Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And now, as usual on Wednesdays, our lead Eric Adams reporter, Elizabeth Kim, with excerpts from an analysis of the mayor's Tuesday news conference and to take your questions and comments about them. The focus this week, as many of you probably know, was police commissioner Edward Caban, who had his phone seized in an apparent federal probe. There's some indication that city hall is seeking Caban's resignation now, though the mayor pushed back on that claim. He didn't really quite deny it.

We'll also talk about some news about the probe that saw two other senior officials in the Adams administration have their phones seized last week. First, Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks. Hey, Liz, thanks for coming back this Wednesday. Glad you could join us as always.

Liz: Always happy to be here, Brian.

Brian: Listeners, if you've been following or been confused by, and it is confusing because there are so many different threads here, these investigations into the mayor and his people, you can call and ask if there was a question or say whatever you want to say. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692, call or text. I guess we should note that this week, the news conference was virtual because Mayor Adams had COVID, a reminder that it's still going around. How's he doing? I watched most of the news conference. He looked pretty much like himself.

Liz: He looked like himself. He was a little hoarse. The day before the news conference, the mayor's office announced that he had come down with COVID. On top of all the crises around these investigations, the mayor was now homebound. He's doing his work from Gracie Mansion. It also meant that he was unable to attend today's 9/11 ceremony, but he did go ahead with the conference as you know it because post-COVID, we now know how to do these things virtually. He appeared from Gracie and the other members of his administration, who usually do it in person with him at city hall, they appeared virtually as well.

Brian: It made sense. The hybrid is a little clunky when they're going back and forth, I think, to a live room, and then somebody else on Zoom. In any case, you're right, that's how they did it. Right away, the focus was on the federal probe into Police Commissioner Edward Caban, who had his phone seized last week. In this clip, Adam says he wanted to speak directly to New Yorkers about this, and here's what he said.

Eric Adams: Serving you is an honor, but it's also a responsibility. I want to assure you that I feel the awesome weight of that responsibility with my whole heart, and I will never do anything to betray your trust. I realize that these investigations have raised a lot of questions and a lot of concerns. There's some serious matters that must be addressed. I was surprised, as you, to learn of these inquiries, and I take them extremely seriously.

I spent more than 20 years in law enforcement, and so every member of the administration knows my expectation that we must all follow the law. From here, I will share with you what I can and what I can't. Let me be clear. I and this administration are focused on New Yorkers, not investigators.

Brian: What do we know about this investigation into Commissioner Caban?

Liz: Well, first, I want to make a note of what the mayor did yesterday. That was a real shift in tone, Brian. In the past, he's often sought to minimize the investigations. He often calls them reviews instead of investigations. I think yesterday was the first time he really acknowledged that these investigations have raised questions and concerns among the public. He needs to reassure New Yorkers right now that he is focused on the job.

Now, in terms of the investigations, there is a lot more scrutiny on members of his inner circle. What was before what we thought was maybe just two investigations, it now looks it could be as many as four separate investigations. The ones that have risen in the minds of, I think, political observers and also the public, are these seizures and searches into, what you said, the first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright. Her partner happens to be the school's chancellor, David Banks. There is also, as you also mentioned, Phil Banks, which is David Banks' brother. He's the deputy mayor for public safety.

Then the next high-profile person is the police commissioner. I would argue that the police commissioner is probably the most highly scrutinized one because it is probably among non-elected roles, the most powerful one in the city. This is someone who leads the largest police force in the country. Despite the fact that we had these searches and phones seized of all of these top-ranking individuals, what happened with the police commissioner was that almost immediately, there was building pressure on the mayor to remove him.

There was a editorial from the New York Post. We had a Queen's councilmember, Robert Holden, come on our air and say that he believed that it was untenable and that the police commissioner really needed to step down. That's because of the argument that you can't have the suspicion of illegal activity or even impropriety hanging over a police commissioner because he is the symbol of law and order.

Brian: Like the mayor said, the investigation into Caban raises a lot of questions, including one glaring question about the police commissioner's ability to continue to serve in that very high profile and important position. You put that question directly to the mayor. Let's hear, folks, Liz Kim's question.

Liz: I know you said that you have confidence in the NYPD, you have confidence in the commanders. Do you have confidence in Commissioner Caban that he can keep up the job in light of the investigation, which must be a distraction? Do you think he can keep up his public appearances, for example?

Brian: There's Liz's question. Listen to how carefully the mayor parses his words in the answer.

Eric Adams: I have the utmost confidence in the New York City Police Department. That is where my utmost confidence is. They have shown consistently the ability to keep the city safe.

Brian: So I'm a little confused, Liz, because what he did there, and he did it in response to at least one other reporter's question, was he was asked directly if he had confidence in Caban, and he said, "I have the utmost confidence in the NYPD," without saying he has confidence in Caban. Yet when asked about a media report that he or anyone else from his administration had pressured Caban to step down under the circumstances, he said he has not. As far as he knows, no one from his administration has signaled to the police commissioner that they want him to resign. If he refuses to express confidence in the commissioner, why wouldn't he ask him to step down?

Liz: I mean, that's the question. He didn't immediately answer my question. Other reporters had to follow up several times to pin the mayor down on it. Even then, you see, he's not saying that he has confidence in Caban. I want to point out that this was a different answer than the one he gave on Friday. On Friday, very late in the day, he appeared on WPIX 11, and he was asked this question. He said, "I do have confidence in Commissioner Caban."

Between Friday and, I guess, yesterday, something has changed. It's clear that the mayor is somehow leaving room for him to either have the commissioner resign or possibly force out the commissioner. He made that clear. I think there were reports that the mayor was seeking Caban's resignation, and he pushed back on that. What I think is probably happening is, I think we do know that the mayor himself has had a very close relationship with Commissioner Caban, going back to his days as Brooklyn borough president.

We also know that the mayor is loyal, loyal to a fault almost. That was actually one of the questions that was put to him yesterday about this exact issue. Is he being somehow overly loyal to a longtime ally? I think this is a difficult moment for the mayor to reach that point where he does, in fact, decide that this is untenable. I think there are people who are his advisors who are talking to him and saying that he needs to do this, that he cannot hold on to Caban.

We've seen the mayor, in fact, hold on to other allies. One of his top advisors and friends, Timothy Pearson, we've talked about him on your show. Actually, yet again, he is now also implicated in these investigations. He's also had other problems. He's been sued for sexual harassment. He's involved in a city investigation into a physical altercation he got into with staffers at a migrant shelter. Despite all of that, the mayor has stood by him.

Loyalty is very important to the mayor, but at the same time, he left room. He obviously left room yesterday that there will be a change. What we do know today is I was very interested in whether the commissioner would go ahead and appear at today's 9/11 ceremony. This morning, NYPD spokesperson said that the commissioner would be at the ceremony, but he would not do any press.

Brian: It was notable to me as I was watching this on tv. I presume you could see this from wherever you were, too, since it was a virtual news conference yesterday. I took a screenshot, and the background that the mayor set up for himself on Zoom or whatever platform he was using, were all these touts of success in reducing crimes.

As anybody was watching on television or streaming, and as I'm sure you all saw as reporters, the constant shot of the mayor included the headshot of him live, and then the words 18,000 plus guns taken off the street, fewest shootings citywide of any August in recorded history, lowest number of robberies in recorded history on the subways. Overall, crime down for eight straight months.

Assuming, Liz, that those are all true facts, does all of this about who the police commissioner is, matter that much to the general public- We're not getting any calls, by the way, on this. -as opposed to how the NYPD and other policies and communities are doing at reducing crime?

Liz: I think it does, Brian, and we've talked about this that if there's any area where the mayor wants to command trust and boast about his expertise, it is in the area of public safety and policing. This casts a shadow. Again, this is a very high profile position. I mean, I think we can say that under Adams, the two police commissioners that he has had have not had the same kind of bully pulpit that previous NYPD commissioners have had. That's because the mayor basically is de facto, in many ways, head of policing in New York City.

At the same time, I don't think that you can have-- politically, it is very difficult for the mayor to have the commissioner stay in his role with these potential crimes hanging over him. We should say that no one has been accused of anything yet, and that includes the mayor. No one has been accused of anything. These are all ongoing investigations, but the optics are not good because in addition, it's not just the police commissioner who was searched, it was also his brother, it was also several other top ranking police officials.

That raises the question of, is there something systemic going on? What is the relationship, too, now that the police commissioner's brother is also under federal scrutiny? I think with all of that, I'm sure that the mayor probably has advisors that are telling him that this doesn't look good, he needs to do something. I think what it started out with was those remarks at the top, but I think he's leaving room to make a change.

Brian: Well, in fact, with all of these investigations going on at the same time, here's something that the mayor said over the weekend at a stop in East New York.

Eric Adams: If you sit still long enough, you'll see that there's a lesson God have for you. I have my Job moments, and those Job moments are never going to go away. I've learned to turn on my GPS, my God-positioning satellite. Sometimes you got to let go and let God. Reporter said to me this morning, "Oh, you feel you're being persecuted?" I said, "No, I'm just in my Job moment."

Brian: Comparing himself to Job from the Bible. Does he feel he's being persecuted, which would imply unfairly investigated and those around him being unfairly investigated at this time?

Liz: It certainly seems like that's what he's hinting at, Brian. I mean, I had to go back and read the story of Job just so I can understand exactly the context that the mayor was putting himself in. Just to remind listeners, if they don't know, Job is a figure in the Bible who basically loses everything. He's a rich man. He loses his property, he loses all of his ten children. He's really on the brink of really questioning his faith. It isn't until God appears before him and then explains that he can't have this full understanding of God's intentions. Eventually, God restores everything to Job, his health and his property.

We've seen time and time again, when the mayor gets into these difficult moments, he goes to church because that is considered part of his base, an older generation of Black voters that he feels will understand him and that he feels he understands them as well. The tie is faith. In these moments, the mayor goes to these congregations. He can readily use these kinds of biblical analogies to himself, and he knows that they will resonate with this particular crowd.

Brian: Let me, as we run out of time, just parse one other thing that the mayor said in conjunction with the investigation into Terry Banks. Again, that would be the brother of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Banks and School Chancellor Banks, correct?

Liz: Right.

Brian: Asked about Terry Banks and whether banks ever came to city hall asking for favors because it's a bribery investigation. The mayor said he has a long social relationship with family, but hasn't had any meetings at city hall with Banks representing any clients of Banks who wanted anything from the government. So, Liz, maybe this is splitting hairs in my suspicious brain, but he said Banks didn't represent any clients to the mayor at city hall, which doesn't technically rule out in some kind of social setting. Am I overthinking this?

Liz: I think so, Brian. The mayor is a politician. He's very versed in this game, and I think he does parse his words very carefully. I thought what was interesting about the way he talked about the Banks brothers was different in the way he talked about Caban's brother. He made a point of saying that he goes back a really long way with the Banks family because basically, the patriarch of that family was a mentor to the mayor when he was in the police department. They were both police officers. The mayor makes that point.

Then in talking about Caban, he emphasizes that he's known Edward Caban for a very long time, but he says that he doesn't know his brother, James Caban, who, again, is under federal scrutiny as well. That was another hint that I think of, that the mayor is somewhat trying to distance himself from at least one of these people who seems to be implicated in these investigations.

Brian: There we leave it for today with our lead Eric Adams reporter, Liz Kim, who usually joins us on Wednesdays after the mayor's weekly Tuesday news conference. Liz, thanks for today. I have a funny feeling I'll talk to you in about a week.

Liz: Yes. We'll be there.

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