The mayor of America’s largest city is now ensnared in a scandal involving one of America’s ficklest allies.
Federal agents are currently investigating whether New York Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign violated financing rules during his 2021 run for office – the feds are reportedly focusing on alleged contributions from a Turkish-owned construction company.
The plot thickens: Did Adams, before taking office, pressure local Fire Department officials to rush approvals for a new consulate building in Manhattan that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was eager to unveil during United Nations General Assembly week in 2021? Thus far, Adams hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.
Adams, a centrist Democrat, is an eccentric former police officer who styles himself, variously, as a homeopath, crimefighter, bon vivant, and rat killer. Elected as the city’s second-ever Black mayor in 2021, he has faced criticism over the city’s sluggish post-pandemic recovery and has clashed with Washington over responsibility for absorbing the more than 100,000 asylum-seekers who have arrived in the city since 2022.
Turkey, of course, is one of Washington’s great frenemies. A NATO member, yes, but one that maintains especially warm ties with Moscow, has attacked US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, and has sought to complicate NATO accession for Sweden.