been accused of wrongdoing, the FBI’s interest in the campaign’s financial dealings has raised concerns about potential legal issues.
In response to the investigation, Adams’s campaign has retained the law firm WilmerHale to represent both the campaign and the mayor personally. The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Adams’s strained relationship with the White House began with private disagreements over handling the migrant crisis in New York City, as Adams demanded more federal support. The tension escalated as Adams publicly criticized Biden’s administration for, what Adams complained, was a lack of response to the crisis.
“There’s no leadership here,” Adams told a group of Biden aides last October in the chief of staff’s office, pleading the president do more to help NYC handle a massive influx of migrants, CNN reported.
“The White House has made the conscious decision that it’s better politics to let New York suffer than to actually try to fix the problem,” one person close to Adams told CNN. “The city is being left to deal with this colossal problem itself.”
So upset is Adams, he avoided meeting with the president during a recent Biden visit to NYC, Politico reported.
At one point, Adams declared the migrant crisis would destroy the city.
”Well, we’re here. We’re here. We’re getting no support on this national crisis. And we’re receiving no support. And let me tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to,” Adams said, The New York Times reported. “I don’t see an ending to this. I don’t see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City. Every community in this city is going to be impacted.”
New York City has become the epicenter of the migrant crisis, with over 100,000 asylum seekers arriving since spring 2022. The strain on the city’s resources and budget has left Adams frustrated and calling for federal assistance.
President Joe Biden in the state dining room of the White House on April 4, 2023, in Washington. (AP/Patrick Semansky)/Mayor Eric Adams at Madison Square Garden, on July 1, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
