NYC mayor Eric Adams indicted on federal charges investigation: Live updates

Hours after sweeping into Gracie Mansion, federal agents took Adams’ cell phone, his lawyer told the New York Times.

This is the second time in a year that federal authorities have seized Adams’ electronic devices as part of a wider investigation.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Adams, said in a statement: “Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams phone (again). He has not been arrested and looks forward to his day in court.”

He added: “They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in.”

Adams was at the official mayoral residence, Gracie Mansion, when news of the indictment broke on Wednesday evening.

His former chief of staff, Frank Carone, was seen exiting the residence just before midnight where he told reporters Adams should “absolutely not” step down.

“Just like everybody else, innocent until proven guilty, he deserves his day in court and he’ll have it,” Carone said.

Member of congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called on New York City mayor Eric Adams to resign, the first nationally prominent Democrat to do so amid escalating federal criminal investigations into the mayor’s administration.

Her calls for his resignation came hours before it was revealed that Adams had been criminally indicted on federal charges.

“I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X.

Former mayoral candidate Andrew Yang responded to the news by saying: “New Yorkers deserve better.”

Federal agents have swooped on Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence, first thing this morning.

The New York Times reports agents arrived at the property just before 6am to search Adams’s official home.

They reported SUVs outside the property, at least one of which had a federal law enforcement parking placard on the dashboard.

Agents carried briefcases and backpacks as they entered the premises.

For months the mayor and those close to him, including employees, have been facing subpoenas, raids and allegations of wrongdoing.

According to reports, Adams allegedly benefitted from a straw donor scheme during his 2021 mayoral campaign through his ties to Turkish government officials and Turkish nationals.

Adams, who maintains his innocence, can still serve as mayor under federal indictment.

He can only be removed from office before his term is up by New York governor, Kathy Hochul. A source told the New York Post there is “no chance” she would, however.

The governor has been urged to distance herself from the embattled mayor.

William O’Reilly, a Republican strategist, told Spectrum News NY1: “I would tell the governor to begin airing her concern for what’s going on in New York.

“You have an administration that looks riddled with corruption, I mean riddled from the top down. And if the governor doesn’t get out ahead of it, she’s going to end up being behind the story and she’s gonna become part of the story.”

Hochul shared a message of unity when addressing the investigation on Wednesday. “Mayor Eric Adams was elected to represent the same 8.3 million New Yorkers. We have to work together,” she said. “People need us to pull together at this time and show that government is functioning.”

She added she would “continue to work with the mayor’s team” and she was “not walking away” from the responsibility of “improving the city of New York.”

In the event of Adams’s resignation, Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, would call a special election.

The job of America’s most high-profile mayor is sought after by a number of candidates who are already running in next year’s election.

Williams would likely run alongside the four Democrats currently competing against Adams.

They are city comptroller Brad Lander, Queens state senator Jessie Ramos, former comptroller Scott Stringer, and Brooklyn state senator Zellnor Myrie.

Former governor Andrew Cuomo could also be making a comeback, according to reports, but he has not officially declared his candidacy.

Adams has maintained he is innocent and will fight the charges.

Adams has vowed to fight the charges against him but if he does resign, Jumaane Williams will step in to replace him as acting mayor.

He would be in charge of setting a date for a special election, which could happen by the end of this year.

Williams, the city’s public advocate, is a fierce critic of Adams and, by contrast, is a progressive Democrat.

He previously said of Adams: “I’m not sure how you continue to govern with, every day, more corrupt arrests, more corrupt suspicions.”

In particular, he has criticized the mayor’s “aggressive” policing strategy, including the city’s stop-and-frisk tactics.

Williams has also called for an end to solitary confinement in the city’s prisons.