fbi, as we've reported, went to eric adams, took his cell phones, but he was not carrying his personal cell phone at the time. they issued a subpoena for it. adams turns over his personal cell phone. they says that he changed his password in the intervening time and then told the fbi that he couldn't remember the password to be able to unlock the phone. so, this is the type of specific conduct that lisa was alluding to before and the type of thing that i think is going to raise some eyebrows, why a former police captain of the new york city police department was changing passwords and making phone calls and turning around trips and why he was so concerned about this. they also say that that campaign fund-raiser refused to speak with -- actually, did speak to fbi agents, agreed to talk with them about many subjects but "refused to say who paid for her 2021 travel to turkey." >> everybody, stay with us. i want to remind our viewers, mayor adams has denied all the allegations in advance, knowing

that this indictment was coming and would be unsealed today. we expect him to take that podium any moment now, but i'm going to hand off to jose diaz-balart, who picks up our breaking news coverage right now. good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. all eyes are on new york city where mayor eric adams could speak at any moment. just after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging him with bribery, wire fraud, and many other charges. federal prosecutors are scheduled to hold a news conference later this hour as well. we're going to, of course, bring you all these remarks when they occur, but you're seeing there that dais has been set up right outside where we're going to be hearing from the mayor of new york city any moment now. adams is the first mayor in modern new york city history to be charged while in office. the indictment was unsealed hours after the mayor's attorney said fbi agents went to the mayor's residence, gracy mansion, to take the mayor's

phone. with us now, nbc news correspondent rahema ellis, katherine, chuck rosenberg, a former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official. he is an msnbc legal analyst. and frank figliuzzi, former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence and an msnbc national security analyst. we're expecting the mayor any minute now. when he comes to speak, we will go to that, but what more do we know about the allegations against the mayor? >> reporter: let's talk about what you mentioned, jose, that it is a five-count indictment on 56 pages. the counts are a count one conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals. count two, wire fraud. count three and four, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. count five, bribery. and going through some of this, one of the things that's hit me

when reading this 57-page indictment of which i have not gotten through all of it, but something pointed here that the mayor received, it says, some $10 million in matching public funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign. they say that that was fraudulently received because they were using something called a nominal donor. this was coming from foreign nationals, people who were not supposed to be submitting campaign contributions to an american political campaign. and that the mayor's office, that they disguised it. they did not reveal exactly where that money was coming from. it was as if it were coming from american donors, and it brought him up to a particular level of donations where he could receive public matching funds in the tune of some $10 million. a significant amount of money. it should be mentioned, too, that the mayor has repeatedly

said, despite all of the allegations swirling around his top members in his administration, that he has said that nothing is wrong. he's going to conduct business as usual. he said last night that there's no way that he's going to resign. he's going to continue doing the job of mayor of the city of new york, despite what was happening around the campaign. one of his campaign finance persons, who had her home searched last year, devices were taken from her home. her phone was taken. the mayor even, at one point, was stopped in the street. his car was stopped, and federal authorities went into the mayor's car, taking devices from him, as well as his phone, and a number of people have been mentioned as part of a broad corruption investigation, a broad probe around the mayor. the former police commissioner -- the police commissioner had his phone taken and just recently, he resigned, so, so many things in this

56-page indictment of which i know you have people sitting with you, jose, who are going to help in sifting through all of it, but this comes -- i've talked to some people on the street in terms of reaction. people have said they are disappointed, but no one i spoke to said they were surprised to hear that these charges have now come against the mayor, because there has been so much in terms of a drip, drip of allegations swirling around his top aides. jose? >> so much here to go through, and chuck, i mean, 57-page indictment. what are some of the most serious charges against the mayor here? >> well, they're all serious in a sense, jose, as you can imagine. they're all felonies. and they're all federal charges, so -- but there are gradations. i think it's a fair question. there's a couple of interesting points, i think, to make. one is, the investigation to raheema's reporting and the reporting of others, seems to be ongoing. my understanding is that the fbi

had another search warrant this morning to seize another phone of the mayor, which tells you that more charges are possible, if not probable. and other defendants may well be named. now, some of that's just informed speculation and time will tell, but the charges that strike me as most serious, obviously, as someone who prosecuted public corruption cases, jose, are the bribery charges. now, they're hard charges to prove. you have to show that someone took money in exchange for an official action. but assuming that the government can prove it, the selling of one's public office is an extraordinarily serious crime. i know mayor adams has denied it. people often do deny charges at this stage. many of those folks who deny charges often end up convicted. we shall see. but the bribery charges strike me as moe mentous. >> i'm going to check on page

three when they outline the different charges and what they mean. there's one -- the way it was worded was that he -- according to the -- to this document, again, the mayor has said he is completely not guilty of everything, but once he started receiving payments by turkey and turkish officials and government-connected business people, adams then was asked, specifically, to facilitate -- inspection in time for a high-profile visit by turkish president at the time, and i'm quoting here, "the building failed an fdny inspection." and this is the wording that's interesting, chuck. it says, "in exchange for free travel and other travel-related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the turkish official, adams did as instructed."

it seems that there's a very close tie here, and as we see some movement coming that right side -- outside there in new york city, chuck, there's a very clear -- you know what? let me just take a pause and let's go to these live pictures in new york city as we await the arrival of the mayor. but chuck, there's very clear wording to tie those payments or those gifts by turkish officials to essentially bribes, in exchange for free travel and other travel-related issues, adams did as instructed. >> that's right, jose. so, a nexus between what he received -- >> chuck -- >> -- versus the value of what he did. >> chuck, let me interrupt you. i'm so sorry. here's the mayor of new york. >> this is not a black thing. this is a you thing.

this is a you thing, eric adams. this is not a black thing. your policies are anti-black. you're a disgrace for all black people in this city. the things that you have done are unconscionable. our children are harassed by police. this is ridiculous. this is ridiculous. you can shush me all you want, but the people are with us. this is not a black thing. this is a justice thing. >> 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 i hear, 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 ten months, the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing, this did not surprise us that we reached this day. and i asked new yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. in about 30 minutes, you're going hear a story of the case that is in front of us. the 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. >> amen. >> and the 300,000-plus employees of our city government will continue to do their jobs. >> that's right. >> because this is what we do as new yorkers. it's an insult to the hard-working 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 this 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 ten months, i have gone through this.

and i look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as i've done throughout my entire professional career. >> that's right. >> i want to now turn it over to the person who started me on this journey, reverend herbert daugherty. >> thank you, mr. mayor. our our mayor. >> as we continue to monitor what is going on in new york city, we just heard from the mayor of that city, saying that he is not surprised that -- why this is happening and why this is happening now. i want to go to tom winter. tom, this 57-page indictment is filled with details. the mayor was saying that he is not surprised by this

indictment. what are some of the most important points in this 57-page indictment? >> well, i'm sure he's not surprised because it was approximately a year ago that he had his phone taken by the fbi when they approached him and his detail, asking for it. and one of the pieces of information that's contained with this indictment, jose, is the idea that the phone -- the phones that were taken were mostly related to his business. his personal phone was obtained via subpoena, and when it was handed over to the fbi, the password had been changed and the mayor of the city of new york said he didn't know what the new password was. just one of the efforts they lay out in the course of their indictment, why they think that the mayor was obfuscating the ongoing investigation and the criminal action that was taking place. one of the things i find interesting, and this just comes from my knowledge within city government, how this all works, the machinations of it, is that the fire commissioner, who's

highly respected, somebody who really helped the city through its darkest days after 9/11, had served in the de blasio administration, he had messaged eric adams in august of 2021, basically saying, hey, i'd still like to serve on in the -- in my capacity as fire commissioner. he was he was loyal and trustworthy, and adams sent a noncommittal response, and the only other message between the two was an invitation for adams to attend the 9/11 remembrance ceremonies in 2021 as well. the 20th anniversary. it's later that adams starts messaging him, and he starts messaging him about the turkish consulate, which was going through some real challenges. as i've had a chance now to read through about the types of stuff that was uncovered, we had been told that in previous reports, there was serious potential safety concerns with the turkish house, as it's referenced. we did not know that there were nearly 60 violations that occurred, and there were issues

with the building's fire alarm. pretty serious when we're talking about a high-rise building in the city of new york. another thing, just looking at the -- this, the pencil math here, so i reserve the right to change it, but i don't think i'm off, it's $123,000 in benefits that's laid out in a form of a type of a spreadsheet that's contained within the indictment, and it could be more than that. it's $12,000-plus, if you're to add it all up. it's done, they say, that adams benefitted in the form of airline tickets, in the form of discounted hotel rooms. we're talking about 2021, turkey solicit and accepted but then canceled, was a free upgrade to business class for two on a round trip from new york to turkey. that was going to be $21,000 in discounts that he would have received for that. he flew from -- to france, turkey, and china, free business

class tickets for three on a round trip to those places. that was a $41,000 benefit. including a heavily discounted stay in the bentley suite of the st. regis istanbul in turkey. so, just to lay out some of the things that federal prosecutors allege in their indictment that they uncovered in the course of their investigation, so to put it all together here, this is a relationship that predates adams' mayoralship, his run, that clearly he had a long-term relationship with individuals associated with turkey. there's no indication here, and i'm still going through it, and obviously, there's a lot of details and a lot of unnamed officials, no indication here of any involvement of the turkish president, erdogan, but we're still going through some of that, and we'll have to see what other things pop up. it is clear over the course of their relationship, the federal prosecutors and the allegations are to be believed here, that there was an extensive

relationship, and clearly turkish officials knew that, in exchange for donations, and for gifts and for benefits, eric adams was willing to help them out in significant ways. i can tell you that i think the fbi and their recently appointed assistant director in charge of the new york field office, james dennehy, recently with the newark field office and now he's back over in new york where he had been in charge of counterintelligence for some time, i think he's going to be very strong and pointed in his remarks at this press conference today. i think he's going to specifically point out the fact that not all politicians are corrupt, but when politicians are corrupt, we have to go after these individuals, and that's the type of language i think we can expect here at this press conference, slated to begin in about 14 minutes. >> and tom, thank you for that. meanwhile, we're seeing in new york city there, the mayor with a lot of his allies and his supporters, including some of the earliest of his supporters, they're speaking. there's some back and forth with

some protesters that are just on the other side of that group of people that are supporting the mayor, but i want to bring in katherine christian, former manhattan assistant district attorney and msnbc legal analyst. katherine, there's so much here, and tom was referring to some of these trips that the mayor took and whether he was -- he either paid for them or not, but there's also the issue of -- i'm just going to quote from page 11 -- "in order to conceal these valuable flight, hotel, and other benefits, eric adams accepted from foreign nationals seeking influence over him, he did not disclose any of these trips in his annual disclosure forms, despite a legal requirement to do so." there are a lot of instances outlined in these 57 pages of the mayor doing just that. >> and all public officials in new york city, particularly at the highest level, and mayor adams certainly is, and he was a

brooklyn borough president and he was a captain in the new york city police department, are required to put annual -- all of their income, any gifts they receive over a certain amount, to the conflict of interest board. that is a requirement. i also want to say that mayor adams said this is a painful day. it certainly is for the city of new york. we have been saying this morning how a search warrant was executed on his residence. that really isn't his residence. that gracy mansion is on loan to him. every mayor who's elected in new york city lives in gracy mansion. so, it was extraordinary. it's shocking that a search warrant would be executed on gracy mansion. so, yes, it is a very painful day for the city of new york. and it also says in the indictment, on that same page, that at all times relevant to this indictment, adams was an elected official, required to file annual disclosure forms. so, this indictment covers his periods when he was elected as brooklyn borough president through mayor, and it's interesting, because the search

warrant that was executed for his phones last year, when the fbi greeted him, the conduct allegedly continued after that. so, when he says, we've been aware of this, well, if you're aware of that, then you would think the alleged criminal conduct would stop, but apparently, according to this indictment, would stop, and i see the mayor is surrounded by many pillars of the community, the black community, united states attorney in this case, southern district of northern, damian williams is a black man. the targeting, if that's what mayor adams is saying, he's being targeted because he's a black man, well, the united states attorney for the southern district of new york is a black man. >> yeah, he's also just essentially bringing in all of the people that have been supportive of him from even his earliest days in public office. and catherine, i want to talk about another thing. it's this whole matching funds

issue that this indictment goes into some depth about, and i'm going to go page two, where it says, "eric adams, the defendant, compounded his gains from the straw contributions that he was receiving, which would be essentially fake entities or entities that should not have the right to give those contributions, by using them to defraud new york city and steal public funds. new york city has a matching funds program that matches small dollar contributions from individual city residents with up to eight times their amount in public funds to give new yorkers a greater voice in elections. adams' campaign applied for matching funds based on known straw donations, fraudulently obtaining as much as $2,000 in public funds for each illegal contribution. adams' 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10 million in public funds. those are public funds by new

york city taxpayers. >> exactly. that is the allegation. and that's why, you know, this is an extraordinary indictment. the wire fraud charge, if he were to be convicted and found guilty, and he said he went to trial, he could face up to 20 years on wire fraud. the bribery, up to ten years. of course, this is just an indictment. they are only allegations. it would have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but these are very serious charges that the mayor of the city of new york is facing. >> and i want to bring in msnbc legal correspondent lisa ruben. in, again, just 57 pages, which go into such detail and so many of these alleged violations, there are a lot of people that are being brought into this indictment. >> there are a ton of people here, and of course, jose, none of them are mentioned by their actual first name or last name, but there are descriptions galore of the roles that these people played, and just in my

efforts to scan this indictment so far, i count more than 12 different people playing different roles. everyone from an adams fund-raiser, an adams staffer, to businessmen numbers one through six, a businesswoman, there's an airline manager, a promoter for the turkish community's business interests, and even mayor adams' partner, who was alleged to have benefitted from some of the travel benefits that he received from the turkish government and other turkish business interests. so, there are a number of people here just on the face of the indictment that the southern district of new york has either talked to or want to talk to or is in possession of electronic evidence in relation to, and there's one of those people in particular, jose, i really want to focus on. that's a person who's defined in this indictment as the adams staffer, someone who is alleged to have started as a volunteer at brooklyn borough hall when eric adams was the borough president of brooklyn, and then, subsequently, became what the indictment calls his liaison to

eastern europe muslim countries, including turkey. they also allege that the adams staffer is one of the people who had their homes searched on november 2nd, 2023. we know that there are three people connected to mayor adams who had their homes searched on that date, and between the description of the role that that person played and the allegation that that person's home was searched, i believe -- and again, nbc news has not independently confirmed -- that the adams staffer is a woman named reyna. that's important because in may of this year, "the new york times," and multiple other outlets, identified her as someone who was cooperating with the u.s. attorney's office and when i say cooperating, i don't just mean responding to subpoenas. that has a formal legal meaning. cooperator is somebody who agrees to go in and tell the u.s. attorney's office everything that they know and every crime that they either participated in or witnessed in exchange for some form of leniency during that process.

if you read the allegations of this indictment closely, there are allegations that could only have come from the person identified as the adams staffer, not from electronic evidence but rather from that person's conveying of conversations that they had with adams, and i'm quoting from a particular paragraph of the indictment here, saying that at one point, she was told and directed by him to do certain things. that comes right after a recitation of her text messages with the person identified as the promoter. that suggests to me very heavily that the u.s. attorney's office has at least one formal cooperator and potentially more when i get an opportunity to really dig into this indictment. >> and let's go into that, but meanwhile, let's go right back, and the mayor is speaking now. let's listen in. >> don't fudge the numbers. do not fudge the numbers. there are a thousand more felony assaults. women are not safe. they are being raped in record numbers.

do not lie. >> you said that this demonized, suggesting you're a victim. why do you feel that? >> 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 the law. and when you -- when you and our cooperation, our cooperation, what has taken place, there's been a narrative of giving the appearance that there was something improper that's done, and it was just wrong. >> do you think it's political? >> well, i think we should ask him. >> i think it's political. >> we should ask those who are -- >> we know it's political.

>> to carry out what we have witnessed over the last ten months. over the last ten months, you knew information before our attorneys knew. you reported that there was -- before my attorneys -- over the last ten months. it has happened over and over again, and this is not how our system of justice should operate. >> do you support law enforcement? do you support the feds investigating you? >> mayor, the indictment has been unsealed, but now we know the federal government is -- as opposed to, you know, influences into your campaign when you decided to -- 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. could you clarify that point, please? >> i think i did. i think you should ask federal

investigators and prosecutors -- and the scrutiny of those campaigns always revealed the same thing. i followed the rules. i followed the law. i do not do anything that's going to participate in illegal campaign activity. and i will not do that, and i have instructed not only in writing but in verbal conversations 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 that my attorneys are going to reveal that as we move forward. >> co-conspirator thaks you deleted all the messages. >> what is your point person dealing with major city business as you deal with this? that's number one. and number two, is there any circumstance by which you would resign? >> no. no. listen. i'm here -- i was elected by the people of this city, over 700,000 strong, and this is a city -- 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. that's what has 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's the point person that's going to deal with business communities? 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. and i have a competent team, competent team of deputy mares, a competent team of people are going to continue to lead forward, and we're excited about that. okay. katie, go ahead. >> you say this is -- migrant crisis. it dates back to 2021 campaign, named a co-conspirator. the allegations seem to fall in

line with what we've been reporting for almost a year. what do you say to that? you have -- you said you traveled to these countries. do you deny that you took any kickbacks from these countries? >> what is your question? >> what's your question? >> that's an elaborate question. >> all the allegations in the indictment, have you guys -- >> listen, my -- listen. my legal team -- thank you. my legal team is going to peruse the entire indictment. we got it today when it was released. the news media received information before they did, as they have been receiving for the last ten months of, 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 this campaign violations, i know i don't violate the campaigns.

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, and 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 have witnessed in the last two years and nine months as the mayor of the city of new york, thank you very much. >> resign, resign, resign! >> it won't happen. it won't happen. >> that wraps up the news conference by the mayor of new york city, underlining among the last things he said, he will not resign. back with us is chuck rosenberg. chuck, were you struck by anything that the mayor said during his comments? >> well, several things, jose. first and foremost, his lawyers cannot possibly want him out there talking to the press, commenting on the evidence,

explaining what he knows and what he doesn't know, taking responsibility for, you know, being the main point of contact for all city agencies. you know who else is listening to his press conference, jose? the prosecutors. and anything that mr. adams says publicly, anything he talks about, all that could be used as evidence against him if there's ever a trial in this matter. so, terrible idea for him to be doing that. second, and lisa rubin alluded to this earlier, and i think she's right, there are almost always cooperators. in this case, i don't know exactly who they are and i don't know exactly what they said. that will be -- that story will be told in the months to come. but a case like this is not built solely on documents, although documents will have an important role. text messages and emails and cell phone data and financial transactions are always important to prosecutors. the witnessed are the ones who put the meat on the bones, and

so you will have cooperators and you will have people who are able to flesh out the details of these transactions, and third, let me just mention one other thing, jose. the southern district of new york u.s. attorney's office, and i say this lovingly, and somewhat enviously, is the best in the country. they don't charge a sitting mayor unless they got him. the indictment itself would have been fly specced by numerous people in that office and by agents in the new york -- in the fbi new york's field office. there's no way a word makes its way into that indictment, there's no way an allegation makes its way into that indictment unless the u.s. attorney is confident that he can prove it in a court of law. so, while mr. adams is certainly presumed guilty, and while he is entitled to put the government to its test at trial, this indictment is not just serious, but it's extraordinarily well and carefully constructed.

>> and as we await, we're told, about a minute and a half, that news conference from sdny and what they will be bringing us a number of details, i want to bring back frank figliuzzi, msnbc national security analyst. you know, frank, when chuck talks about the construction of these processes, these, in this case, this 57-page indictment, what kind of construction does that mean? what does that mean? >> so, look, both chuck and lisa have raised the specter of cooperators, and it's been long established within the corridors of the fbi that you make a successful public corruption case with two things. one, or both, of two things. cooperators and/or wiretaps. so, a paper trail is great.

phone records are great. the mayor was at this restaurant at this time with this guy, all great and necessary, but until you have cooperators who were in the room and/or a wiretap and/or an undercover agent, and, again, we don't have any inkling that all those were present here, but it's highly likely that at least cooperators are involved. that's how you make a case. couple of things jump out at me. first, people may be reading this indictment and saying, gosh, some of this activity occurred before the mayor was elected mayor. is that possible to charge? absolutely. i've seen cases like that. you can promise something. you can get knowingly paid to do something once you win. so, that's there for sure. the other thing is, the charges of soliciting the bribe, right? so, it's really tough, these days, because the courts in the last ten years have made it really hard, harder, to prosecute bribery cases against public officials. and in fact, the number of

public corruption cases has dropped in the doj and fbi that said, hey, if you get a thank you gratuity, we don't want to charge those. it's not just receiving a thank you gratuity. it's soliciting that bribe. the accusation is that the mayor solicited this for the purpose of carrying out an official act. that's gravely serious and will undermine any of his defense that i was a passive recipient of a bribe. and this business of foreign money into a campaign, again, it would not be charged unless they can show that the mayor knew that money was coming from a foreign country. i'm confident that the southern district of new york has their case solid, and i think the mayor might want to make a phone call to senator menendez in new jersey. >> let me interrupt you. the officials are announcing the charges. let's go right to that. >> today, we are announcing

campaign finance, bribery, and conspiracy charges against eric adams, the mayor of new york city. as the indictment alleges, mayor adams engaged in a long-running conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations. as we allege, mayor adams took these contributions, even though he knew they were illegal. and even though he knew these contributions were attempts by a turkish government official and turkish businessmen to buy influence with him. we also allege that the mayor sought and accepted well over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits from some of the same foreign actors who arranged many of the illegal campaign contributions. these benefits included free international business class flights and opulent hotel rooms in foreign cities. the mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual public disclosure forms so that the public could see who was giving him what.

but as we allege, year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark. he told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them. we allege that adams accepted these benefits, knowing that they were given to him, because of his position. and in exchange for some of those improper benefits, he intervened in the new york city fire department's inspection process for a building owned and operated by the turkish government. allowing it to open even though it had not passed the fire inspection. the corruption alleged in the indictment is, as i said, long-running. as we allege in the indictment, adams' solicitation of illegal campaign contributions began in 2018. after he started raising funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign, he agreed to take contributions offered by multiple turkish businessmen. several of whom he met in turkey. adams knew that these wealthy individuals could not legally

donate in a u.s. election. federal law clearly prohibits foreign donations. that's how we protect our elections from foreign influence. yet adams directed his staff to pursue this illegal money to support his campaign for mayor. and as we allege, adams continued to pursue foreign money in secret, well into 2021. it didn't stop with his first campaign for mayor. as we allege in 2023, the mayor rekindled these corrupt relationships, seeking more illegal campaign contributions from some of the same foreign sources to support his re-election campaign. adams also took contributions that broke other laws. as we allege, he sought contributions from businessmen far in excess of what the law allowed. he also allegedly sought contributions from corporations, which are not allowed to contribute at all in new york city elections. many of those illegal corporate contributions were organized by the same people who organized

the illegal foreign contributions. adams allegedly disguised them all in the same way, by accepting the money through so-called straw donors. a straw donor contributes someone else's money, hiding the money's illegal source, such as a foreign businessman, a corporation, or a wealthy new yorker who has already contributed the maximum amount allowed. as we allege, adams circumvented all of these laws, taking contributions from exactly the sources the law prohibits. all to benefit his mayoral campaigns. now, adams also personally benefitted from the illegal conduct alleged in the indictment. adams solicited and accepted over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits for years from wealthy turkish business people and at least one turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him. adams started accepting undisclosed luxury travel benefits at least as early as 2016. he took these benefits nearly every year through 2021.

here are some of the benefits that we uncovered during our investigation. in 2016, adams flew to india, through turkey, and received two free round-trip upgrades for business class seats. that's the highest class on turkey's national airline. those upgrades were worth more than $12,000, and none of it was publicly disclosed. in 2017, adams accepted free business class tickets for himself and his travel companions to france, turkey, and china. and he was put up in the bentley suite in the st. regis hotel in istanbul. all of that was worth more than $41,000, and none of it was publicly disclosed. also in 2017, he flew to china, again, through turkey, and accepted two free business class tickets for himself and a companion. those were worth more than $16,000, and none of it was publicly discloses. in 2018, he flew to hungary,

through turkey, and accepted free upgrades for business class seats. those were worth more than $12,000, and none of it was publicly discloses. in 2019, he flew to turkey and accepted a free upgrade to business class for his companion and a free stay in a lavish suite at the st. regis hotel in istanbul. that was worth more than $9,000 and again, none of it was publicly disclosed. in 2021, adams solicited business class tickets to istanbul, yacht tours and meals. as we allege, he asked to pay a nominal fee for all of this in order to disguise what we allege were, in fact, bribes. he canceled that trip at the very last minute, but the benefits that he solicited were worth more than $21,000. and later, in 2021, adams flew to ghana, again, through turkey, and accepted free business class ticket upgrades and other gifts while he was on a layover in istanbul. those benefits were worth more

than $12,000 and just like out other benefits i have just run through, none of it was publicly disclosed. i want to be clear. these upgrades and freebies were not part of some frequent flyer or loyalty program available to the general public. as we allege, this was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single new york city politician on the rise. eric adams. now, this is a chart with all of the undisclosed travel benefits that we uncovered during the investigation. we just list it all out here. you see the year, 2016, 2017, 2017, 2018, 2019, and two in 2021. the destination, india, all the way to ghana. the benefits, the free upgrades or free tickets altogether, the hotel stays, and the value, and if you just sum up all the dollar amounts here, you get to more than $100,000, and of course, as i said before, every

single trip that we list here was undisclosed. as we allege in the indictment, in addition to not disclosing these benefits, adams sometimes created fake paper trails to try to cover up the travel benefits he solicited and received. let me give you one example. adams wrote emails to his staff, suggesting he paid for his 2017 business class flights on the turkish airline when, as we allege, he did not. those flights were worth a lot of money. just one ticket alone cost more than $10,000. but months after taking the flights, adams wrote an email to a staff member and told the staff member that he had left cash in her desk drawer and that she should send the money to the turkish airline to pay for a trip he had already taken. as the indictment makes clear, that's just a clumsy cover-up. now, just because adams received benefits for free, that doesn't

mean that there weren't strings attached. as we allege, a particular turkish government official behind many of the benefits adams sought and accepted gave adams all these things to gain influence over him. we allege that adams knew that and took the benefits anyway. we allege that when the turkish government official needed him, adams also took corrupt official action in exchange for some of the luxury travel benefits. in 2021, the turkish government official was trying to open a brand-new high-rise building in manhattan that would house turkey's consulate. there was significant time pressure because the turkish official desperately needed the building to be open in time for a visit from turkey's president. this building was important to the turkish official, and it was important to turkey. but the fdny's fire safety professionals wouldn't let the building open because the building hadn't passed an inspection. and not just that. some of the people at fdny thought the building had so many issues and defects that the building was not safe to occupy. so, the turkish official sent

word to adams that it was "his turn" to support turkey. and as we allege, adams delivered and pressured the fire department to let the building open. the fdny professionals were convinced that they would lose their jobs if they didn't back down. and so, they did. they got out of the way and let the building open. the turkish official got what he wanted, and as we explained in the indictment, just four days after adams held up his end of the bargain, he went right back to soliciting more travel benefits from the turkish airline. now, i want to make three things crystal clear. first, the conduct alleged in the indictment, the foreign money, the corporate money, the bribery, the years of concealment, is a grave breach of the public's trust. public office is a privilege. we allege that mayor adams abused that privilege and broke the law. laws that are designed to ensure that officials like him serve

the people, not the highest bidder, not a foreign bidder, and certainly not a foreign power. these are bright red lines, and we allege that the mayor crossed them again and again for years. that is the only reason we are here today. second, this investigation continues. we continue to dig. and we will hold more people accountable, and i encourage anyone with information to come forward and to do so before it is too late. and third, the southern district of new york remains committed to rooting out corruption without fear or favor, and without regard to partisan politics. we are not focused on the right or the left. we are focused only on right and wrong. that is our duty, and we will fulfill it. now, today's charges are the product of a tremendous partnership. i want to thank our partners at fbi and the new york city department of investigation who have been with us every step of the way. and finally, i want to commend

the outstanding career prosecutors from sdny who are handling this case. celia cohen, andrew, heaggan and derek. and the chiefs of the corruption unit, laura and robert. it's now my pleasure to turn the podium over to fbi assistant director in charge, james dennehy. >> good morning, and thank you for being here today. the indictment of a sitting mayor is not just another headline. it is a stinging reminder that no one is above the law or beyond reproach. and it serves as a sobering moment for all of us who place our trust in elected officials. today's indictment sends a powerful message to every elected official in this country. public service is a profound

responsibility and should be a noble calling. when that's perverted by greed and dishonesty, it robs us of our trust. it's a pact between leaders and their communities built on the pillars of trust, accountability, and transparency. when that pact is broken, the consequences ripple far beyond one office or one election cycle. we know not all leaders are corrupt. we know there are countless public servants who wake up every day with the intention of doing right by their constituents. but we cannot ignore the shadow cast by moments like this. when trust is eroded, it takes years, sometimes decades, to rebuild. the weight of today's actions

falls not just on the indicted official but on every other public official who must now work harder to earn the public's confidence in them. it's important to remember accountability isn't just about punishing those with alleged wrongdoings. it's about lifting the communities they've let down. it's about rebuilding, restoring, and reimagining what public servants can and should do. it's up to us to demand more from our leaders, to hold them to the highest standards, and to remind them that the power of public office should never be abused. while some may be disappointed today, let me encourage you not to be defeated. the strength of our communities, our faith in one another, and our collective resilience are

far greater than the alleged failings of any one individual. in closing, i would like to thank the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york and his office, the commissioner and the new york city department of investigation and her team as well as my team, the public corruption squad here at fbi new york. thank you. >> i would like to welcome up the commissioner from the new york city department of investigation. >> thank you. good morning. today for the first time in new york city's modern history, we announced criminal charges against the sitting mayor of new york city. as our highest elected official,

the mayor should set the standard for all of city government and exemplify serving new york. instead, the indictment unsealed today alleges that mayor adams abused his power and position for nearly a decade as brooklyn borough president and as mayor. as charged, he sought and received illegal campaign contributions, luxury travel, and other personal benefits from foreign nationals as well as individuals and businesses. he allegedly took steps to conceal those illegal contributions and personal benefits and involved city employees and campaign staff in that concealment. as the indictment explains, this kind of corruption has real costs to the city and to the

public. as alleged, the mayor's 2021 campaign falsely certified compliance with campaign finance laws in order to conceal those illegal campaign contributions, and as a result of those false certifications, received over $10 million in public matching funds. the mayor's alleged acceptance and concealment of illegal contributions and personal benefits gave overseas benefactors, wealthy individuals, and businesses undue influence over the mayor, influence that federal and local laws seek to prevent. and as charged, in exchange for personal benefits, the mayor pressured the new york city fire department to forego a required fire safety inspection before the opening of the new turkish consulate building. as the city's inspector general,

the department of investigation, a city agency, conducts its investigations con fi a city agency, conducts its investigations condentially and independent of city hall, we handled this investigation as we would any other, following the facts and seeking to hold we wrongdoers accountable. we work closely with our law enforcement colleagues at the fbi and u.s. attorney's office. if you have information about this case, or about illegal conduct by any new york city official or employee, i encourage you to contact doi by email @tipline@nyc.gov. i want to thank the u.s.

attorney's office for the southern district of new york and the fbi for their partnership on this investigation. i want to recognize and thank the investigators who are handling this matter. senior inspector general eleanor rifkin, inspector general audrey feldman, deputy inspector general arturo sanchez and deputy commissioner christopher ryan and dominic sirella. thank you. >> thank you, everyone. >> we are back with lisa rubin, catherine christian and frank figure figure. i'm wondering your reaction. >> i was writing down quotes, fake paper trails, long-running conspiracy, abuse of authority, public office is a privilege. this is a very, very detailed

indictment. as lisa said before, 12 unnamed people, which says to me a significant number of them are speaking and have been speaking to the u.s. attorney's office. he also said, mr. williams, that the investigation continues and we will hold more people accountable. if you read some of the facts, it talks about people being told to lie to the fbi. adams was trying to frustrate the investigation. that's a crime. that crime has not been charge in this indictment. that's obstruction of justice, that's scheme to conceal. the u.s. attorney is correct, this investigation is not over. as chuck rosenberg said earlier, if i'm mayor adams' criminal defense attorney, i would say stop speaking about the facts of this case, because the u.s. attorney's office is listening. >> yeah. catherine, there's the issue of this turkish airline manager and the relationship that he had with the -- the alleged relationship with the mayor and

with a lot of mayor's top staff. there is, according to the indictment, a very clear attempt by the mayor and these top staffers to hide the fact that they were requesting what is really -- it's not an in kind. it's rather just massive amounts of upgrades, free hotel stays. i'm looking at page 28 of the indictment where there is a communication between adams' staffer and the turkish airline manager where, according to the indictment -- this is on june of 2021, adams through his staffer requesting the airline manager book flights to istanbul for adams in order to conceal the favorable treatment. the adams staffer request the airline manager charge what would appear to be a real charge. they said, how about $50? the staffer says, that wouldn't

work. how much should i charge? the staffer says, his every step is being watched right now. $1,000 or so. let it be somewhat real. we don't want them saying he is flying for free. at the moment, the media's attention is on eric. i think, catherine, this kind of communication is just part of a larger, broader picture that they are painting of the mayor and his staff outright saying, i need this to look like what it isn't. >> yeah. i'm not laughing because this is very serious. but i remember as a prosecutor reading emails like this and saying, don't they know that we execute search warrants and get text messages and emails? this is proof of the crime, the consciousness of guilt and this whole concealing.

they are watching, so we better not do this. yet, they are putting this in emails, in text messages. we have them because things are saved in the cloud and prosecutors and the fbi can obtain that information via search warrant which they did in this case. >> frank, we were talking about some of the methods. here is one quick exchange atted a -- at adams' direction. he was coordinating luxury lodging. the exchange, frank, is the adams' staffer is asking where they can go in turkey. the manager says the four seasons. the reply is, why does he care, he will not pay for it? his name will not be on anything either. frank, this is part of an investigation that includes hardwire phones and text messages. >> yeah. the fbi and its partners -- it's

partners in these complex cases. we could talk endlessly about the partnership on public corruption squads with folks who know the city, the inspector general, investigators. this is particularly damning evidence of guilty knowledge. guilty knowledge, it's free. why even bother thinking about it? the other thing that strikes me, jose, now that we have this level of detail, is i really think we may see additional charges. obstruction, even tax charges, because he has got unclaimed income that's going to be a problem for him. >> lisa and catherine and frank, thank you very much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," stunning breaking news right here in new york city. mayor eric adams hit with a 57-page indictment, alleging he accepted illegal