Testifying to House Oversight Committee lawmakers on Wednesday about sanctuary city policies, New York City Mayor Eric Adams found himself grilled on an alleged quid pro quo deal with the Trump administration, after a federal corruption case against him was dropped by the Department of Justice last month. The DOJ’s unusual act of halting its investigation was met with significant controversy, as several federal prosecutors resigned in protest, one of whom claimed to have witnessed Adams’ lawyers proposing a quid pro quo with the government lawyers in a meeting: drop the charges, and Adams will go along with Trump’s mass deportation plans.
Throughout the questioning on the matter from a number of Democratic reps, Adams stuck to a rote answer – “there’s no deal, no quid pro quo, and I did nothing wrong” – and deferred to the judge in his case, Dale E. Ho, who is still deciding whether to accept the DOJ’s motion to dismiss. Some took the stonewalling at face value, using their allotted time to enter their opinions on Adams into the congressional record. “It appears, to me at least, that you are selling New Yorkers out. It appears that you are working with [border czar] Tom Homan who is clearly focused on family separation and deportations and harming New Yorkers and others across the country,” said California rep Robert Garcia. “I personally agree with the majority of New Yorkers and think, Mr. Mayor, that you should resign.”
Others sought to get around Adams’ bid to avoid answering the question. “The only permissible way to refuse to answer a question during a congressional proceeding such as this is by pleading the Fifth Amendment, deference to the judge is not a permissible excuse for not answering questions during a congressional hearing,” said New York rep Ocasio-Cortez. “Is it your intention to plead the Fifth today?” To plead the Fifth Amendment is to assert one’s constitutional right not to incriminate one’s self in testimony. Even though there is a common perception that asserting this right amounts to an admission of guilt, there are a number of reasons why an innocent person might do so. Still, Adams refused to assert that right, returning to his “deference” to Judge Ho. “That is not an answer,” the New York rep responded to the mayor of her city. After a word from an advisor sitting behind him, Adams changed tactic, telling AOC that she was asking about confidential communications between himself and his lawyer, Alex Spiro. Spiro is also representing President Trump’s chief campaign backer turned political agent Elon Musk on a separate matter.
Eric Adams was indicted last September for bribery, campaign finance fraud, and conspiracy, becoming the first sitting mayor of New York to be charged with a crime. Should Judge Dale E. Ho reject the DOJ’s motion to dismiss, his trial is scheduled to begin in April.
