Eric Adams corruption case is less than meets the eye: Less ‘All the King’s Men, more All the King’s Upgrades’

The federal five-count indictment of New York Mayor Eric Adams is on its face a damning document of alleged public corruption. The government is alleging that Turkish officials saw Adams as a rising star in the Democratic Party and started to groom him for influence.

However, once beyond the details of the opulent rooms and flight upgrades, there may be less here than meets the eye in some of these charges.

The campaign-contribution violations raise serious problems for Adams in the alleged solicitation of unlawful foreign contributions. Yet the counts must be read with caution. We have not seen the specific defenses to the allegations of using “straw men” to funnel unlawful contributions and the alleged favors bestowed on contributors. Indictments are one-sided and highly slanted interpretations of the facts by prosecutors to secure a conviction.

For example, many of the gifts from Turkish sources were realized in the form of upgrades on flights to business class or expensive hotel suites. It is not clear what Adams knew of the logistics for such travel or their inclusion in annual reports. Despite their public personas, many populist politicians tend to be a pampered class who expect to be feted in the best quarters as they speak as the “voice of the people.”

That was captured most vividly by NYC Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sashayed at the Met Gala in a designer dress reading “tax the rich.” It was a scene with a crushing irony. The dress itself was worth more than some people make in a year and it was just “loaned” to AOC despite being made specifically for her. She also did not pay for her ticket, which would cost $35,000.

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It triggered an ethics investigation and allegations of ethical violations.

In one night, Ocasio-Cortez flaunted roughly half of the value of the alleged Adams gifts as she paraded as a social warrior among the social elite. The truly hilarious aspect was that it was that elite that was thrilled by the demonstration and subsidized it.

The Adams allegations would constitute a fairly crude form of corruption by today’s standards. For the Biden family, it looks like small potatoes. Adams lacked a Hunter and the type of labyrinth of accounts maintained by the Bidens to funnel millions from foreign sources.

One of the most discussed allegations concerns a high-rise building built by Turkish friends in Manhattan to serve as their new consulate. The Turks wanted the building opened before the arrival of the Turkish president in 2021, strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

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The problem is that, according to prosecutors, New York Fire Department officials found an array of dangerous defects in the building and believed that it was a fire risk. They refused to allow the building to open until it met those standards.

The government alleges that Turkish officials immediately dialed up their well-groomed ally, Adams, and told him that it was “his turn” to support Turkey.

Adams intervened and prosecutors say that FDNY officials were afraid for their jobs.

Once again, however, Adams has defenses. He can argue that New York is the home of the United Nations and a large population of diplomats and international organizations. This was a foreign country seeking to open a consulate and he intervened to avoid an embarrassing diplomatic tiff.

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Suggesting that a push to cut short fire inspections may be difficult to maintain under a bribery theory. That was the type of expansive case that government attorney Jack Smith used against former Virginia Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell and it failed spectacularly before the Supreme Court.

There are other reasons besides flight upgrades why Adams might have facilitated a speed up of building approvals.

In the end, this is a Bob Menendez-lite indictment.  Failing to publicly list how you moved from economy to business class on flights is hardly the stuff of “All the King’s Men.” It is more like “All the King’s Upgrades.”

The biggest problem for Adams is that the US Attorney’s Office went public with a threat for all of those who do not cooperate and pledged that more will be “held accountable.”

In other words, the indictment amplified the tune in a game of musical chairs. Anyone close to Adams may want to sit down before the music stops. That means that Adams can expect close associates to be testifying against him with the enthusiasm of those threatened with ruin by federal prosecutors.

If Eric Adams is convicted, it will be at the hands of his associates. The jury will not be particularly sympathetic with a politician snaring the Bentley Suite at the St. Regis Istanbul. Prosecutors love to play on such opulence like their use of Paul Manafort’s $15,000 Ostrich coat .

Combined with former friends and associates, it may be enough for the ultimate upgrade for Adams from business class to a federal cellblock.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “ The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage .”

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