Eric Adams is a big story – Americans loss of faith in the Justice Department is a bigger one.
No matter what your opinion on the Eric Adams criminal case, the most significant aspect of the situation lies with the Department of Justice itself. That’s saying a lot. The mayor of the country’s biggest city has never been arrested before last week. As we see top aides like David Banks, Philip Banks, and Edward Caban resigning, it seems like Adams position as Mayor is becoming less tenable. But the bigger story is our lack of faith in the federal justice system.
Allegations of corruption and misconduct have followed Adams from his days in the police department, to his time as a state senator, to his work as Brooklyn Borough President. As mayor, he installed so many problematic people at the top of his administration, that we all saw the potential for a corruption case. Corruption arrests seemed inevitable.
But when they finally came, there were doubters and naysayers. People criticized the DOJ for making the Adams case, or at least felt it was retaliatory. An informal and unscientific poll that we conducted on X showed that 89% or responded felt that the Adams case was due in part or completely to his criticism of Biden’s border policy. In another poll we conducted, 42% of respondents felt that the charges in the indictment were not serious corruption.
Granted, the case was less sensational and encompassing than we expected, but the charges seemed to spell out some clear criminality by the mayor. His campaign was running a scam to steal taxpayers funds for his election bid. A clear violation of the public trust. Something we all want the feds to go after.
But many looked at Adams as a victim. A victim of a politicized and opaque Department of Justice. People saw the relationship between the start of this case and Adams’ criticism of Biden’s open border policy. One couldn’t help but notice that on the day Adams was meeting with Biden to discuss the migrant issue, the FBI was serving a search warrant at a campaign manager’s home. That important meeting was never rescheduled.
It was a nagging feeling that even I felt. I had to remind myself that these are the types of cases that are most important to maintain good governance. There are few people lower than a corrupt politician. But still…
In looking at the public sentiment on Facebook and X I saw some good points. The widely despised Bill Diblasio and his former wife made almost a billion-dollar investment in mental health magically disappear with his ThriveNYC initiative. A neat trick. We investigated parts of the program and saw many clear indicators of fraud. Facilities that never opened, falsified statistics, companies that never helped anyone, and the general lack of even an attempt at meaningful assistance. The citizens of New York saw it too and were outraged. To this day many are still calling for an investigation into the money.
Yet the DOJ is silent. As far as we know, they refused to investigate it. Public outcry be damned. Never an answer, or even an acknowledgement of the problem. Even after sitting Congresswomen Nicole Malliotakis demanded an investigation, the DOJ remained on the sidelines. The billions in wasted or stolen money makes the Adams frauds seem like pocket change.
The most significant part of the Adams indictment are the scams that his campaign ran to steal taxpayer money and put it in the coffers of his election campaign. There is little doubt that people around Adams and likely Adams himself encouraged foreign agents and corporations to use straw donors so they could claim the 8 to 1 matching funds from grass roots contributions. (a policy which encourages fraud)
Most voters feel that this type of campaign finance fraud is endemic. They are also rarely prosecuted by the DOJ. Granted the Adams campaign’s efforts to falsify donations was hackneyed and bumbling, but we see these violations alleged all the time. We have even seen other NYC politicians running the same scam as Adams, like Comptroller John Liu. But he was only fined.
When it comes to the free favors that Adams received, people think that is par for the course with politicians. A flight upgrade, an almost free hotel, a call to take expedite a building inspection. I’m not say that it is right, or even legal, but it seems like everyday life for politicians.
Just look at the last three New York City Mayors and the last three New York State Governors. Adams, De Blasio, Bloomberg, Cuomo, Patterson, and Hochul all took trips to Israel to show support for Israel and “strengthen business ties”. All were quite vociferous in speaking in favor of the interests of Israel when they returned.
It was not widely reported who paid for these trips, but in De Blasio’s case, the trip was paid for by the owner of an Israeli international real estate investment group. If you recall, De Blasio had some shady real estate dealings during his mayoralty that got the attention of the DOJ. Yet this fully funded trip was no problem. As far as I know, New York City and State don’t have foreign policies that would require a trip to Israel.
If you want to look at some straight up displays of corruption, there are some more obvious candidates than Adams (and that’s not easy to do). Tiffany Henyard of Dalton Illinois makes headlines across the country for her corrupt antics. But despite being in office since early 2021, the DOJ has only sent out a few subpoenas in regard to her open fraud. No search warrants, no indictments, no arrests.
And these examples are completely separate from the lawfare campaign by the DOJ and former DOJ employees against Donald Trump. And forget about the Russian collusion hoax propagated by people within DOJ. No wonder many Americans don’t believe a word that comes out of the Justice in their carefully worded press conferences – and their refusal to answer any questions.
The Adams corruption is a serious story. It should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But whether he is found guilty or acquitted, New York City will move on, and he will be another entry in the colorful history of New York City.
Our faith in our federal justice system is a different matter. Without a legitimate justice system, it will be hard for government to rule. Right now, the people aren’t feeling that trust. That is the bigger story, and one with potentially nation-shattering implications.
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