Ingrid Lewis-Martin, chief adviser to NYC Mayor Eric Adams, resigns and expects to be indicted

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Ingrid Lewis-Martin, chief adviser to NYC Mayor Eric Adams, resigns and expects to be indicted

2024-12-17 04:12 Last Updated At：04:21

NEW YORK (AP) — Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a former top aide to New York Mayor Eric Adams, expects to be indicted on criminal charges related to alleged improper gifts, her lawyer said Monday.

Lewis-Martin abruptly resigned Sunday as Adams' chief adviser, the latest departure from an administration that has been enveloped in criminal investigations. The mayor’s office called it a planned retirement.

Lewis-Martin’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told reporters at a news conference Monday that she had been invited to speak with the grand jury considering charges but declined because the outcome of the investigation appeared to be predetermined. He said they wanted the opportunity to clarify emails and text messages that could get taken out of context but are “easily explained away about what they mean.”

The case involves gifts given to Lewis-Martin, Aidala said, but he declined to discuss further details and claimed — without providing evidence — that the case was politically motivated.

“Pieces of puzzles are going to be put together to make it look as horrible as possible,” Aidala said as he sat alongside Lewis-Martin at his Manhattan office. “But we know the truth, and the truth is Ingrid Lewis-Martin never broke the law.”

Lewis-Martin said she has been "falsely accused of something; I don't know what it is.”

“And during my tenure, I have never taken any gifts, money, anything,” she said. “I have not made any arrangements in advance to take any gifts or money, or to have any gifts or money given to a family member or friend in order for me to do my job.”

Her decision to leave office comes as Adams faces federal corruption charges and several members of his administration have come under investigation. Adams himself has been charged with accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence. He has pleaded not guilty.

The federal investigation into Adams emerged in November 2023 after investigators searched the home of his top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs. Lewis-Martin has referred to Suggs as her goddaughter.

Aidala said he believed Manhattan prosecutors were targeting Martin to get her to cooperate against Adams. She would likely be indicted alongside others, he added, without specifying who else might face charges.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in an email that it would be “inappropriate" to comment “because this Office acts with the utmost integrity."

Adams declined to comment on potential charges against Lewis-Martin at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Lewis-Martin’s phones were seized and her home was searched in late September by prosecutors in Manhattan who, along with federal prosecutors, met her at an airport in New York as she was getting off a flight from Japan.

Hours after the search, Lewis-Martin took the extraordinary step of appearing on Aidala’s radio show to discuss the investigation, telling her attorney, “I do believe that in the end that the New York City public will see that we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us.”

Lewis-Martin has been one of the mayor’s most trusted and longest-serving aides, working under Adams in prominent positions throughout his political career — when he was a state senator, Brooklyn borough president and mayor. She has said she first met Adams about four decades ago, when Adams and her husband, Glenn Martin, were in the New York City police academy.

The mayor's office released a written statement on Lewis-Martin's retirement in which Adams said, “Ingrid has not been just a friend, a confidant, and trusted advisor, but also a sister."

“We’ve always talked about when this day would come, and while we’ve long planned for it, it is still hard to know that Ingrid won’t be right next door every day,” Adams said in the statement.

Lewis-Martin, in the statement from City Hall, said that her time alongside Adams has been an “amazing ride” but that “now, today, the time has come for me to focus on my wonderful family and myself and retire.”

Izaguirre reported from Albany, N.Y.

France rushes aid to Mayotte after Cyclone Chido leaves hundreds feared dead

2024-12-17 04:11 Last Updated At：04:20

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — France used ships and military aircraft to rush rescuers and supplies to Mayotte on Monday after the tiny French island territory off Africa was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century. Authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died.

Survivors wandered through streets littered with debris, searching for water and shelter, after Cyclone Chido leveled entire neighborhoods Saturday when it hit Mayotte, the poorest territory of France and, by extension, the European Union.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he will declare a national mourning period and planned to visit in the coming days after “this tragedy that has shaken each of us.”

“Chaos” is how resident Fahar Abdoulhamidi described the aftermath. In Mamoudzou, the capital, destruction was total: Schools, hospitals, restaurants and offices were in ruins. Roofs were ripped from homes, and palm trees were half-shorn from winds that exceeded 220 kph (136 mph), according to the French weather service.

“Mayotte is totally devastated,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said, with the ministry estimating 70% of the population was gravely affected.

As of Monday evening, the ministry confirmed 21 deaths at hospitals, with 45 people in critical condition. But French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq warned that any estimates were likely major undercounts “compared to the scale of the disaster.”

Electricity was down across the archipelago, with only the capital spared. Telecommunications were severely disrupted, with most antennas knocked out of service. Authorities were concerned about a shortage of drinking water.

The French Red Cross described the devastation as “unimaginable” and said rescuers were still searching for bodies. The damage, including to Mayotte’s sole airport, has left some areas inaccessible to emergency teams.

Many people ignored the cyclone warnings in the 24 hours before the storm hit, underestimating its power.

“Nobody believed it would be that big,” Abdoulhamidi told The Associated Press by phone. “Those who live in bangas stayed in despite the cyclone, fearing their homes would be looted,” he said, referring to the island’s informal settlements.

Even worse, many migrants avoided shelters out of fear of deportation, Abdoulhamidi said.

Mayotte is a densely populated archipelago between Madagascar and the African continent of more than 320,000 people, according to the French government. Most are Muslim. And French authorities have estimated another 100,000 migrants from as far away as Somalia.

“There’s no water, no electricity. Hunger is starting to rise. It’s urgent that aid arrives, especially when you see children, babies, to whom we have nothing concrete to offer,” Mayotte Sen. Salama Ramia told BFM-TV.

Chido was a category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale, and the worst to hit Mayotte since the 1930s, Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville, the top French government official in the island group, told Mayotte la 1ere.

Bieuville on Sunday asserted that the death toll was several hundred people and could even be in the thousands. But he added it would be extremely hard to count the deaths and many might never be recorded, in part because of the Muslim tradition of burying people within 24 hours.

Rescue teams and supplies have been sent from France and Reunion. Daily airlifts are delivering 20 tons of water and food to address urgent needs, Retailleau said.

Mayotte’s airport remained closed to civilian flights after its control tower was heavily damaged and was not expected to reopen until at least Thursday, authorities said.

Mayotte’s main hospital suffered extensive water damage to the surgery, intensive care, emergency and maternity departments, according to Darrieussecq, the health minister. Retailleau said a field hospital will arrive on Thursday.

The Interior Ministry said 1,500 additional personnel, including 800 civilian and military security teams, were being sent deployed, including 400 gendarmes and engineers for infrastructure repair.

The ministry said additional police and gendarmerie officers would “help the population and prevent potential looting.”

Mayotte’s people have previously said their archipelago suffers from underinvestment and neglect by the French government. Around three-quarters of the population lives in poverty, with a median annual disposable income roughly one-eighth that of the Paris metropolitan area, according to the French statistics agency INSEE.

The territory has also faced political unrest and rising support for the far-right National Rally party, reflecting deep dissatisfaction with the political status quo. Last year, the French army moved to quell protests after a drought and mismanagement led to water shortages.

After pummeling Mayotte, Cyclone Chido continued west and made landfall Sunday in Mozambique, where it killed three people, injured 34 and destroyed classrooms in four schools. In neighboring Malawi, Chido killed two people.

December through to March is cyclone season in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and southern Africa has been hammered in recent years. Cyclone Idai in 2019 killed more than 1,300 people, mostly in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Cyclone Freddy left more than 1,000 dead across several countries in the Indian Ocean and southern Africa last year.

The European Parliament observed a minute of silence Monday for Chido's victims, with the chamber's President Roberta Metsola saying “Mayotte is Europe, and Europe will not abandon you."

Adamson reported from Paris. Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. Associated Press writers Tom Nouvian in Paris and Monika Pronczuk in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.