New York City Mayor Eric Adams indicted on federal charges: NYT

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams indicted on federal charges: NYT news from the New York Times that New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal charges. Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney joins to discuss the legal circumstances

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00:00We have some breaking news this evening to bring you tonight involving the

00:04mayor of America's largest city, this one. The New York Times is reporting

00:07tonight that New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal

00:11charges. NBC News has not independently verified that report and the Times

00:16reports that those charges remain sealed as of this evening, so we do not know

00:20what those charges are and what they include or do not include. Joining me now

00:25is Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney and an MSNBC legal analyst. Joyce, just to

00:29reiterate what we have now, NBC News can report that New York City Mayor Eric

00:33Adams is expected to face federal charges by prosecutors out of the

00:37Southern District in New York and those charges could come as soon as tomorrow

00:41according to two sources familiar with the matter. Joyce, just your top-line

00:47reaction first to the fact that the feds are charging potentially, reportedly, the

00:52mayor of New York City. If that is in fact what happens, Eric Adams will

00:58become the first mayor in New York City history to be charged while in office.

01:03Your thoughts. So I think this looks like a classic federal public corruption

01:10investigation. Unfortunately, the Justice Department has repeatedly been in the

01:15business of indicting mayors who are involved in corruption. That doesn't come

01:20as a surprise, I don't think, to anyone. There have been a number of

01:23investigations here. Joyce, I'm gonna let you turn your phone off. I'm gonna do it

01:30magically. Hey Siri, stop my alarm. It happens. Just in terms of, you know, you're

01:39talking about a classic corruption investigation, what we know is that the

01:43feds were interested in potential illegal foreign donations. The countries

01:47that have been mentioned in the reporting, again, we do not know if this

01:50is going to be in the indictment, included Turkey, Israel, China, Qatar, South

01:54Korea, and Uzbekistan. You know, Lisa Rubin mentioned there may be up to five,

02:00six, or seven different federal investigations. How would those work?

02:05I mean, what is the sort of pecking order of those investigations and sort of how

02:10do you expect them to work in concert vis-a-vis these indictments that we're

02:14going to be seeing tomorrow morning? So it's possible that this is multiple

02:19sorts of branches of the same investigation, that in the course of

02:23doing one investigation, prosecutors stumbled upon other crimes and began

02:29branching out the investigation. That wouldn't be at all unusual. Much of the

02:34early interest, some of the early indication that we had involved these

02:38investigations about Turkey. Perhaps it was some sort of bribery or pay-to-play.

02:42We don't know, but prosecutors have likely been to the grand jury, obtained

02:48an indictment that will be unsealed, and we'll learn more about the details of

02:53what they're alleging once they unseal that indictment, whether it's limited

02:58simply to the Turkey investigation. Are there others? Will it only involve the

03:04mayor or will there be multiple defendants in a conspiracy in this case?

03:08You know, I should just, again, for folks who haven't been following this

03:11closely, and that is totally understandable, the investigation thus

03:15far, the reporting that we have for The New York Times has focused on Mr. Adams

03:20pressuring the fire department to approve a new high-rise Turkish consulate

03:24in Midtown. They've examined free flights and flight upgrades the mayor received

03:29from Turkish Airlines. They have also looked at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar,

03:36which the mayor attended, as well as, you know, information about the tickets he

03:41got to the World Cup in Qatar. I mentioned this in my conversation with

03:44Lisa Rubin. We're also looking at Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea, and Uzbekistan.

03:49Joyce, they seized the mayor's phones, several, I say phones, plural, maybe just

03:55phone, singular, but what would you imagine they would want to get out of the

03:59seizure of the mayor's phones in a case like this? Right, so the forensic

04:05investigators who look at phones are very sophisticated and able to obtain

04:10data, sometimes that the individual whose phone it is believes that they have

04:14deleted or can't be recovered. So it can be useful simply for recovering

04:20addresses and contacts and patterns of communications. If you have the

04:25appropriate probable cause, you can get communications themselves. You might see

04:30searches on the phone. What has the individual whose phone you've seized

04:34been searching for? Phones are a goldmine, a real treasure trove for investigators

04:39that can help you develop linkages between individuals and events, as well

04:44as providing specific evidence that's used to further a prosecution. Joyce,

04:49when you talk about, you know, this is obviously very much a quickly moving

04:55weather front, but when you talk about the mayor's ability to lead the city on

05:00a practical matter facing

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