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Brigid Bergin: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom, filling in for Brian today. On today's show for the climate story of the week, a preview of COP 28, the global climate talks beginning at the end of the month. The United States has announced it will join a loss and damage fund due to climate change. We'll talk about what it is and what it means. Plus, for Transgender Awareness Week, which is happening now, we'll remember Layleen Polanco. She was a young trans woman who died while in solitary confinement at Rikers Island in 2019. My guest for that conversation will be the trans activist Raquel Willis, and we'll wrap up today's show with your answers to a perennial question, where should I bring my out-of-town guests when they visit this time of year?

Call in with your suggestions. We'll want to hear the obvious touristy attractions that are all worth it, and of course those hidden gems. First, while many of New York's top lawmakers were away in Puerto Rico last week for SOMOS, that annual political conference and place to to see and be seen. Mayor Eric Adams stayed back here in New York City. At last week's off-topic press conference, he said this is why he was not attending.

Mayor Eric Adams: I'm not going this year for a number of reasons, and I felt disappointed with leaving my team here. Normally the city picks up the tab to go to SOMOS, but I told all my team members that if they go, they have to pay their own way to go, because we're dealing with a serious fiscal crisis in the city beyond our imagination.

Brigid Bergin: This is projected to be a tough budget cycle for the city, and the Mayor said he was staying here to be fiscally responsible. There's a lot going on in connection to a sprawling corruption investigation connected to the Mayor's 2021 campaign. Last Friday morning, the New York Times reported that earlier that same week, after an event in Manhattan, FBI agents approached the Mayor and seized an iPad and at least two of his cell phones. To be clear, the Mayor has not been accused of any wrong personally, but this latest move by investigators was the closest the investigation has reportedly come to Adams so far. This is the investigation last week.

Mayor Eric Adams: I just want to be completely transparent is what I stated all the time. I sleep well and I am clear that we follow the rules. I am angry if there are those in any way attempt to do anything that will go against our process of how we collect campaign dollars or the procedures that are in our city.

Brigid Bergin: The seizure of his electronic devices came just days after federal investigators raided the Brooklyn home of a young campaign staffer tapped to oversee his fundraising operation. The most recent reports suggest this investigation may be examining the campaign's connection with Turkey and the Turkish governmen and whether it accepted illegal campaign contributions. It's a lot and it all comes as the Mayor is also trying to manage the complexity that is New York City with fiscal challenges and ongoing influx of migrants and the persistent problems at places like Rikers Island, which we will talk about later in the show. Joining me now to make sense of the investigations, what's happened so far, and where things might be headed, is one of the reporters who has been breaking all of these big stories, and that is New York Times Senior Metro reporter Willie Rashbaum, who reports on political and municipal corruption, the courts, terrorism and law enforcement. William, welcome back to WNYC.

William Rashbaum: Thanks for having me, Brigid.

Brigid Bergin: Listeners, we may have time for a few questions for my guest, New York Times Metro reporter William Rashbaum, on the investigation connected to Mayor Adams' campaign. What questions do you have about what's happened so far? A lot has happened. Give us a call. The number is 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692 or you can text or tweet @BrianLehrer. Okay, Willie, so we need to catch people up a little bit on this story. A lot has happened in just the last couple of weeks. It seems like things really kicked into high gear starting with that FBI raid on the home of Brianna Suggs, the staffer who oversaw the fundraising operation of the Adams campaign. Who is Brianna Suggs and what happened that day earlier this month?

William Rashbaum: Well, Ms. Suggs is the Mayor's chief fundraiser. She's 25 years old. She had worked as an intern for him, I think in the Borough President's Office. She is a fixture around the Mayor's campaign and fundraising and his inner circle. She's quite close to his senior advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin. The Mayor has defended her and heaped praise on her in the aftermath of the search, although he also suggested that if she'd done something wrong, then she should be held to account, I think. What happened on on Thursday a week ago Thursday or two weeks ago this coming Thursday, was the FBI executed a court-authorized search warrant at her home in Brooklyn. They came in and they seized some, I think it was a couple of iPhones, a laptop, and other materials including some fundraising documents. There was a list that we obtained that listed Manila folders labeled one thing and another that were related to the campaign. I would call it up and look at it for you, but my computer has chosen to find this moment to upgrade my operating system, so if you lose me, you can call me back. I can't look at the document, but otherwise, I can give you a little more detail.

Brigid Bergin: No, problem. Hopefully, we won't lose you. We'd rather have you on the line than read the list of evidence. I think you probably know a lot of this stuff from all of the great reporting you and your team have done. One of the things that came out just shortly after that initial raid was that the NYPD had done a wellness check- a so-called wellness check at Brianna Suggs' home before the FBI conducted that raid. Can you tell us what does that consist of and is that a typical step taken by law enforcement ahead of something like an FBI raid?

William Rashbaum: When law enforcement authorities execute a search warrant where they're they're not breaking down the door. Raid is- it's a word that we use for that sometimes, but to be clear, they're not-- I believe they knocked on the door. That's the way these things are generally done. When these actions are taken, there's always concern about who's in the house and what might happen. In this instance, because there are people from Internal Affairs on the unit that was conducting this investigation, they contacted the precinct and identified themselves as from Internal Affairs, which they are, but without indicating they were part of an FBI task force and about to execute a search warrant and requested the wellness check, because they wanted to know who was inside.

Brigid Bergin: Sure.

William Rashbaum: To avoid any problems, confusion, or worse when the search warrant was executed.

Brigid Bergin: Willie, you and your colleagues obtained a copy of the warrant that prosecutors or the investigators executed as part of that search. It seemed to suggest that they were probing whether there is a connection between the Mayor's 2021 campaign fundraising and the Turkish government. Can you talk more about what the warrant seems to suggest this investigation entails?

William Rashbaum: Well, the crimes that it's listed as in the warrant, which are the crimes for which- the possible crimes I should say, for which they are seeking evidence were illegal campaign contributions. I think each of these crimes is the substantive crime of, for example, foreign money going into a campaign. Conspiracy to commit that crime and an attempt to commit that crime. I'm a little hamstrung here again, because my computer's not cooperating with me. Also, wire fraud and a statute that involves the theft of federal funds, which is probably related to the matching funds program, because the city does get federal money. Therefore, the city's matching funds program, which is the city money.

Brigid Bergin: Very generous. A part of it.

William Rashbaum: Could be. The warrant also lists or indicates that they are investigating whether the Turkish government, or the Turkish consulate in New York, and a construction company based in Brooklyn that is owned by Turkish immigrants, whether they were all working together essentially or conspiring to commit these kinds of crimes.

Brigid Bergin: Sure. That construction company is the KSK construction company, correct?

William Rashbaum: Yes. KSK Group Limited, I believe, is the--

Brigid Bergin: There are a lot of parties that are potentially connected to this alleged scheme. Let's talk for a minute about the city's matching program. It's a very generous program. It provides an eight-to-one match for the first $250 of certain campaign contributions, but there are obviously some strict rules about who can give and what donations are allowed. What do we know about what investigators are looking at in terms of the legality of these donations? I think, basically, what you've described sounds like the implication is that donations from foreign nationals could've been part of these alleged donations, is that correct?

William Rashbaum: Right. Foreign money, both federal laws and I think the city's campaign finance laws bar federal money from going into campaigns. At the same time, it's illegal under both state and federal law, to skirt or attempt to skirt campaign finance limits. In other words, there are limits set on how much an individual can donate. In the past, and it's becoming more and more common, people will persuade their family members, employees, others to donate money and then they reimburse these people for those donations.

Brigid Bergin: Those would be the straw donors.

William Rashbaum: Right. That would be illegal whether it is foreign money or not. The foreign money is a separate crime. The mail fraud would be the account, would be the federal violation that applies to that conduct when it's not foreign money.

Brigid Bergin: Listeners, if you're just joining me now, I'm Brigid Bergin filling in for Brian Lehrer today. My guest is Willie Rashbaum, a New York Times senior writer who covers municipal and political corruption, the courts, terrorism, law enforcement, and we are unpacking this investigation that has connected to Mayor Eric Adams 2021 campaign. It's got a lot of players, a lot of elements. As we have stated previously, no implication that the Mayor himself has committed any illegal acts, but a lot of questions around people who are connected to the campaign that we are trying to understand as this investigation plays out. We've got some calls on the phone and some comments that are coming in. Let's go to Paula Whitney in Crown Heights. Paula, thanks so much.

Paula Whitney: Ms. Bergin, good morning.

Brigid Bergin: Good morning. Thanks for calling WNYC.

Paula Whitney: What a pleasure to hear from you. I listen to the show daily. Hey, Will, it's Paula Whitney Best from Cambridge School.

William Rashbaum: Hey, Paula. How are you?

Paula Whitney: Hi, Will. How are you doing, bro?

William Rashbaum: Nice to hear your voice.

Paula Whitney: Nice to hear your voice, my darling. Comment on the question, what does New York City have to do with Turkey? Why is the Mayor's jurisdiction extending to Turkey? Secondly, why does Brianna Suggs have to be the fall person for whatever misdeeds the Mayor may be accused of doing? I'm going to take it offline.

Brigid Bergin: Paul Whitney, thank you for calling. Willie, the connection to Turkey.

William Rashbaum: The investigation, as indicated in the warrant, is focused on whether or not Turkish money was funneled into the campaign. We published a story, my colleagues and I over the weekend, that looked at one aspect of this investigation which concerns whether the Mayor, prior to after he'd won the Democratic primary, but before the general election, had attempted to press fire department officials to approve a new consulate that had just been built for the Turkish government.

There were some significant fire safety issues according to records that we looked at and people that we spoke to, the Mayor was interested in pushing the approvals forward and ultimately, the building was approved under a very unusual arrangement. What the other connections to Turkey are the Mayor's connections. He obviously has traveled there, as has been widely reported, at least half a dozen times.

Brigid Bergin: Sure.

William Rashbaum: At the same time, the Mayor is an avid traveler. Any New York mayor, as we've all seen over the years, seeks and cultivates support in different ethnic communities in this city of many diverse ethnic communities. That in and of itself doesn't indicate wrongdoing, but it seems like what the government is looking at here concerns the Mayor's connections to Turkey. Beyond that, we haven't been able to clarify beyond the allegation of foreign money coming in from Turkey and the Turkish government and these efforts on behalf of the consulate.

Brigid Bergin: Willie, the raid on Ms. Suggs' home took place on the same day that the Mayor had traveled to Washington, DC to meet with White House officials to discuss support.

William Rashbaum: Can I interrupt one second?

Brigid Bergin: Please.

William Rashbaum: Because I just want to finish. I realize I didn't answer Paula's other questions. Paula and I went to high school together. That's why she--

Brigid Bergin: We love to bring people together on the radio.

William Rashbaum: Paula asked why Ms. Suggs was being made the fall person for the Mayor. We don't really know that was true. Like the Mayor, she has not been accused of any wrongdoing. There was a search warrant executed at her home to collect evidence. That doesn't necessarily mean she's going to be charged with a crime, let alone it doesn't mean that the Mayor is going to be charged with one. Whether or not she is the fall person, I think, is a little premature.

Brigid Bergin: Thank you. I appreciate you and finishing-

William Rashbaum: Sorry, to interrupt you.

Brigid Bergin: -no, problem- Answering Paula Whitney's question. That then leads me to the follow-up. As I started to say, this all took place the day that the Mayor had traveled to Washington, DC to meet with White House officials to discuss support for the ongoing migrant crisis. The Mayor did not attend that meeting and instead returned back to the city. We have a listener who texted us and asked, is there any possibility that the raid at Brianna Suggs was intentionally timed to see if Adams would "overreact" knowing he would be out of town for his DC meetings. Any sense on the timing of that particular execution of the warrant, Willie?

William Rashbaum: I don't have any insight into that. I could speculate, just like plenty of other people have. Someone asked the Mayor at his news conference, I think there was a question that suggested that-- Well, I don't remember exactly, so I'm going to skip that. There could be reasons for the FBI to do that if they were looking to see whether he might take certain actions. It's really hard to say whether that was a coincidence or whether it was something that they set in motion while he was away by design.

Brigid Bergin: I'm Brigid Bergin, and today for Brian Lehrer, my guest is New York Times Metro Reporter Willie Rashbaum. We're going to talk more about the investigation related to Mayor Adams 2021 campaign fundraising in just a moment. We have to take a short break. Stick around.

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Brigid Bergin: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin filling in for Brian Lehrer today. My guest is New York Times Metro Reporter William Rashbaum. We're talking about the investigation related to Mayor Adams 2021 campaign fundraising. There's a lot here that we've been unpacking. I want to get in some more callers who want to weigh in on this situation, may have a question for you, Willie. Maybe another high school classmate who knows how many of them are going to call.

Let's talk for a moment. You talked about the connection to Turkey and the building of this Turkish consulate, but I want to connect that back on the same day that there was the raid on Brianna Suggs home. You also reported that the investigation ended up on the doorstep of former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

William Rashbaum: Well, I think that there was some contact between Mr. Adams and Commissioner Nigro, who was then at the time, this is in September, maybe late August, September of '21. It's unclear whether Commissioner Nigro was the first person in the fire department that Mr. Adams contacted, but he did contact him directly. The day after the search warrant, the FBI went to then Commissioner Nigro's home, Mr. Nigro's home to interview him about his communication with the Mayor. There's no indication I'm aware of that there's any suggestion of wrongdoing on the commissioner's part at all. I think that he was interviewed as a witness.

Brigid Bergin: Let's bring some more callers into our conversation. Let's go to Allison in Manhattan. Allison, thanks for calling. WNYC.

Allison: Hey, hi. I'm doing alternate side of the parking too. I'm just a little disappointed. I love the show. I love all of you. I'm a big NPR WNYC fan, but I feel like you and the media are already condemning the Mayor. This is a problem with our news these days. Everyone wants to be the latest scoop. You all feel like you're the ones who are going to catch him. Nothing is factual yet. I haven't listened to all of the program, because I've just been busy with the parking, but I just feel like it's not right. The news medias have to jump on everything before getting the facts.

Brigid Bergin: Allison, thanks. I'll let you respond just a moment. Willie. Allison, we appreciate you and we want you to be safe while you're alternate side-parking. Please be careful while you're driving. I'll let you jump in Willie, but note that what we're talking about today and what we have stressed many times is we're only talking about what factually has happened so far. We have made very clear repeatedly that the Mayor is not currently accused of anything, nor is anyone in his campaign. Willie, since you have broken most of these stories that have become the subject of some of these conversations, I'll let you jump in to add to that.

William Rashbaum: Yes. Okay. Well, thanks for your question, Allison. I understand your concerns and I understand how things can look like people are trying to jump on things and I think you said, get the Mayor. The point I would emphasize to you is that what we are writing about here and what we have been since two weeks ago this Thursday since November 2nd, is actions that the FBI and the US Attorney's office have taken. In particular, on November 2nd, the search of Ms. Suggs' home. The following Monday, the FBI, in what was a very aggressive and highly unusual step, approaching the Mayor on the street and seizing his phone. That is, as I said, a very aggressive step.

The government, when they take steps like that in most instances and certainly in an instance where you're dealing with the Mayor of the City of New York, that is going to be not just approved by a judge, but approved at the highest levels of the FBI, of the US Attorney's office here in New York, and the Justice Department in Washington obviously would be aware that that was happening. These things get briefed up the chain. We don't even know if the Mayor is the target of this investigation.

Brigid Bergin: It is ongoing.

William Rashbaum: It's seems like it's going in that direction, but we just don't know. He certainly hasn't been charged with a crime. We've endeavored to make that clear in all the stories that we've written, that he hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, that he hasn't been charged with a crime. He's a very high-profile figure. He is the Mayor of New York City. When these kinds of actions are taken, they are newsworthy. We would be remiss if we did not report on them. I hope that answers your question, Allison

Brigid Bergin: Willie, I want to just also note as part of what you have reported and what others have reported coming out of this investigation so far, the Mayor has said that he's obtained outside counsel at the law firm, WilmerHale, his attorney, Boyd Johnson. Do you know anything about Mr. Johnson? Have you encountered him in federal court in the past?

William Rashbaum: I have, and he was a senior prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office a number of years ago. He also headed the International Narcotics Unit in the US Attorney's Office, and he headed the Public Corruption unit in the US Attorney's Office. Also at WilmerHale is another former Southern District prosecutor who also had in the past headed the Public Corruption unit at the Southern District, Brendan McGuire, who had left the city government a month or so ago, where he served as the Mayor's chief counsel there.

Brigid Bergin: Right.

William Rashbaum: These are both widely-respected lawyers who have a depth of experience, both as prosecutors and as defense lawyer.

Brigid Bergin: After you reported about the seizure of Adams' electronic devices, Johnson issued a statement saying, "After learning of the federal investigation, it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly. In the spirit of transparency and cooperation, this behavior was immediately and proactively reported to investigators." Willie, do we have any indication of who this individual may have been or may be?

William Rashbaum: We don't. We've been trying to find out. We've been trying to find out what the nature of that conduct was, but we don't know yet. We don't know whether it is something that is significant and directly related to these issues or something else. The implication is that it is related to these matters, but without knowing more, it's hard to make a judgment.

Brigid Bergin: We should note that this is not the only investigation connected to the Adams campaign and administration. Earlier this summer, two people who were accused of, pleaded guilty to as part of a straw donor scheme. Two brothers who ran a different construction company in Queens. There were four others who were also indicted in that particular case coming out of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Can you give us a thumbnail description of what happened there?

William Rashbaum: That was another straw donor scheme where donations were made in order to generate the eight-to-one matching funds by donations were made in the names of people who weren't actually donating the money, but that didn't involve foreign funds. There's no indication that the Mayor had any knowledge of that scheme. One of the people charged in that case who has not pled guilty or whose case- I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same case, was a retired police inspector who had some connection to the Mayor. They had worked together and they were friendly. How close they were, I don't know.

Brigid Bergin: Then, of course, there's also an indictment against the city's former Buildings Commissioner, Eric Ulrich, on bribery charges. He's accused of taking $150,000. It amounts to designer clothes, a discounted luxury apartment. He has pleaded not guilty on, I believe, some 16 charges. Can you tell us the status of that case, and is there any connection to these other investigations?

William Rashbaum: There doesn't appear to be, and that case brought by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, is actually five separate indictments all of which charge Mr. Ulrich. I think all but one of which charge other individuals involved in a variety of different schemes, but it's a range of different kinds of conduct and crimes that aren't all necessarily related, which is in part I think why they were charged in separate indictments.

Brigid Bergin: I want bring in another caller to help me set up my next question. Sean, in St. Albans, thanks so much for calling WNYC.

Sean: Thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to ask you guys if we remember that the same thing happened to Bloomberg and De Blasio.

Brigid Bergin: Sean, I appreciate your point and I want to connect it to a piece that just came out from our friends over at the city news site. Greg Smith has a piece out today where he writes about how every administration dating back to Mayor Koch has been the target of a corruption investigation at some point, but no charges have been brought against a sitting mayor for, he writes, 170 years. That includes the time when Tammany Hall was in charge. Only Mayor Jimmy Walker, who resigned in 1932, but even that was before he faced any actual charges. Willie, is there anything about these current investigations that stand out to you as different from previous corruption investigations, to Sean's point, that we have seen faced facing previous mayors?

William Rashbaum: Certainly. Mayor de Blasio was the subject of a lengthy and exhaustive federal campaign fundraising investigation. I'm not sure what Sean's referring to with regard to Bloomberg, but I can't remember everything. I may be forgetting something.

Brigid Bergin: Could that be related to City Time perhaps or some of the other investigators?

William Rashbaum: It could be, but that didn't really land in Bloomberg's lap per se, as I recall, and it wasn't a fundraising scheme. If my memory serves me, it was contracting. The municipal corruption is sadly not a new thing, and as you point out, it dates back not just to Jimmy Walker, but to Boss Tweed and who did end up- I think he died in prison, but I can't remember whether he was charged in a corruption investigation, and de Blasio was not charged.

After a lengthy investigation by both the US Attorney's Office, which is the Southern District US Attorney's Office, which is conducting this investigation of the FBI and the Manhattan DA's Office. They both issued statements saying that they were essentially concluding their investigations. They were critical of Mayor de Blasio and his fundraising, but they did not bring charges. To that point, in recent years, there have been several Supreme Court rulings that have made it more and more difficult for prosecutors to bring-

Brigid Bergin: Corruption charges.

William Rashbaum: -corruption cases against elected and other officials and appointed officials, and the bar has gotten consistently higher. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I think remains to be seen, and how it will affect this matter, I could not say.

Brigid Bergin: Willie, before we let you go, I know politics is not the focus of your reporting per se, but I started this segment talking about SOMOS, where your reporting was all the chatter. There is buzz about potential primary challengers lining up, because the Mayor's facing these difficult circumstances, but there are also very real issues that he needs to address here in the city. How much of a distraction do you think these investigations are from the business of running the city?

William Rashbaum: I think the Mayor, if I'm not mistaken, responded to that the other day and said that he's capable of multitasking. I think we have to take him at his word on that. The city posts after the last three years of pandemic, four years, whatever it's been, the city has a lot of problems, has a lot of issues that need to be addressed, and it's not in anyone's interest that this distraction gets generated.

On the other hand, it's the job of the people in the US Attorney's office, the FBI, to investigate these things. We'll find out, I think, in due time whether this was well-founded and grounded in the work that they're supposed to do or not. I would be surprised to learn that they took what is an extremely aggressive action in terms of seizing his phone without ample foundation, but we just don't know and we will see.

Brigid Bergin: We certainly will. We'll have to leave it there for now. We will follow your reporting. My guest has been William Rashbaum, a senior writer on the New York Times Metro Desk who covers political and municipal corruption and law enforcement. Willie, thanks so much for joining me.

William Rashbaum: Thank you.

 

 

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