Mayor Eric Adams doubled down Tuesday on the unsubstantiated claim that President Biden’s Justice Department indicted him on federal corruption charges earlier this fall purely for political reasons.
Adams made the remarks during his weekly “off-topic” news conference on Dec. 3, when a reporter asked for his reaction to Biden pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, on Sunday evening. The younger Biden was facing possible jail time after being convicted on federal gun and tax evasion charges.
In a statement accompanying Biden’s pardon of Hunter on Sunday, he said he believes “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
But Mayor Adams, when asked about the pardon on Tuesday, said that it had “a level of irony” as he held up a copy of Tuesday’s New York Times and read a line from one of the front-page stories.
“‘President Biden and President-elect Donald J. Trump now agree on one thing: The Biden Justice Department has been politicized,'” Adams read from the Times story. “Does that sound familiar? I rest my case.”
Adams has pleaded not guilty to a five-count federal indictment that includes charges of bribery, soliciting foreign campaign donations and wire fraud. Prosecutors allege that he received unregistered luxury travel perks and illegal campaign donations from Turkish businessmen in exchange for political favors. He is set to go on trial in April of next year.
The mayor first floated his theory that the investigation was political retribution for his criticisms of the White House’s handling of the migrant influx on the night before he was indicted. He recorded a short video, saying, “I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, I would become a target, and so a target I became.”
Adams then appeared to largely avoid repeating that claim in the weeks since he was charged. That was until a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published last week, in which he resurfaced the idea that he was targeted for being outspoken about migrants.
Although Adams has repeatedly contended that his indictment is entirely based on politics, he has never provided evidence to support that claim. It also does not jibe with federal prosecutors saying in court that the investigation began in 2021, before Adams was elected mayor.
President-elect Trump has, also without evidence, said that Adams is the victim of political persecution at the hands of Biden’s Justice Department.
When asked about that specific point by a reporter, Adams said he wants to respond “to all that has unfolded for the last couple of months” but cannot on the advice of his attorneys.
“I’m just a fighter, I believe in fighting for my rights,” Adams said. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life, of the onslaught of this, and I have to remain silent, and I can’t answer and defend myself. That’s the hardest thing. But life is kind. It’s going to be an opportunity one day to really dig into all that has unfolded.”
