NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams laughed off whether he’d resign if indicted in a federal investigation about his and his campaign’s links to Turkey.
“I’m not speculating on that,” he said Tuesday.
“You are all the way downfield. I’m going to continue to do the job as the mayor as long as my responsibility to do the job.”
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Adams took reporters’ questions Tuesday on the Turkey investigation for the first time in nearly a week — a span included the revelation that FBI agents seized his phone and a CNN report which stated the probe is focused on whether Turkey’s government tried to further Turkish business interests in the city or forge a long-term alliance with a prominent American politician.
The CNN report was authored by John Miller, a former NYPD counterintelligence official who worked under the mayor until 2022.
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The span also saw Adams repeatedly dodge questions about the apparently widening probe in favor of responding to them during a once-a-week “off-topic” news conference.
“It gets us nowhere when you’re just yelling out, you know, questions while I’m walking through the streets,” he said.
When reporters finally got to grill Adams Tuesday on Turkey, he offered few direct answers.
At several points, City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg interjected to shut down the line of questioning, such as when reporters asked if other officials had their own phones seized.
City Hall has been fully and proactively cooperative, she said.
“We are not going to impede a federal investigation,” she said. “Let it take its course, but not in the course of the press.”
“No one has been accused of wrongdoing in the investigation to my knowledge, and there has been no indication that I’ve seen that the mayor is a target.”
Adams, for his part, responded several times that he would not “speculate” on the investigation.
He did offer, however, that taxpayers could pick up part of his legal bill through the investigation.
“Any legal funds are going to be a combination of out of pocket for me and whatever the law allows me to do,” he said.
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