White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday shut down New York City Mayor Eric Adams' suggestion that the Justice Department targeted him and charged him for bribery and wire fraud due to his criticism of President Joe Biden's handling of the migrant influx.
“The president was clear, even when he was running in 2020, that he was going to make sure that DOJ is independent, and the DOJ is handling this case independently,” Jean-Pierre said during the White House press briefing. “I'm not going to go beyond that.”
Federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York in the morning announced charges against Adams, a former police captain, for allegedly accepting bribes from a Turkish government official. Adams was hit with five counts. Federal prosecutors have accused him of, for nearly a decade, seeking and accepting improper “luxury international travel” and other bribes, including at least one from a Turkish government official who wanted to curry influence. Prosecutors said Adams even took illegal campaign contributions for his 2021 run for mayor. Adams has denied any wrongdoing and vows to fight the charges.
Adams was once called a face of the Democratic Party for his center-left policies that appealed to working-class New Yorkers and his tough-on-crime platform that won him the mayoralty. But his national image took a hit when the then-Biden campaign reportedly dropped him from the campaign advisory board in May 2023. Adams has frequently called out the Biden administration for not doing more — including when it comes to funding — to help New York City as it contends with an influx of more than 150,000 migrants that the city has to care for and house.
