Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

September 26, 2024

Video available at: https://youtu.be/mPcN-wqLPwc

Mayor Eric Adams: First of all, I want to thank you for being here this morning, and I want to thank the supporters of all ethnic groups that are here, particularly the men and women of the clergy that's here, that have joined me here today. 
And we are not surprised. We expected this. This is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last 10 months, the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing, this did not surprise us that we reached this day. And I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. And I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. And I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. 

In about 30 minutes, you're going to hear a story of the case that is in front of us. This story will come from the federal prosecutors. And I ask to wait and hear our side to this narrative. From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city. My day-to-day will not change. I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do. And the 300,000 plus employees of our city government will continue to do their jobs because this is what we do as New Yorkers. It's an insult to the hardworking people of this city that anyone would say that they won't do their jobs while this case proceeds in the background. They are dedicated public servants, and I have been one of them for many years. And they're going to continue to do their job moving the city forward every day. 

It's an unfortunate day, and it's a painful day. But inside of all of that, it's a day where we will finally reveal why for 10 months I have gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I have done throughout my entire professional career. I want to now turn it over to the person who started me on this journey, Reverend Herbert Daughtry.

Reverend Dr. Herbert Daughtry: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You are our mayor and will be till time come, still will be our mayor. To all the supporters, irrespective of what people say, he's still our mayor. As he has indicated, we started on a journey a long time ago. I encouraged him to join the Police Department. He did, and you know the rest of the story. 

So, you know, Mr. Mayor, Eric, it's one more battle we have to fight. Right, just one more battle we have to fight. And we're not about to quit. We're not about to give up. We'll be there. We'll be there to the end. God bless you. God be with you. We're going to win this fight.

Mayor Adams: [] I affectionately call her Mother Dukes. Has been a head of the NAACP and just a leader that has mentored me throughout my entire journey. I want to now call up Mother Hazel Dukes.

Hazel Dukes, President, NAACP New York State Conference: Good morning. Good morning. My name is Hazel Dukes. I live in Harlem. [] I'm 92 years of age. I've known this young man for over 40 years. I come. With a heavy heart today. But my head is not unbowed. He's going to have his day in court. And we're going to stand by him. 

We came this morning to pray for him. Because prayer changed things. I am asking all New Yorkers to hear his side. To let him have a day in court. Let him have his day in court. And then we can make our decisions. But we are not here today to criticize the federal government where you might be, but shush. That's all you brought here to criticize. Yeah. We are going to be here. We're going to be here.

[Crosstalk.]

Dukes: We are calling on all New Yorkers to listen carefully, not to the loudmouths, but listen to facts and figures. His lawyers will go and do our work for us, and we will stand with this mayor.

Mayor Adams: We want to now bring one of our amazing, amazing bishops up forward now. Bishop?

Bishop Dr. Chantel R. Wright: We are admonished to be angry as sin not. We can have our anger, we move forward. We move forward. We move forward. 

None of us have ever done anything in our lives that we've asked forgiveness for and it was not granted. We live in a society where if we do something, there is a due process for all of us. There's a process that starts, it has a middle, and it has an end. And none of us has the right to preempt that process. If I have an accident, I have to report it to my insurance and they fight it out and then avoid it. And then avoid it. That verdict is announced. 

We cannot prejudge any situation in fear that we might prejudge it inappropriately. And the same justice that we want for ourselves, we want for our mayor. If I confess, I know there is a God that says He's faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me from everything that is unrighteous. Until the verdict is announced, we stand. We are not people who have a yellow strip down our back and neither are we intimidated by loud voices. Whatever the truth is, the truth will prevail.

Sheikh Musa Drammeh: Good morning, my fellow New Yorkers. Good morning. Good morning. My fellow New Yorkers, I wanted to let you know, Mayor Eric Adams, whom you know for 62 years, who served you in the 80s and 90s when New York was facing the worst time in its history, is the same mayor that's standing right here, is the same mayor that will stand tomorrow, and is the same mayor that will be re-elected. 62 years will not be replaced by five indictments that will be fought and will be exonerated. Give him a chance. Give him a chance and hear his side of the story. We know him and we gave him a chance. Thank you and God bless him. 

Mayor Adams: Come on, my girl. When a real war is… Jackie, Jackie Rowe-Adams.

Jackie Rowe-Adams, Founder and CEO, Harlem Mothers and Fathers S.A.V.E: Good morning, everybody. I stand here today in support of the people that are [inaudible] one of the best mayors ever. Eric Adams is the best mayor ever. He has got things done with people running their mouth and doing nothing. 

Do something. Do something and then you can say something. Do something. Mayor Adams stood there on the steps of City Hall when he wasn't there and I want y'all to hear this. We had families that just lost their kids to violence. The mayor. That's you. That's you. That's you from the mayor. He wasn't the mayor then. He stood with us on the step and saved lives. He called out the police and he said, at that time, I'm a mother who lost two kids to gun violence, and at that time, we should have had stop and frisk. Maybe my kids wouldn’t be dead today. [Inaudible] Jackie’s kids that's 11 years old and 10, and if they had stop and frisk, maybe they wouldn’t be dead today. So I stand with Eric Adams, and I'm going to stand with him, and he ain't going nowhere. [] 

Bishop Gerald Seabrooks: Good afternoon, everybody. I am just here to say that Mayor Adams has stood with us and we are now, as the United Clergy Coalition, we will stand with him. First of all, everybody deserves due process. Just because an indictment comes against you does not mean that you are guilty. Let the process go out like every American citizen has the right to do. If you don't like him, don't vote for him. But he's not resigning. He's not quitting. And we’ll stand behind him and say the community is behind him and we want him re-elected. Cause Donald Trump, with 34 counts, and you ain’t protesting nowhere [inaudible].

Question: Mayor Adams, can you tell us the very first time you actually read this 57-page indictment? Just the first time you actually saw the allegations against you? And in reference to your statement last night, with regard to speaking out about the migrant crisis, exactly who in the federal government, White House, would you say is targeting you for speaking out? I’m talking about the Biden administration, I’m talking about Homeland… So who are we talking about specifically with regard to that and the first time you actually read the indictment today?

Mayor Adams: I think that the second question, I think we need to ask the federal prosecutors who gave the directive or the order. I don't know. You should ask them who gave the directive [inaudible] we’re going to take on and create [inaudible] when it comes to that question. When it comes down to reading it [inaudible] get the toplines [inaudible] of it. But it is clear, everyone that knows me knows I follow campaign rules and I follow the law. That is how I live my life and I don’t see coming into the 60s, in my age, all of a sudden changing what I've done all the time. I follow the law and I follow the campaign rules.

Question: Señor alcalde, buenos días. After a couple of weeks, some like 4 or 5 people from your staff have resigned. After today, don’t you feel as if more people are going to keep resigning and you’re gonna have some problems dealing with the city?

Mayor Adams: No, no, no. Listen, we, you know, I think that people fail to properly realize that we have over 300,000 dedicated employees, over 300,000. Those who decided to transition to do some more things with their lives, many of them told me ahead of time they were going to do that. 

But we have an amazing, incredible team of dedicated New Yorkers, and they're going to continue to do that. I think that's what's going to surprise everyone. 10 months ago, when my phones were removed, like today, today, it was about my phones. Same thing that happened 10 months ago. Today was about my phones. Let's get clear on that. When they removed my phones 10 months ago, people said that all of a sudden the city was going to collapse. It was not going to move forward. Look what has happened over 10 months. 

Over 10 months, more jobs in the city, more small businesses open. Decrease in crime. You are seeing over and over again success and success over and over again. So we’re going to continue to prosper, we’re going to continue to move forward, and we’re looking forward to that in this city.

Question: Mayor, you said that you were demonized suggesting that you’re a victim. Why do you feel that way?

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, I think that when you do an analysis, and all of you have covered this, it is a felony to release a grand jury communication. That's a felony. So you can't break the law to enforce that. What? And when you look at our whole cooperation, our attempts to sit down and cooperate, when you look at what has taken place, it's been a narrative of, given the appearance, that there was something improper that was done, and it was just wrong.

Question: Do you think it's political?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think we should ask again, as I said before. We should ask those who are conducting this investigation, we should ask them who gave the directive to carry out what we have witnessed over the last 10 months. Over the last 10 months, you knew information before my attorneys knew information over the last 10 months. You reported that there was an indictment before my attorneys knew there was an indictment. Over the last 10 months, this has happened over and over again, and this is not how our system of justice should operate. 

Question: Mayor, the indictment has been unsealed. Now we know the federal government is… It's supposed, you know, influences into your campaign when you decided to be mayor. But you have suggested publicly that now you are a target of the federal government because of sticking with New Yorkers, meaning maybe that you're talking about the migrants. Can you clarify that point, please? 

Mayor Adams: I think I did. I think we should ask the federal investigators and prosecutors who gave the directive to take the actions that we are witnessing right now. You know, I have ran many campaigns. I have been part of many campaigns. And the scrutiny of those campaigns always revealed the same thing. I follow the rules. I follow the law. I do not do anything that's going to participate in illegal campaign activity. And I will not do that. And I've instructed, not only in writing, but in verbal conversation to the team, we do not participate in straw donors. We do not participate in foreign donors. We know what those rules are. And we comply with those rules. And I think my attorneys are going to reveal that as we move forward. 

Question: Mayor, who is your point person dealing with major city businesses as you deal with this? That's number one. And number two, is there any circumstance by which you would resign?

Mayor Adams: No. No, listen. I'm here. I was elected by the people of the city, over 700,000 strong. And this is a city that is extremely resilient. This is a city that we have gone through some difficult and hard times, and we're going to continue to move forward as a city. And that's what that's shown. I think the narrative here that's missing, ten months ago when my phones were removed, we have not gone backwards. We have not stood still. We showed how we operate during difficult times. 

And when you say who is the point person that's going to deal with business community, who’s going to deal with the business of running the city? The point person is Eric Adams. I'm the mayor of the City of New York. I have a competent team of deputy mayors, a competent, competent team of people who are going to [inaudible] forward, and we’re excited about that. 

Question: You say this is a retaliation for speaking out against the migrant crisis, but according to the indictment, it did [inaudible] 2021 campaign, they name a co-conspirator who it said you deleted messages from. I mean, the allegations seem to go along what we have been reporting for at least a year, almost a year. What do you say to that? I mean, you have, you’ve said you’ve traveled to these countries. Do you deny that you took any kickbacks from these countries. Do you deny that you intervened on behalf of the Turkish government to try to get the skyscraper built?  I’m asking if he denies all the allegations in the 54 page indictment, and the people in the back, have you read the indictment?

Mayor Adams: My legal team, my legal team is going to peruse the entire indictment. We got it today when it was released. The news media received information before we did, as they have been receiving for the last 10 months. You know, it appears as though the goal is to try to try this case publicly and not in the criminal justice system that's in place. And so, we... Based on what I read, it's clear that if it's campaign violations, I know I don't violate the campaign. If it's foreign donors, I know I don't take money from foreign donors. And I verbalize that to the team, both in writing and both in communication. We will continue to do that and we look forward for the legal team to handle this as I handle the City of New York and continue the success that we've witnessed over the last two years and nine months as the mayor of the City of New York.

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