In a dramatic early morning operation, the FBI seized New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s phone at Gracie Mansion on Thursday, just hours before a federal indictment against him was set to be unsealed. Federal agents, approximately a dozen strong and clad in business attire, arrived around 6 a.m. in SUVs, including at least one marked as a federal vehicle, according to reports from The New York Times.
Adams’s attorney, Alex Spiro, criticized the FBI’s approach, stating, “They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in,” while confirming that the mayor was not arrested during the operation.
Sources have indicated that a grand jury has already indicted Adams on federal charges, with details expected to be revealed in New York federal court later today.
In a defiant video statement released Wednesday night, Adams vowed to fight any charges, asserting, “If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”
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This investigation has seen multiple officials in Adams’s administration targeted, with electronic devices seized from both the city’s police commissioner and several of Adams’s top deputies.
The FBI previously confiscated Adams’s devices last year, amid inquiries into campaign contributions and potential ties to the Turkish government.
The Daily Boulder has reached out to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for further comments.
