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David Furst: It's The Brian Lehrer Show. I'm David Furst, in for Brian today. Good morning. Now it is time to catch up on the news coming out of City Hall, which we hear from WNYC's lead Eric Adams reporter Elizabeth Kim. Usually, she attends the mayor's off-topic press conferences, the one opportunity reporters get each week to ask Eric Adams anything.

This week, that press conference was canceled and replaced with a special announcement from the mayor after the US Department of Justice sent a memo on Monday asking prosecutors to drop criminal charges against Adams. Let's hear a bit from the mayor's address.

Eric Adams: My fellow New Yorkers, as you may have heard, the Department of Justice has directed that the case against me be dismissed, finally ending a months-long saga that put me, my family, and this city through an unnecessary ordeal. As I said from the outset, I never broke the law, and I never would. I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor.

It is worth repeating the facts because many sensational and false claims have been made, so let me be clear. I never asked anyone to break the law on my behalf or on behalf of my campaign. Never. I absolutely never traded my power as an elected official for any personal benefit. No witness ever came forward publicly to make claims against me. None of the baseless threats from prosecutors, of new charges and new evidence, ever materialized. This case will no longer continue.

David Furst: We'll play more clips from the mayor's announcement yesterday. But here now to discuss the latest news, coming out of City Hall, is WNYC's Elizabeth Kim. Welcome back.

Elizabeth Kim: Happy Wednesday, David.

David Furst: Happy Wednesday, Liz. Now, can you remind us of the criminal charges that were brought against the mayor back in September? What has he been accused of?

Elizabeth Kim: This is a five-count indictment and it consists of charges of bribery, soliciting illegal donations, wire fraud, and conspiracy. The heart of the case really rests on these allegations that the mayor accepted flight upgrades and other kinds of travel perks, like a fancy hotel suite, from Turkish officials, and that in exchange, he helped them fast-track the opening of the Turkish consulate in midtown Manhattan, just in time for a visit from the Turkish President Erdoğan.

Now, the mayor pleaded not guilty, and as you heard in that clip that you played, he says that he has never done anything illegal. He has never traded on his power for personal benefit.

David Furst: Well, On Monday, the US Department of Justice released this memo calling for the charges to be dropped. Can you get into the details of this memo and why this happened? Now, what were the reasons listed in the memo?

Elizabeth Kim: Sure. There was reporting leading up to the memo that the mayor's attorneys were in conversations with the US Department of Justice about this case and asking them to drop the charges, so it was not a complete surprise. The memo is a directive that goes to the acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which brought the charges against the mayor. It is a person named Danielle Sassoon.

The memo argues that the charges against Adams should be dropped for, essentially, two reasons. One, the timing of the indictment. The timing of the indictment comes less than a year from the June primary. The memo argues that this suggests that the mayor was, in fact, politically targeted for his statements, his criticisms of President Biden's migrant policies. Now, if you remember, that is something that the mayor himself has said.

When the indictment came out, he said, "I was politically targeted." It is also something that President Trump has said. The second reason that the memo gives is that the indictment has been a distraction for the mayor and that if he were to be prosecuted, he would not be able to help the federal government carry out Trump's immigration crackdown.

David Furst: Well, if you want to join this conversation, give us a call, 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. Liz, we just heard Eric Adams say that his case has been dismissed and that the claims were false and sensational, but the DOJ included this tricky phrase, that maybe you can explain for me, that their memo called for charges to be dropped "without prejudice." What does that mean? Have the charges truly been completely dropped?

Elizabeth Kim: Great question. Now, this is a key part of the memo that many people have zeroed in on. What it means is that the Justice Department did not assess the merits of the case. They make that clear, high up in the memo. They say that this, if you call it a deal of dropping the charges, is conditional on the incoming US Attorney for the Southern District, who's a Trump pick, named Jay Clayton. It's conditional on him reviewing the case after the November election.

That means that it leaves open the possibility that the mayor could be re-indicted. That's essentially why you've been hearing a lot of political observers say that Adams is essentially still, or even more beholden to Trump. We have seen the mayor-- you could call it courting Trump's attention, in recent weeks. He made a visit last month to have lunch with the president at his golf course in Florida.

He accepted this last-minute invitation to go to Trump's inauguration on MLK day. What we do see with the justice memo is that the deal, or if you want to call it this relationship with Trump, it's going to come at a political cost to Adams, and you really can't understate that.

David Furst: Well, let's listen to another portion of Adams' announcement from yesterday. Let's take a listen.

Eric Adams: Despite the fact that I am no longer facing legal questions, I also understand that many New Yorkers will still question my character. I know that I must continue to regain your trust. I have learned a lot over the last year, and this experience has been humbling, but as we have been dragged through this unfortunate prosecution, I never took my eyes off what was important, you and your family's future, and because of that, our city government has never been stronger.

David Furst: Well, this part of the announcement is right before the mayor begins listing what he sees as the figures behind what he sees as his greatest accomplishments as mayor so far. What does Adams point to as those achievements in this speech, and what do you make of him listing these issues and what he's done to tackle them in an announcement of this sort?

Elizabeth Kim: It's a roughly six-minute address that he live-streamed from City Hall, in an event that was closed to reporters. He's trying to do two things there, right? First of all, he's trying to address the charges, the fact that they're being dropped. He's trying to say this is a moment of closure, that, "I am now vindicated." Now he's pivoting to the campaign part of this speech, which is, "I'm looking ahead to the reelection. I want to remind you of my achievements."

The achievements that he's running on is job growth, drops in crime, and the creation of affordable housing. Now, we could tackle each of these. I think, probably, something that was central to him getting elected was crime. That is something that the city has-- that has seen improvement. Crime has, in fact, fallen, which is in line with the pattern in other big cities. The problem, I think, for the mayor, is critics will still say that we haven't gotten to the pre-pandemic levels of crime, felony assaults are up, and that's concerning.

When it comes to job growth, the city has, in fact, seen steady job growth. Again, how much credit, though, does the mayor take? Can he draw a line from his policies that are contributing to the job growth? There's also the question that there are still stubborn disparities in job growth, although the mayor has taken pains to point out that Black unemployment has been falling.

Then, I think it's fair to say that the mayor can take credit for overhauling the city's zoning code. That was a significant achievement. It hadn't been done in decades. He did it with the help of the council, which is very important to say.

David Furst: We are here with WNYC's Liz Kim, who covers the mayor at City Hall for WNYC. I know Brian gets to talk to you every Wednesday. I'm so happy to be here talking with you about all of this, in this moment. We want to take your calls as well, if you want to join this conversation. 212-433-WNYC. Where do you stand on Mayor Adams at this moment, as the charges against him have seemingly been dropped for now?

You've heard some of the mayor's announcement from yesterday. Do you trust the mayor to keep fighting for you as he runs for reelection? We're taking your questions. 212-433-9692. Let's hear from Dominic, joining us from the Bronx. Good morning.

Dominic: Good morning. I just wanted to know if what the DOJ has decided to do is a form of election interference in the sense that, for now, he's put on hold, so that he can do-- basically, it's really cute. It sounds like he's being bribed by the Trump administration to do the Trump administration's bidding. Let's be clear, Eric Adams is anti-immigrant and he is anti-sanctuary city. He does not care for it.

Now, hanging over his head is that he has to comply with the federal government or they will open up the case, and once they have their use of him, when he's no longer mayor, and I cannot wait to vote against him, he will be re-indicted. This sounds like bribery, or maybe I'm just being too generous with the term bribery. Thank you for this critical reporting. I'm so proud that you guys are able to hold in your laughter at how ridiculous this mayor appears right now. Thank you, guys.

David Furst: Dominic, thank you very much for your question. What about that, Liz?

Elizabeth Kim: Dominic, that is essentially the way this is being read by people in political circles, and even legal circles. Reverend Al Sharpton came out yesterday, and he has been a stalwart ally of the mayor, but he came out on his radio program and he also released a statement saying that the mayor is being held hostage by Trump. Like I said, this comes at a political cost to the mayor. If even one of his closest allies is saying something like that, what does it mean for his chances for reelection?

David Furst: What does it mean for his chances for reelection? What does the Adams--

Elizabeth Kim: Well, in the case of Sharpton, he went a step further, to say that he plans to convene a group of elected officials and clergy in the coming days to assess the situation and decide how they move forward. The implication of that is, what do they do? Do they call on the mayor to step down? Do they, perhaps, put pressure on the governor, who has the power to remove the mayor?

I think that, in effect, it's very difficult. This is a very difficult situation for the lawmakers because I don't think the governor-- The govenor, yesterday, was asked about this, and she has said that she does not want, plan, or intend on removing the mayor. What kind of pressure would it take for the governor to be willing to do that? I think there's a question of political optics here. You have a white governor who does not want to remove a Black mayor, who has not gone through a trial.

It would be different, had he gone through a trial. Then there's a clear-cut procedure, there's city statutes involved, but he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and this memo, as we talked about, it doesn't assess the merits of the case.

David Furst: Let's hear another clip from the mayor's announcement. This time, he's making a personal appeal to the people of New York City.

Eric Adams: If you want to know who I am, all you have to know about me is where I am from. Who I am is not in the headlines. It is in my history. It's the same place as you. Working class, struggling to survive, in love with this city, even when it lets us down. I grew up in a place where justice always seemed out of reach. My family was betrayed by a city that didn't care enough about us. That's why I fought for you, and will keep fighting for you, because I am you. That is why you can trust me to keep moving this city forward.

David Furst: Here's the mayor working to regain the trust of New Yorkers. Can you talk about the subtext of this clip?

Elizabeth Kim: Sure. That "I am you," that was the theme of his 2021 campaign. It's a reflection of how Adams campaigns, which is on his identity. That identity of a working-class New Yorker who overcame poverty, racism, health obstacles, that is something that resonated with at least enough New Yorkers to help him get to City Hall, so we see him returning to that. The mayor is a very effective messenger when he talks about his own personal life story.

I think what's interesting, though, one of the things he invokes is how, basically, city government failed his family. He often describes it as the dysfunctional aspect of city government. I think the question that his challengers can pose to him is, have you fixed those dysfunctional aspects of city government? The corruption scandals certainly don't help him make that case.

David Furst: We're taking your calls as well. Let's hear from Kylie, calling from Northern Virginia. Welcome to The Brian Lehrer Show.

Kylie: Hi. Thank you. I'm a non-New Yorker, obviously, and this is purely just a question out of ignorance. I will say that, watching from afar, I'm nervous that it looks like New York City's current mayor may be in the pocket of Donald Trump. I just want to point that out, that that feels really uncomfortable, even to watch. There's a couple people in my life who, every time we talk about this, they're not so concerned with what he did wrong, their point is that many mayors have done wrong.

It feels like Adams is being held to a higher standard, or prosecuted when other people haven't been. I just wonder, has there been a thorough reporting of that? If there has been, those of us who are interested in reading about that, can you point us to it? I don't have an answer to that claim, but it seems valid, if it is valid. I don't know if it's valid or not, so-

David Furst: [crosstalk] Liz?

Kylie: -that's my question.

Elizabeth Kim: I don't know if there has been a piece written on this, but it's certainly been part of the discussion, especially when the charges came out. There were people who felt that the charges were kind of underwhelming, right? This wasn't a case where they found a bag of cash in the mayor's closet, or a bag of--

David Furst: A stack of gold bars, perhaps.

Elizabeth Kim: A stack of gold bars, like with Senator Menendez in New Jersey. The flip side of that is, why does that have to be the standard? If it's the fact that he committed a bribe, does the scale of the bribe somehow make it okay, and we don't need to go after the mayor? He is the mayor, which is the highest elected office in this city, so there's an argument to be said, that it doesn't matter whether it was a million dollars, or maybe it was $100,000.

What matters is that if, in fact, it's true, the mayor used his influence for personal gain, and that should be the standard, and in effect, by doing an indictment like this, it sends a message. It sends a message to the current mayor, of course, but to all mayors who come after him.

David Furst: Well, as you mentioned earlier, Liz, we know that Adams has been floating around in President Trump's orbit in recent months, and in the last few months, Adams has been reluctant to criticize the president publicly, and now has told members of his administration to also refrain from doing so. Talk about that. What exactly did he communicate to his commissioners, and what issues are they supposed to refrain from speaking about?

Elizabeth Kim: That was on Monday. The timing of this is really just astonishing, because Monday was also the day that-- late Monday, at least, was when the memo surfaced from the Justice Department, but early Monday morning, it started out with the mayor having a meeting with his top agency leaders. According to sources, the mayor basically told these top officials not to publicly criticize the federal government, Trump, and these policies on social media.

The mayor also said, basically, essentially, "You need to trust me, because there is billions of dollars in federal funding at stake, and I can ensure that we get them." I've talked to many sources about what was said at this meeting. Some people have told me that the tone was, in fact, a lot sharper than has been reported, that the mayor was taking officials to task for trying to question his policies, which a lot of people have criticized for being a little bit muddy when it comes to the city's stance on whether or not it cooperates with federal immigration officials.

The law says that the city does not. There are certain instances in which we do, but generally speaking, city officials do not get involved, do not facilitate ICE coming into any-- whether it's a school, whether it's a shelter. They do not facilitate that. Some people have criticized the mayor, that the messaging has not been entirely clear. Part of that meeting was-- in fact, it began with the mayor asking his officials to-- "Tell me what you're thinking. Tell me what your concerns are."

David Furst: Well, as we're talking about this DOJ memo, candidates seeking to unseat Mayor Adams have jumped on the news coming out of City Hall this week. Let's hear from a couple of them. Here's Assemblymember and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani: This morning in Albany, I read news that Eric Adams is forbidding city officials from criticizing Donald Trump or enforcing our city's sanctuary city laws. Tonight, I came back to New York City for a mayoral forum, and as I was walking out, I saw the news that Trump's Department of Justice is dropping charges against Mayor Adams. It's official. This mayor's shameless campaign to avoid legal accountability has succeeded.

In the midst of a right-wing billionaire assault on the working class of this city, our mayor sold us out for yet another personal favor. Eric Adams may not be going to prison, but on June 24th, we have the chance to make sure he's not going back to Gracie Mansion either.

David Furst: Really zeroing in on those back-to-back events. Here's State Senator and mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie, who spoke out against the memo in front of City Hall yesterday. Just a note, there was a motor running, so this clip might be a little hard to hear. Listen closely.

State Senator Zellnor Myrie: Today, Eric Adams no longer works for New Yorkers. He works for Donald Trump, period.

David Furst: I'll also read a little bit from Myrie's campaign statement on the matter. "The Department of Justice's directive to dismiss charges against Mayor Eric Adams without prejudice is a dangerous degradation of the independence of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. I urge the Southern District of New York to reject the DoJ's dismissal and appoint a special prosecutor to continue this case."

Liz, can you talk about the response from Adams' rivals in the mayor's race, and the response of Democrats, more broadly? It seems like Mamdani is relying on voters to remove Adams, whereas Myrie is making a plea to the court.

Elizabeth Kim: Me and my colleague Brigid Bergin, we wrote a story about this yesterday on Gothamist, basically answering this question that, I think, for every race, political reporters think about, which is, what is going to be the defining issue of this race? I think early on, there was a sense that it would be public safety. That's not to say that that issue has receded.

I think what we're seeing now is that, more and more, the theme and messaging of this race is, who is the candidate that can best defend New Yorkers against damaging policies of Donald Trump? Now, I should say Trump did make inroads in New York City, surprising inroads to many people, but he is still overwhelmingly unpopular, especially among Democrats in New York.

This is what I was talking about in the beginning, that this memo, in a way, it obviously is a relief for the mayor that he no longer has to go through a trial, but it does come at a political cost. We hear it here, in some of the clips that you played of two of his rivals. It's a crowded race, and all of them are going to be making the same type of argument.

David Furst: What about that question, though? Can the Southern District of New York reject the DOJ's dismissal and appoint a special prosecutor, as Myrie is calling for?

Elizabeth Kim: It's a very, very difficult path. Basically, like I said, the memo is directed at the Acting US Attorney for the Southern District. Sure, she could say, "I don't want to do this," but you know what happens? They'll just fire her, and then the next acting US Attorney will come in, and it will be the same thing. It could just go on and on and on. There's another step that has to happen, which is, after they agree to do it, they have to formally go to a judge and say, "We are withdrawing the charges."

The question there is, well, can a judge say, "No, I'm not going to let you do it?" No, because it's very difficult for a judge to force federal prosecutors to bring a case that they don't want to. Pretty much, the SDNY's hands are very tied here. We could see, though, perhaps, prosecutors resign in protest. That's not unheard of.

David Furst: Well, we're going to have to leave it there. We're going to be hearing a whole lot more about this in the weeks and months ahead. Our guest, WNYC's Elizabeth Kim, who is here every Wednesday. Liz, thank you so much.

Elizabeth Kim: Thanks, David.

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