NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams reacted Thursday after a series of raids, including at the home of his chief fundraiser.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the investigation, but two highly placed sources tell CBS New York the raids are part of an international probe into “foreign government influence peddling.”
Even though no arrests have been made and no charges filed, the FBI raid was enough of a concern to prompt the mayor to cancel his meetings with the White House about the asylum seeker crisis and return early to New York from Washington.
“You probably heard the reports involving one of my campaign staffers, and listen, everyone knows me. I comply with the rules. We’re going to comply with any inquiry, and we will all do that. That is what we do. I have not been contacted by anyone involving this, and I’m just going to continue running this city, the greatest city on the globe,” Adams said.
Thursday evening, he said he will cooperate with law enforcement agencies and has instructed his campaign and City Hall staff to do the same.
“I feel extremely comfortable about how I comply with rules and procedures,” Adams said.
Adams spoke to CBS New York political reporter Marcia Kramer and other reporters Thursday night for the first time since FBI agents raided the Crown Heights home of his chief fundraiser and campaign consultant, Brianna Suggs, hours earlier.
“A real professional, she does her job well and she’s gonna comply with any inquiry that’s made,” Adams said.
The mayor maintains he has not been contacted as part of this inquiry.
“We have probably one of the strictest reviews. We have a review of the team. We have a compliance attorney that I pay that does a review, also. We carry a very strict review to do the best we can and make sure that we are having those dollars that are coming in that are appropriate. We turn down a lot of money. We send it back. We don’t believe it’s correct, so we adhere to a very strict policy in our campaign,” Adams said.
Suggs, who is also a lobbyist, has been paid about $100,000 over the past two years by the Adams campaign.
It’s unclear what was in those evidence boxes that officers carried out of her brownstone.
“I woke up to the FBI. I never saw the FBI on the block,” neighbor Christopher Burwell Sr. said. “I know whatever’s going on, she got drawn in ’cause they’re a good family.”
According to The New York Times, FBI agents from one of the agency’s public corruption squads questioned Suggs during the raid.
One highly placed source tells CBS New York the federal probe may include the country of Turkey, which Adams visited before taking office.
“I’m probably the only mayor in the history of this city that has not only visited Turkey once, but I think I’m on my sixth or seventh visit to Turkey,” Adams said at an event on Oct. 27.
This is not the first time the mayor’s circle has caught the attention of law enforcement. Over the summer, the district attorney indicted six people for conspiring to funnel illegal campaign donations to this 2021 mayoral campaign.
