For months, New York City Mayor Eric Adams — a former cop — refused to criticize the federal authorities investigating his administration.
Not anymore.
The day news of his indictment on corruption charges broke, Adams defiantly suggested, without providing evidence, that U.S. prosecutors had gone after him because he had criticized President Joe Biden's immigration policies.
“Despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics,” he said. “I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target — and a target I became."
The accusation from Adams marked a sharp turn for a retired police captain turned politician, whose commitment to law-and-order has been a calling card during his time in office.
The rhetoric was also similar to that of other politicians who have found themselves facing various accusations.
After he was indicted on corruption charges by the same U.S. attorney prosecuting Adams, former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez blamed his prosecution on “forces behind the scenes” that had “repeatedly attempted to silence my voice.”
Former President Donald Trump blamed the lawsuits and criminal charges against him on a political “witch hunt” orchestrated by Democrats.
Adams echoed some of that rhetoric after he was charged with accepting illegal campaign contributions and free travel perks from Turkish officials and businesspeople looking to buy his influence.
He suggested prosecutors had been told to smear him. By who, he didn't say.
“We should ask them, ‘Who gave the directive to carry out what we have witnessed over the last 10 months?’" Adams told reporters.
The White House has pushed back on the idea that Adams was targeted because of his complaints about not getting enough help from the federal government dealing with an influx of international migrants. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the administration had nothing to do with the Department of Justice's decision to bring charges.
“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,” she said.
Before he was indicted, Adams consistently said he was cooperating with the investigations and stressed that he was following the law. He would laugh off questions from reporters about various aspects of the probes. And he would refuse to criticize the investigators, saying that as a former law enforcement official, he understood they had a job to do.
Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School in New York with a specialty in government ethics, described Adams' current defensive posture as “a standard technique."
“He’s not discussing any of the charges. He’s just saying the people who brought the charges don’t like him," he said. “If the facts are against you, move onto something else. If the facts are against you, try to go after the prosecutors. If the facts are against you, go after your opponent."
Speaking at a news conference announcing the indictment, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, dismissed the idea that the case was political.
“The Southern District of New York remains committed to rooting out corruption without fear or favor and without regard to partisan politics," Williams said. “We are not focused on the right or the left, we are focused only on right and wrong.”
Williams leads a large office of prosecutors so famous for its independence that it has long been nicknamed “The Sovereign District.”
Appointed by Biden in 2021, Williams has overseen other several other big, news-making prosecutions. His office won its case against Menendez, who is awaiting sentencing. It recently brought a sex trafficking indictment against Sean “Diddy” Combs, who pleaded innocent and is awaiting trial. It also brought an indictment against cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of fraud.
The mayor and his lawyer, Alex Spiro, have yet to provide evidence backing the theory that Adams was being persecuted for being a thorn in Biden's side.
Wednesday night, just hours before the first news reports of the indictment, Adams spent part of his evening attending a reception for United Nations General Assembly leaders hosted by Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
Adams' suggestion that the charges are politically motivated drew comparisons to Trump. The former president, at an unrelated news conference Thursday, told reporters that he wishes Adams luck with the case and said he saw the charges against the mayor coming.
“I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us, and we shouldn’t have to take them," said Trump. "And I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted within a year.’ And I was exactly right."
New York City mayor Eric Adams, right, appears outside Manhattan federal court after an appearance, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns finds himself in an unusual situation this weekend as he returns to American Family Field for the first time since leaving the Milwaukee Brewers.
His current team is trying to clinch a postseason berth by beating the annual playoff contender he helped build.
“I think at this point I have enough distance for it,” Stearns said before the Mets' 8-4 loss to the Brewers on Friday night. “That roster has turned over pretty considerably since I’ve been in the seat here. I certainly know a lot of the people over there, I know a lot of the players over there, but I think there’s been enough distance at this point.”
Stearns joined the Brewers in October 2015 as general manager and was promoted to president of baseball operations before the 2019 season. He stepped down after the 2022 season and remained with the Brewers in an advisory role while Matt Arnold — his former right-hand man — took over as president of baseball operations. Stearns left Milwaukee entirely last fall to run baseball operations for the team he rooted for as a kid growing up in New York City.
He believed this was his first time back at American Family Field since August 2023. The Brewers opened the season by sweeping the Mets in New York, but the teams hadn’t faced each other since.
Now they’re meeting again with the Mets’ season on the line.
The Mets are competing with the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks for the NL's final two wild-card spots. The Mets' loss and the Braves' 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday left them with identical 87-71 records. The Diamondbacks fell to 88-72 with their 5-3 loss to the San Diego Padres.
As Stearns noted, the Brewers’ roster has changed quite a bit since he departed. Milwaukee's starting lineup Friday included only four players — second baseman Brice Turang, right fielder Sal Frelick, left fielder Jackson Chourio and shortstop Willy Adames — who joined the organization when Stearns was in charge.
Even so, Stearns played a major role in helping the Brewers put together the longest sustained run of success in franchise history. Milwaukee clinched the NL Central title last week and will be making its sixth playoff appearance in the last seven years. That run of postseason bids came shortly after Stearns engineered the blockbuster acquisition of Christian Yelich, the 2018 NL MVP.
Milwaukee had made the playoffs just twice in a 35-year stretch from 1983-2017.
“It’s fun being back here,” Stearns said. “I’m glad I’m back here when games really matter for us. We’re playing for something that’s really important, so we have to go out and have a good series.”
Stearns is now trying to get back in the playoffs with the Mets, which could result in a return to Milwaukee next month. But that path just got quite a bit more complicated.
The Mets face the possibility of playing a doubleheader in Atlanta on Monday — the day after the scheduled end of the regular season — for the right to begin a Wild Card Series on Tuesday. That scenario developed because New York's scheduled Wednesday and Thursday games in Atlanta were rained out.
“Nobody wants to play a doubleheader on Monday,” Stearns said. “The Braves didn’t want that outcome, MLB didn’t want that outcome and certainly we didn’t want that outcome. I think it’s easy in retrospect to say that we could have done things differently to get there. It’s also really tough in the moment to predict exactly what the weather is going to do. There are a whole host of considerations that everyone is working through in order to make the best decision possible.
"The reality is we may have to play a doubleheader on Monday, and if we do, we’ll do the best that we can.”
Stearns was asked if he believed the start of a Wild Card Series should be pushed back a day if that Monday doubleheader takes place. The twinbill would only happen if the Mets’ and Braves’ playoff fates aren’t settled by then.
“That’s not my decision, and so I’m not really thinking about it,” Stearns said. “Whenever we play, we play.”
If New York ends up as the third NL wild card, Stearns would be seeing his former team again with even more at stake as the Mets and Brewers square off in a best-of-three series.
“Our focus is on to get into the playoffs,” Stearns said. “If we get into the playoffs, we’ll play whoever we need to play.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
New York Mets pitcher Luis Severino throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso came back out onto the field to take pictures with his family after a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/John Munson)
New York Mets' Jesse Winker, left, and Brandon Nimmo celebrate Nimmo's home run in the sixth inning during a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/John Munson)
New York Mets relief pitcher Edwin Diaz (39) reacts after striking out Kody Clemens for the final out of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/John Munson)
A tarp covers the infield as rain comes down at Truist Park after the baseball game between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves as postponed, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Atlanta. The Mets-Braves games scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday are postponed and will be made up as a doubleheader Monday, Sept. 30. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)
FILE - New York Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns responds to questions during a news conference about MLB trade deadline deals, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)
