The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams’s telephone early Thursday, hours earlier than a federal prison indictment in opposition to him was anticipated to be unsealed, The Related Press reported.
Federal brokers arrived on the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, at about 6 a.m. and entered the constructing to look his house, The New York Instances reported.
The group of practically a dozen women and men was seen getting into Adams’s condo carrying enterprise apparel, after arriving in SUVs, the Instances mentioned, noting that a minimum of considered one of which had an indication on its dashboard indicating that it was a federal regulation enforcement car.
“Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams phone (again),” Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, mentioned in an announcement to the AP, including that the mayor had not been arrested. “They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in.”
A grand jury indicted Adams on federal prison fees, the AP reported, citing two sources conversant in the matter who weren’t approved to debate it publicly. The indictment is predicted to be unsealed in New York federal court docket on Thursday.
Adams vowed to combat any fees in opposition to him in a video launched Wednesday night time.
“I always knew that If I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became,” Adams mentioned.
“If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit,” he added.
Federal prosecutors have investigated quite a few officers in Adams’s orbit and seized the gadgets of the town’s police commissioner and of a minimum of 4 prime deputies to Adams. FBI brokers additionally seized Adams’s digital gadgets final 12 months, as a part of an investigation centered, a minimum of partly, on marketing campaign contributions and doable interactions between Adams and the Turkish authorities.
The Hill has contacted the FBI, U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York, and Spiro for remark.
The Related Press contributed.
