Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

September 17, 2024

Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Communications: Good morning, everybody. My name is Fabien Levy, and I serve as deputy mayor for Communications for the City of New York. Thank you all for joining us for our weekly in-person media availability.

Now that Mayor Adams has fully recovered from COVID-19 and is back to working here at City Hall, we appreciate you all joining us in person. Our administration is working hard every day to keep New Yorkers safe and create a more affordable city. To tell you more about those efforts, the mayor has once again convened senior leadership here at City Hall.

Joining us today, we have Mayor Eric Adams, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom, Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Tiffany Raspberry. So I'm now pleased to turn it over to Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, D.M. Levy, and those who were able to see and hear, I believe the chancellor did an amazing job this morning pointing out the reimagination of our New York City Public School system. We've heard that term reimagination often, and it has just basically, it has fallen short of moving forward. But what he's doing in the school system is just a continuation of, I believe, what this administration is going to be proud of as we continue to move forward.

And we say it over and over again, keeping New Yorkers safe, making the city more affordable. And we were happy yesterday as we announced some of the MMR, the items that came out of the report that shows that we have really did the cornerstone of my administration. You've heard me say over and over again, public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity, 30 percent decrease in shootings, nearly 30 percent decrease in homicides for that fiscal year, and shootings dropped by nearly 20 percent. Those are real indicators.

We used to say in the Police Department, you cannot hide the bodies, so you can't fudge those numbers. And clearly, we're moving in the right direction with law enforcement. And it's been consistent that no matter who's at the helm, there's just the right professional team that's there that are continuing to move our city in the right direction.

And then there are other successes we saw in the MMR that we were able to put together to show how this city is continuing to grow and expand everything from housing to unemployment to bike lanes, making the city safer. We installed nearly 30 percent more protected bike lanes. And the second-most built ever in a fiscal year. And you wouldn't believe that when you hear some of the narrative that this administration has not been on focus and on target with the bike lanes. But history is going to repeat us. It's going to show how great we are. Hats off to Commissioner Rodriguez and the entire team over at DOT.

And affordability is a real issue. When you think about 25 percent more families signed up for subsidized child care. And brought the cost of child care. Care down for those who make $55,000 or less to less than $5 a week. It's a real hallmark of this administration. Increasing unemployment in general. But specifically for Black and brown communities. And I can't say enough about the hiring halls. Commissioner Pinnock started them out. And DCAS and her team have all come together to make sure that they're actualized. And we place people in employment. We have some real surprises coming up. On what we're going to do around employment. In the future. On how we could change the landscape of those with historic long-term unemployment in this city. A job is a pathway to the middle class in this city and in this country. And we want to continue to provide for that middle class.

And so I want to open the floor up to answer some questions. And, you know, yesterday someone said at the announcement that this administration, our hallmark is not being distracted. Stuff comes up in the city and we're not going to be distracted. And one of the distractions is answering the same question over and over and over and over again. Like you're going to get a different answer. I'm just not going to do that. I got a city to run.

I stood over at a hospital bed over the weekend of a mother and a young girl who was shot on a train. And her mom was traumatized. You know, I shared with her the thousands of guns we removed off the streets and what this Police Department is doing. There are real issues in the city. And many of you have covered my town hall. I don't know how many we've done to date. We did about 13, 14 town halls.

Deputy Mayor Levy: At least senior ones.

Mayor Adams: Yes. We did the senior town halls. We did the regular town halls. We did youth town halls. And no one had asked me one question at these town halls about what is being asked of us every day, every day, every day.

People want mopeds off their streets, their children educated, they want to be in a safe city. And they want to make sure that they can continue to grow in the city. And that's my focus. That's my focus. I'm focusing on protecting the people of this city. And the investigations will take care of themselves. And that is not where my time is going to be consumed by answering the same questions over and over again. We know what you know. And that is how I have to make sure I move this forward. I'm looking forward to continue to do so as the mayor of the City of New York. So why don't we open the floor and answer some questions. Thank you.

How are you, Marcia?

Question: How are you?

Mayor Adams: Great.

Question: So I have two questions. The first one is this. I wonder, in light of the subway shooting on the subway this past weekend, if you think there has to be changes in the use of force on the subways for the Police Department because so many innocent people were shot.

Mayor Adams: I think those officers took great strides to bring a person with an over 20 arrest history that we could talk about. My heart goes out to his parents. No parents want to lose a child. But this was a bad guy. And I saw the video. I saw the steps those police officers implemented. Over and over again, trying to reason with the perpetrator. And so some people said, well, you shouldn't be enforcing fare evasion. No. This is not a city where any and everything goes.

There's a reason there's a fare on our subway and bus. If lawmakers want to make the subways and buses free, then fine. But as long as there are rules, we're going to follow those rules. And he was not shot for fare evasion. He was shot because he had a knife. And he went after the police officers after repeatedly asking him to put down the knife. I thought those officers responded accordingly.

All shootings, you do an analysis to determine what we can do differently. But those officers stopped a very dangerous person who was committing a crime. And, you know, there were reports that we didn't notify the family members. That is not true. Officers went and attempted to do so. And we know that they left information there. And that's why when I went to the hospital, I wanted to see the mother. And it breaks our heart. Any police officer would tell you it's heart-wrenching when an innocent person is the victim when action is taken.

And, you know, my heart goes out to the family members. And I told the mother at the same time that, you know, I'm happy that her daughter survived. But we lost innocent people. And it hurts when it happens. And I've been in too many hospital rooms with these overproliferation of guns and repeated offenders. You guys and ladies have heard me say this over and over again. This guy was arrested 20 times. Bad people doing bad things to good people in this city.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I have a second question.

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes. That's the knife. That's the knife.

Question: That's the knife that they - They apprehended a different knife, correct?

Mayor Adams: No, that's the night he had in his hand. What you're seeing right now, you're seeing the person, after he was shot, still holding on to the knife. Officers are still telling him, drop the knife. You know, he was very clear on his mission.

Question: Will they release the full video?

Mayor Adams: NYPD, speak to the police commissioner.

Question: Yes. So I wonder, now that you have an interim police commissioner at NYPD, if you think that there should be some attempt to clean house at the NYPD. There are people who were arrested, who were stopped with their cell phones, and their cell phones were taken.

But also, do you think that a new commissioner has the right to have his own leadership team in place, people he trusts, people he has confidence in? Do you think that there should be some change in the personnel at the top of the NYPD?

Mayor Adams: I had a great conversation with Tom yesterday, with all of his history. And, you know, he wanted to step in and be the interim police commissioner. As we make the determination on the days to come, I would find it hard to believe, Marcia, that we're saying that the people of this city don't trust the NYPD.

Look what these guys have done. 40 percent decrease in crime in January 1st, 2022. Thousands of guns removed off our streets, our subway system after the January bump. We witnessed eight straight months decrease in crime, nine straight months decrease in crime. August, which all of us know August [can] be one of the most dangerous times in this city for when people do violence, was the safest in shootings in recorded history.

So, Chief Maddrey, Chief Chell, Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, you know, First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella, they came in, brought innovation, energy, spirit, police officers. are making a higher number of felony arrests, these guys are doing the job. And for someone to say that the people of this city don't trust NYPD, I find that hard to believe. And so…

Question: What about some of the people who've had their cell phones confiscated, like the commanding officer of the 10th Precinct in Chelsea who was moved over to [inaudible], and some of the other people whose cell phones are confiscated? Do you think that the new interim commissioner has confidence in them, and should they be reassigned pending what you find out in the investigation?

Mayor Adams: The commissioner's going to do his analysis, and while he's there in the role that he's in, he's going to - I have one mission for him. That is to keep the city that I love safe, just as I told every other commissioner, and they have lived up to that. You know, I don't want to stop in hospital rooms speaking to mothers when their daughters are the by-product of a criminal action on our system, and on our streets. That's my mission.

What's going on, Jeff?

Question: Not too much. I wanted to ask, look, in the past you've said that… Your lawyer said you're not a target of the investigation. We just wanted to clarify whether you're a subject or a witness, and it's still true, you're not a target.

And then, additionally, it's been reported that, you know, the chief counsel left in part because of her disagreement over keeping Tim Pearson on the staff. I am wondering why your loyalty to Pearson is so important to you? You know, Brad Lander today said he never would have hired him in the first place, he would have fired him. So why is that loyalty so important to keep Pearson on?

Mayor Adams: Again, I'm not going back and forth on questions that I ask or answer over and over again. I'm loyal to the 300-plus thousand employees in the city, and there's a real energy that Eric only has his friends in the department. I didn't know Deputy Commissioner Weiner before. Before she became the first woman that had intel. I did not know Meera Joshi. I did not know Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom. I did not know, I could go down the list. Fabien Levy. I didn't know these people who are now serving in government.

So if you want to continue the narrative of that Eric only hires his friends. No, I hired competent people that inherited a city that needed real leadership, and they brought that authentic leadership. And so what classification people want to put me in, we reported that to you already. Every week, I'm not going to have an annual advisory of what I'm classified in. The investigation will take its course. It would be inappropriate for me to talk about an investigation. The U.S. Attorney clearly indicated they didn't want that to happen. We're not doing any leaks. I'm following the process.

Question: Oh, yes. Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you doing, Terry?

Question: Kelly.

Mayor Adams: Kelly. Kelly, I'm sorry.

Question: It's all right. I wanted to follow up on Jeff Coltin's question. When your chief counsel recommends that people get fired, how much do you weigh that opinion versus anybody else that you have in your administration?

Mayor Adams: Well, I had a private conversation with the chief counsel, who I'm very clear, as I said yesterday, on my feelings towards her, and I'm pretty sure she'll say the same. And unless you were in that conversation, I don't know how any people can say what's the reason that she left or didn't leave.

So your speculations and your stories is based on your analysis and the noise that you're hearing. No one was on that conversation but the two of us. Now, if she told you that, then that's up to her. It didn't come from me. There were two people that were there.

Question: I just wanted to follow up. Zornberg is a former federal prosecutor. I wonder, wouldn't you weigh her opinion more than others if she knows how to navigate these types of probes? She's able to give you that insider opinion and how it goes. Wouldn't you weigh her opinion more than others because of her background?

Mayor Adams: I weigh the opinion of my entire team. My team comes in all the time, gives me opinions, and what they think. And many times I will do just that. And sometimes I think that, you know, no, I want to go in another direction. But again, I want to be very clear because I don't want it being re-reported.

There was only two people in that conversation, the chief counsel and Eric Adams. So anything outside of that, if you're able to quote Eric says something or the chief counsel says something, then you are on target. Other than that, it's speculations and rumors and innuendos.

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you step outside of the role of your circumstance as mayor now and understand that people who are just people of New York see this constant drumbeat, and I know sometimes it comes across because we're asking about these criminal matters and these probes that somehow we're the people driving it. But objectively, there are multiple stories and things going on that have been independently confirmed by law enforcement at the federal level.

Can you understand how this is an issue for the fourth estate, too, because we'd like to be asking about, like, for instance, I want to ask about EMS response times, which are in really pretty bad shape, going north at 10 minutes. But do you understand that the public, it's not just us here in the room, but the public itself is concerned?

Mayor Adams: No, I don't understand. Because if they had that same level of concern, then I would see it when I'm in the public. With all of the town halls. I don't know if you have a mayor that has been out among the public as much as I have. And I know what they're talking about. They're talking about public safety. They're talking about housing. They're talking about education. They're talking about the issues that impact them. They want to make sure that this city is going to provide a future for them.

And so when you look at how good our economy is doing, how well our jobs are doing, when you look at the young lady that stood next to me yesterday that was saying, I walked into a hiring hall unemployed and walked out employed and I'm able to take care of my child that's on the spectrum, that's what New Yorkers are concerned about. And so you do have a job of reporting this. You know, you have a job of reporting. You have a job of answering the question. I have one job. Take care of the people of this city. And you know what? I'm doing a darn good job in doing it.

Question: Thank you. I mean, you talked about, Mr. Mayor, how you have loyalty. The 300,000-plus employees of New York City, several of those employees filed lawsuits alleging Tim Pearson sexually harassed members of his staff who are among the 3,000, 300,000 people. You know, many of them submitted witness testimony alleging that he assaulted guards in a midtown migrant shelter.

I mean, are you as loyal to them as you are to Tim Pearson? And what is it about Tim that, you know, that you have such a strong loyalty to him?

Mayor Adams: Well, you'll find, and I saw it in my career in law enforcement, there are lawsuits leveled against people often, from police officers to firefighters to medical professionals. I'm just a strong believer that let the process take its course. I'm a believer in that. I've seen runaway processes so often in my life and in my career. I saw what happened to Yusef Salaam. I saw what happens to others. Let the process take its course. And I cannot get any clearer than that. Ongoing investigation, and I'm not going to be commenting on ongoing investigations.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Yes, how are you?

Question: Good, good. So I know that the now former police commissioner, Edward Caban, stepped down, but there are other members of your administration that were also searched and had their voices heard. And they were also searched, their phones seized. Why should he step down, or why not the others?

Mayor Adams: The commissioner made the determination. He did an analysis, and, you know, he loved this department over, you know, 35, close to 40 years. His dad was a law enforcement officer. He looked over, and he made that determination. He reached out to me and said, Eric, this is what I want to do, and I respect that.

Question: He didn't have any prompting from you or from the administration at all?

Mayor Adams: Nope.

Question: Did you want him to stay?

Mayor Adams: He is a very dear person to me, to me. He's a very dear person, I should say, to me. I was really proud of, you know, what he did throughout his career, being first deputy commissioner, being the first spanish-speaker to be the police commissioner. It meant a lot to me, and, you know, it was unfortunate what unfolded, but he made the right decision based on his analysis, and I respect him enough to allow him to make that decision.

Question: Thanks, mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Glad you're feeling better.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: You're getting a lot of questions about why Tim Pearson has not been pushed out, and so I'm going to try to ask you a question that doesn't maybe force you to reveal any secrets of the investigation.

Last week, you or someone in City Hall fired Ray Martin after my station reported that a Brooklyn bar owner said that Ray Martin was the person who referred him to the police commissioner's brother, James Caban, who wanted to be paid, according to this bar owner. To help him resolve noise complaints. So my first question is, what's your reaction just to that bar owner's story and to the propriety of that scenario and the reason why Martin was fired?

And my second question is, it keeps coming up in our reporting that Tim Pearson played a role in contracting, okay? What, can you just tell us, what is Tim Pearson's role in the procurement or contracting process? And in this capacity, who, who does he report to?

Mayor Adams: First, we'll go to the first part. Mr. Martin violated the terms of his employment. And once we became aware of it, we did a preliminary review and we took actions immediately. You can't violate your terms of employment.

And the questions of when we looked at and we did a real analysis over our COVID, spending and some of the contracts with our COVID spending, they were extremely high because we were we were moving in an emergency state when we first took over that I needed a body of people to go in and do an analysis and bring down the costs and look at some of the contracts that were in place and from Tim Pearson's history in the Police Department of doing those type of analysis. We asked him to go in and look in and we saved hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the costs, everything from security contracts to other contracts.

The small group of people that he put together to do that analysis and renegotiate those contracts saved us a substantial amount of money. And it was part of our desire to get a 30 percent PEG to bring down the costs that we had to institute when we first started dealing with the COVID, dealing with the migrants and asylum seekers. And that's, that's what he was doing.

Question: Who did Tim Pearson… Or does he report to, is it the Mayor's Office of Contracts or is it a deputy mayor? And separately, I just didn't hear you address what your personal reaction was to that bar owner's account that he was tipped off by someone in City Hall to reach Caban's brother and that Caban's brother wanted money to help him with his noise complaints.

Mayor Adams: It's inappropriate for anyone to violate the terms of their contracts, I mean, of their employment. And as I stated, as soon as we became aware, a preliminary review of it, we took immediate action, which we should do whenever we become aware of someone violating the terms of their employment.

Tim was in this space where he was coordinating with the Deputy Mayor of Public Safety, as well as with the migrants and asylum seekers office to carry out dysfunction. Listen, we were hit with an emergency reaction to the migrants and asylum seekers, and we had to put apparatuses in place to open locations, identify locations, make sure we get the right dollar amount. And it was an all hands on deck moment with the chief of staff, with Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom and the entire team to deal with the real time crisis we were facing and he was part of the apparatus.

Question: Thank you. I have three questions. I want to make sure to get to all of them. Who's paying for lawyers, for the administration officials that have search warrants served at their own raids conducted, such as the first deputy mayor. Is the Law Department paying for that counsel or are they having to pay themselves.

With Tim Pearson and Phil Banks, they are two of the only administration officials to my knowledge that we haven't heard anything from. The first deputy mayor, the school's chancellor, spoke out, say they are cooperating. They're denying any wrongdoing. Why haven't we heard anything from Tim Pearson and Phil Banks? And what should we make of the fact that we haven't heard anything from them?

Lastly, on the issue of subject versus targets, when Lisa Zornberg was still here, she told reporters that you had been informed you were not a target. Today you're saying you can't answer that question at all. Does that mean you've heard something? Have you been informed of something since then? Or how should we interpret your silence?

Mayor Adams: One, taking the last question first, you should interpret it any way you want. I said, I'm not going to keep having daily updates over and over and over again. You know how many times we've been asked that question? So, um, I'm not going to keep doing that now. So your interpretation is up to you.

The second, each person that had interactions with law enforcement agencies are taking their analysis of how they're going to have their counsel and it's up to them to do so.

And third, Tim or anyone else, speaking on what their position is, anyone that has any encounters with law enforcement is smart to take the advice of their counsel. And I'm not going to supersede whatever their counsel tells them to do. That's what they should do. I know I listened to my counsel.

Question: Today at Gracie Mansion you will host a reception celebrating Eastern European culture and heritage. Can you confirm what countries will be there? And of course, on behalf of the Polish American community, I know they've been trying for a couple of years already to get that reception organized to celebrate Polish heritage and culture. And there seems to be a problem trying to organize that. Do you know why?

And the second question I have, today is National Voter Registration Day. And I thought because I'm here, I should ask you, we as Radio RAMPA are calling out Polish American listeners and viewers to register to vote. And I would like to ask you if you can say, also to other maybe ethnic groups, why is it important to register to vote? And why should people register to vote no matter why and who they vote for?

Mayor Adams: Yes. First, we have many countries there and our administration, many of our immigrant groups, organizations and countries are really pleased of how inclusive we have been. Everything from flag raisings to the events at Gracie Mansion. We have really opened the people's house to the various groups. I don't know how many times when we do these events, people say this has never happened before. We've never felt more inviting and welcoming into city government.

You know, we asked people to raise their hand, have you ever been Gracie Mansion before? It's amazing how many people have never been there. And so we will, if you have the organization's reach out to me. Okay, well, we're going to get it done this year. We've had so many that we had to do for the first time last year and this year. But you have my commitment. If you have the organization's reach out to you, we will have a great Polish event at Gracie Mansion.

We look forward, I look forward to marching in a parade that I do. I believe I'm the first mayor that has ever marched in a parade.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Second.

Mayor Adams: Second, second mayor, you know, out of 110. That's not bad. But I look forward to having an event at Gracie Mansion. I, as you know, when I was a lieutenant, I was in the 94th Precinct in the Greenpoint area. That was a heavy Polish community and it was a bedrock. The Polish residents were there long before Starbucks and they were holding it down.

Question: And the voter registration?

Mayor Adams: Oh, so important. You know, the hallmark of my campaign is that I've reached out to immigrant groups and I knew that their voices was often not heard. And I encouraged them to register to vote.

And when you do an analysis of all these various groups from the Korean community, the Chinese community, the Polish community, the Nepalese community, I was focused on these communities. And we're seeing for the first time a large number of council people and other groups who are now running for office. So I think it's imperative that those who can register to vote do so and exercise your right to vote.

[Crosstalk.]

Deputy Mayor Levy: Just so you know, Monica, MOSPCE, which is the Mayor's Office of Special Projects, is reviewing that request right now. There's just so many events that we do at Gracie Mansion. They have to find the proper date.

Question: I did the same request last year this year, there was no response.

Deputy Mayor Levy: They're looking at it right now.

Mayor Adams: We're going to get it done. Trust me. Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Question: Sorry. Yes. I wanted to go back to the Sunday incident with the NYPD on the subway.

Mayor Adams: Sunday shooting? Okay.

Question: You know, there's been a couple of cases where it seems like tasers haven't worked or they haven't deployed. You know, is this like some kind of a systemic issue with these devices? Is it being looked into? Is it the training?

And then separately, Comptroller Brad Lander this morning, was asked about the current state of your administration, and he said it's an administration in crisis. You know, over the past two days, it seems like you've tried to paint a very different picture. What's your response to his assessment?

Mayor Adams: Now, he said that yesterday or January 3rd, 2022, because he's been saying that, you know, just about every other day since we've been in office. But when you do an analysis, you're seeing crime is down, jobs are up, housing is being built. You know, he was saying we were in crisis January 3rd, 2022. Three days in, he said we were in crisis. You know, you lose the credibility of your message when your message doesn't change, no matter what the state is.

This city has turned around for more jobs in the city's history due to decreasing crime, to our children being educated. You know, come on. How credible is that? You know, every mayor I have communicated with says that there are moments of crisis, in an administration. I think that when you do a reflection, you're going to see that I am the person that I stated I am. I can manage no matter what we are facing, because I have one mission. My North Star is improving the city that I love, that I wore that bulletproof vest for for 22 years. I rode those subway systems during the most difficult times in the city. And so that is what it's going to take right now.

I think in retrospect, when y'all read my book, y'all going to say, darn, that was one hell of a person. We got this. This team up here, you know, all have their own personal narratives of crises they had to navigate through. But they get up every day and they leave. And I was sitting down with my deputy mayors yesterday, and if you were to walk past the office, you would have said, what's going on? Because we laugh more than anything. You know, we got a job to do. And we are going to do that job. No. No matter what we come up against.

Now, tasers. The tasers, what many people don't realize, the taser is just not some magic thing that happened to the mere fact that you discharge. There are two prongs. Both of those prongs must go into the person. If there's heavy clothing, it may not go in. And it has to make contact. And if it doesn't make contact, it's not going to execute. So the mere fact that you shoot someone with a taser, it's not automatic that when you hit it to do the electric part of it, that it's going to happen. There have been times, I remember many times, someone may have on a coat. They may have on a heavy sweater. If you don't make that contact, it's not going to operate. So it's not just automatic. The mere fact that you discharge a taser, it has to be discharged correctly.

Now, there are some new forms of tasers that's coming out. We met with some new innovative ones that is easier, because you're not going to need the two prongs anymore. We're looking to have a single prong, and it's easier to execute. But that is why you see sometimes it fails. But many times, it executes. And it's part of the escalation of force. You want to use mace when you can use mace. You want to use a taser when you want to use taser. You want to use the baton when you can use that. You want to use as many levels of force. You want to use the shield. You want to use the shield, as we saw the other day, until you have to use your firearm. And that's what those officers did. They tried their best not to use their firearm.

Question: Hi.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm okay. How are you?

Mayor Adams: Good.

Question: I wanted to ask, we and some other outlets reported recently about the insolvency of American Transit Insurance Company. It insures 60 percent of the taxis and delivery cabs in the city. How concerned are you about the fact that they are $700 million in debt? And have you had any conversations with either the TLC or the State Department of Financial Services about what the city should do or what the state should do to remedy the situation?

Mayor Adams: You must have been on our call last week. D.M. Meera. wasn't it last week that you updated…

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Yeah, so we're in constant contact with the Department of Financial Services. They are as aware as you just pointed out of the breadth of people that rely on American Transit for their insurance policies. And their insurance policies are the key to them being able to work because it's a requirement of TLC licensure.

So we are addressing a transition plan because the Department of Financial Services, TLC, and, of course, all of our stakeholders understand that this many people cannot go without insurance. And several options are on the table, whether or not American Transit will be absorbed by another company or whether there will be another method of ensuring that we have coverage for all of our TLC licensees. But the acuteness of the problem, should there not be a stopgap, is well, everybody is well aware of it, and it's at the forefront of all of our minds as we work through the next steps.

Question: I have a follow-up. Some of the people we spoke to said that this is a problem that has been essentially hiding in plain sight for years. Were you surprised at all to see the current financial condition of ATIC, or were you just waiting for this to blow up?

Deputy Mayor Joshi: American Transit has been working with the state for quite a while. The Department of Financial Services has, for years, been working with them in order to ensure that their balance books make sense, that they're able to have enough reserves to pay out on claims. And so they have been in difficult place for quite a while, and it certainly wasn't hiding. It was in plain sight because the state has been aware of it and working with the company for several years.

Question: First, I didn't hear an answer to my colleague's question about who is paying. Is it the Law Department or is it private attorneys for the administration officials who got the visits from the FBI? But on to my questions.

You're the head of the city. You could tell the NYPD to release these videos, but when you're asked about this, you say, well, ask the NYPD. Why won't you release the video? You release video when it's favorable to the Police Department, but then you say, well, we have to have an investigation and we wait weeks and weeks and months and never see the video. Um, so that's those two questions.

Mayor Adams: You…

Question: Tim Pearson. OMB has experts at, uh, contracting and procurement. What about Tim Pearson makes him the person to bring down costs of migrant contracts and not the folks who spend their lives doing procurement, doing contracting, et cetera? What is so special about him?

Mayor Adams: Well, okay, first of all, it was all team efforts. And I don't want to give the impression, and I hope I didn't, that, uh, Tim was the only one that was doing it. Jacques Jiha and his team was doing it while we were in the middle of budget negotiations and while we were in the middle of finding the money to pay for this and dealing with the sunsetting of COVID dollars.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom was in the middle of it as she was looking at some of the ideas that we needed to do. The chief of staff was in the middle of it. It was a team effort. And everyone had pieces of the operation of 217,000 people showing up on our doorsteps at any time of the night where we had to find housing and find money to do it. So you saw a team effort. And when I sat down to get briefed by the team on what our goals were, we had to do, we had to fuel while we were flying. We had to bring down the costs. We had to find space for people. We had to make sure 40,000 children got into our school system.

We had a multitude of things to do. And so the entire team came together without egos and said, how do we get this resolved? And so now we're looking at these 217,000 people here. People, we're still getting, what, Anne, six, 700 a week, you know? So the reason many of people think we're out of the woods is because of all those team members coming together and executing. So there was nothing special about one individual. There was something special about all of us stepping up to the challenge that we, that we have. Now your video, your video question.

Question: What was special about Tim and why does he have to be part of the team?

Mayor Adams: I don't… What's special about…

Question: What was special about Tim? You have [inaudible]. You have deputy mayor. You have all these other folks from experts in procurement and social services. Tim's a cop. What about him is special to do this stuff?

Mayor Adams: That's interesting that he's a cop. I'm a cop. I'm the mayor of the city. And I brought, I was just sitting down and speaking to Janno Lieber the other day. Janno said there's never been a man in the history of the city that understands the subway system the way you do because of your years as a transit cop.

Tim brought something to the dynamic that I knew we had to think outside the box, to resolve the issues. And we saved hundreds of millions of dollars because of his analysis and partnership with the other people that are involved. So there was, I said to you, and I don't know if you heard it, there was nothing special about him.

There was something special about this entire team coming together, dealing with probably one of the greatest humanitarian crises that we have seen in this city. And that is, that is what was special. It was special what Anne did. It was special what Camille did. It was special what everyone here that came together and said, we're not going to let this crisis consume our city. We're going to come together and bring our expertise. So it wasn't that Tim was special. It was this whole team was special on what they did.

Question: And on the taser, I'm sorry, on the video, on the representation.

Mayor Adams: Right, right. Listen, every, there's not a one size fits all. Every one of these incidents takes upon analysis, of our Law Department. Should we do this now? Is this open to a lawsuit? It takes into account, is this something that should be released to bring down the temperature? Because I don't know if you have noticed in the city, folks, there have been major shootings across the country that traditionally followed a great deal of unrest in the city.

We haven't had that. In two years and nine months, some of the things that have happened in other cities and shootings that have happened here, you have not. You have not witnessed the unrest that you have witnessed before. Because we are finding, how do you properly communicate? How are you proactive in our communications? When should we release something to bring down the issues? When shouldn't we? Because there's some legal aspects about it. So there's not a one size fits all.

Question: Is it possible there hasn't been unrest because people haven't seen the video?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: Is it possible there hasn't been unrest because you're keeping the videos private?

Mayor Adams: No, I think it's possible that we have not seen unrest is because we're using every tool to communicate proactively. We don't wait until a shooting happens before we call people. We're doing these constant communications and we build a lot of trust in our communities and we want to continue to do that. When there are times that for the interest of justice we can release the video, we'll do so. When it's time that Law Department says hold back or the AG says hold on, we're going to follow those procedures.

My goal is a safe city. That is my goal. I was borough president during some of the demonstrations and marches and I saw what happened in the city. I was borough president during that time and I don't want a repeat of that. Our city's not going back. We're going forward and you've got to find the right touch to do it. I like to say the sweet spot. We've got enough.

Go ahead. I'm sorry. Did I miss one of your questions? [Crosstalk.]

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Each person is individually making their determination on how they want to be represented and if there are cases that falls in the line of corp counsel, corp counsel will make that determination. I don't make that determination. So some folks have stated, listen, I want my private counsel. Others may have gone to corp counsel. That's the relationship that they should have and then corp counsel will make that final determination.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: Good afternoon, sir. How are you?

Mayor Adams: Quite well. How are you doing?

Question: All right. How are you feeling?

Mayor Adams: Oh, great. Thanks for asking.

Question: I got a question about UNGA, the UN Assembly that's happening next week.

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: The UN Assembly, the UNGA?

Mayor Adams: UNGA. Oh, UNGA.

Question: UNGA, UNGA. Last year, Commissioner Daughtry and Chell handled it pretty good. There was hardly any incidents last year. Now that there's a new police commissioner, would they still be handling those protests?

Mayor Adams: Would they be in charge? Who?

Question: Commissioner Daughtry and Chell.

Mayor Adams: And why do you say they shouldn't? No. Oh, you thought they shouldn't?

Question: I mean, still going to be in charge because there's a new commissioner.

Mayor Adams: The commissioner will make that determination. I think one of the probably under-acknowledged, you know, actions that both Chell and Daughtry, what they have done just day to day, these guys are amazing.

The commissioner will sit down with Intel and the team and determine what our UNGA plan is. Because, you know, when UNGA comes, the demonstrations come. And police resources and manpower, because we still have other demonstrations that we're dealing with. And then we still also have the primary concern of keeping us safe.

Chief Maddrey will sit down and determine the best deployment in partnership with the police commissioner. How do we deploy? This is a high-profile time where you have so many dignitaries that are here. And, you know, we've been doing it well for a long time. The United Nations is here on our East River. And we know the awesome responsibility that we have. So between Chief Maddrey and the police commissioner, they will determine the deployment, who's going to actually carry it out.

Question: Thank you. On the issue of the subway shooting, can you clarify, have the officers involved been placed on leave while an investigation takes place? And as we're turning to Matt's question on the topic of the video, it seems like you're alluding to maybe there's a legal issue with its release. Is there actually a legal issue? Someone's asking not to release it. And why not release it with transparency?

Mayor Adams: Yeah, listen, we're transparent. The status of the officers, I think we should reach out to the commissioner, Tom Donlon, to find out what's their status. Based on my observation, those officers didn't violate any department procedures, but it's up to the internal mechanism and the shooting team. The shooting response team to make that final determination on what their status or change of duty status should be.

I think that those officers should be commended for how they really show the great level of restraint. And it's just unfortunate that innocent people were shot because of that, but they were shot because they're a dangerous, repeated offender on our subway system. And with the videos that you just stated, I gave you a complete analysis on what my thoughts are. I don't know how I can make it any clearer. Each case, each case, there's not a one-size-fits-all. Each case is its own separate analysis on when it should be released, how it should be released, and follow the guidelines of releasing it.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good, thank you. I just was hoping you could go into just exactly, you know, why you chose Tom Donlon. What went into the process, maybe who recommended him. And then also, just looking for a timeline on when you hope to replace Lisa Zornberg. I know you said you're still considering it, but would Randy Mastro maybe be somebody that you would appoint in that place? And just one more question. With Phil Banks, do you expect him to come and join you at any time soon with one of these pressers? Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Are you saying you miss him here? You know, we are, I think, sometimes we don't really appreciate the fact of how deep our bench is. And all of these agencies, I'm sure the D.M.s would tell you, we just have a deep bench in city government. And I have a deep bench in City Hall's legal team there. A lot of history. They've been here through administrations. They know the job. So we're not in this, oh my God, we need to rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. We have a good team there. And I'm sure both of my former counsels would tell you how good they are.

And so we will find the right person that can continue the great work that Lisa did. But they built a strong counsel team in the Mayor's Office. And I have a lot of faith in them. And so when you have a good team like that, it gives you the luxury of finding, finding the right fit. We have a great, great team. And so when I was home, when [he] was the chair of Homeland Security, I met Commissioner Donlon. There were several names that were given to me. And I remember I was looking through my list of, we had a list when we were vetting other commissioners, you know, from the beginning, we had a good list. And I looked through, I looked through the list that we had, that we put in place. And when I looked over, Tom's name jumped off at me.

His demeanor when we were, he was in charge of Homeland Security in the state, his form of, you know, federal insight of, you know, with JTTF, you know, and just his whole demeanor. I remember during the time when we were talking about homeland security issues, he has the experience on what we need at this time. And as an interim position, I say, here's a person that we can put there and we can continue the great work we're doing. Again, we talk about a bench. We got one hell of a bench there, too. You know, I mean, from Chief Maddrey to Chief Chell to Kaz Daughtry to Deputy Commissioner Kinsella and so many others. There's a real bench that we have in these city agencies. And so he was the right person to come in as an interim police commissioner.

Question: So no one told you to appoint him or anything like that?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: No one told you to appoint him or anything like that?

Mayor Adams: No one told me…

Question: To appoint Tom Donlon?

Mayor Adams: No, no.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you, Liz?

Question: I'm good. I was at the African American Day Parade on Sunday. I know you marched. And I was talking to some of the parade goers. And there was one person who I spoke to who stood out. 65 years old, born and raised in Harlem. And she told me that three years ago she went out and she said, I got out to vote for you. And she said, give this guy a chance.

But now she's telling me the situation she's in is she sees growing gentrification in her neighborhood. She's having trouble affording her apartment she's been in since 1961. She also says that she read that you got your phone seized and that she sees these people departing the administration. And she says there has to be something there.

So between being able to afford living in Harlem, she said she knows that you're trying to build new housing. But she said, what about the people who are trying to stay here? And her concerns about the investigation. What do you say to someone like her? A Black New Yorker supported you, but now she seems to have soured on you.

Mayor Adams: And you were at the parade, right?

Question: Mm-hmm.

Mayor Adams: And you marched the whole route with me, right?

Question: I did.

Mayor Adams: And so it's interesting to me that you found a Harlemite. You didn't find the thousand along the route that says, keep doing what you're doing there. You know, you know, because that's how we are. You know, when I look at, when I read these books on how we perceive things and how we feel things, we as human beings, because of the fright and flight mindset, we always look at the negative because that's the sense of survival.

If you were at that parade and you walked away with that, hey, these folks up in, up in Harlem don't see what this mayor is doing, then I don't know what parade you were at because that was definitely not the energy. That was... Hold on, I'm going to get to the overall concept because you were able to find one. And you could find one in everything. You know, the, the... Here's the issue.

Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer has two years in a row financed more affordable housing than each year in the history of the city. Moved more people out of homeless shelter into permanent housing, in one year and two years in the history of the city. Our City of Yes proposal. Because everyone knows the mayor. They don't know that every time we go to build somewhere, we're getting the same people that are saying housing is a right getting in the way of us building.

So, you know, yes, you think about, hey, is the mayor not building enough housing? When in fact, we're doing just the opposite. Of building more housing. And so, yes, people feel as though the city's not affordable. The city is getting out of reach for them. And those are real feelings that people have. That's why we're doing Money in your Pockets. $30 billion back into the pockets of New Yorkers. That's why we lowered the cost of child care from $55 a week to $5 a week. That's why we did free high-speed broadband in NYCHA residences. That's why we put more reduced fare in MetroCards. We know people are hurting. We know that.

People are afraid and they feel the city's no longer affordable to them. So we have to use the powers with us to make sure that we put those items in place to help everyday New Yorkers. So I understand her fear and I understand her anger. I had anger when I saw us having to spend $5.6 billion on something we didn't create. And so New Yorkers look for their mayor. The mayor's job is not to define the problem. It's to lead us out of the problem. And every day we're doing that.

And that's why I love my town halls. Because we walked into town halls where people had signs of we hate the mayor. And then we get in there and we talk to them, one-on-one, and they see what this team is doing. They walk out with an entirely different outlook. This is a hard-working team that's committed to the people of this city. And we're going to continue to do so. And I hope I see that we're going to do a couple more town halls in Harlem. And I hope I see her. And give her the long history of what we're doing. And so we have this. Some people say this was a distraction. No, this was telling our story. Because if we don't tell our story, then someone like that woman, that one person you found in Harlem, would believe that this administration has not made life better for New Yorkers in spite of all that we had to go through.

Question: Mr. Mayor, good afternoon. Building on the Ray Martin story, two former fire chiefs were indicted for similar bribery schemes. I just want to get a sense of how pervasive do you think that sort of corruption is in city government? And what, if anything, your administration is doing to address that?

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, we have over 300,000 city employees. They get up every day. They do the right thing every day. We see them all the time. From teachers to Health + Hospitals to ACS to shelters. When I think about what they went through, none of them were able to exhale after COVID. They've cycled out of COVID and went right into the migrants and asylum seekers. Our police officers, similar to what we saw on 9/11, how those police officers lost and firefighters lost so many of their colleagues. But 9/12, they got up and they continued to protect and serve the city.

And so when you have a numerical minority that does something wrong, we should not broad brush [the entirety] of [our] city employee[s]. We need to be clear on this. And I was saying this yesterday with Marcia. This started under the previous administration. Under the previous administration. You know, some of you reported that. Others didn't. You know, they just ignored that fact. It started under the previous administration.

This administration became aware of it and proactively reported it to DOI. That is what the process is supposed to be. Just as we did when we became aware of what happened under inappropriate actions, a violation of workers' rule with the Ray Martin scenario. So we are doing what we're supposed to do proactively. And so when people are attempting to say, oh, here goes another scandal in this administration.

No, this started under previous administration. That we brought to DOI and said, we got a tip, look into this. And that is when you ever have, we saw what happened in NYCHA, happened under previous administrations that came to light under this administration. And so these things happen in government. What you're supposed to do is properly report it to the investigatory agencies. And that's what we're doing.

Question: Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: So three quick questions. The Post Editorial Board, which you've often praised and sided with...

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry, the what?

Question: The Post Editorial Board, that you've often praised and sided with. Has called for the resignation of those around you facing FBI investigations, including Tim Pearson and Phil Banks. But you're sticking behind them so far. Are you worried that that could lead to your political downfall if those close to you are ultimately implicated and you fail to act?

Second question. The federal indictment yesterday of retired fire chiefs Anthony Scarabino and Brian Cordosco confirmed that a backtracks list for FDNY inspections from the deputy mayor's office exists. Why have city officials denied its existence and does it still exist? And then the third quick question is, have you asked for the resignations of anyone around you facing FBI searches and investigations and they refused?

Mayor Adams: So let's peel that back one at a time. Starting with the last, again, I say it over and over, standard. I don't go into private conversations and that's why people don't have a problem speaking with me because they never hear what they say back out into the streets. I'm extremely private. When I have a conversation with you, you can feel comfortable in speaking because you're not going to hear it again. I don't go into private conversations.

Even when you follow me, when I go up the steps and you say something privately, I don't go into what you say to me. You know, I keep it private. So the second, what was the second issue again? I'm sorry. The second question…

Question: It was about the federal indictments. Why have city officials denied that this fast-track fire inspections…

Mayor Adams: No, and let's be clear. I'm glad you asked that question. Let's be clear on this because when you read the indictment, it stated that the Fire Department coined that phrase. They coined that phrase. If there was this list that people are talking about, it wasn't created under this administration. We...

Question: They didn't deny that it existed.

Mayor Adams: We don't know about it. They coined that phrase. That was their phrase that they used. We, in our Get Stuff Built report, that Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi and all of us, folks, the number one complaint I heard on, well, my business people when I was on the campaign trail, it's too hard to do business in this city. Everyone is too bureaucratic.

And when I spoke with Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi and I spoke with Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, you know, they had two missions. One, let's stop over-penalizing businesses. Let's go... Let's stop leading with let me find out a way to give you a fine. That was their mission. And Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, you may want to talk about some of the stuff you did around that. The second mission was Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi of saying, how do we stop being so bureaucratic?

I was hearing from hotel owners that were saying, we're ready to hire hundreds of people, we are ready to bring in guests here, and we're waiting for a fire sprinkler permit. We were hearing this over and over and over and over again. And so we knew we had to get into government and say, you got to be aligned with our mission of opening this city up for new jobs. If the FDNY or others coined a phrase, I'm not aware of that phrase. The first time I heard it was when we were in here, people were talking about it. So we don't know about that phrase. They didn't say that this is a phrase that was invented by this administration. This was a phrase that they coined.

Question: And then the other one about the Post Editorial Board, you usually praise the…

Mayor Adams: Listen, I think the Post is the blue-collar paper, you know? And I think that they have a moderate, pragmatic approach. They're not so idealistic. They're not realistic, you know? And they beat me up from time to time. But when I read that paper, I think they got their fingers on the pulse of everyday working-class people. You know, that's when I read their paper. And I don't agree with everything in the Post, and the Post don't agree with everything that I do. And, you know, when you respect people, the goal is not that I got to agree with everything you do, but when I look at that just common-sense approach to how to keep a city safe and raise the standards in the city, I like the stories that's in there, you know?

And so I think when, at the end of the day, when they do an analysis and they're going to look at, you know, who's in the field, they're going to say, you know what, we may not agree with Eric or something, but this guy loves this city and he's continued to move this city forward, you know? Because you talk about an editorial that they disagree on, look at those editorials that they agree on. There's a whole lot of stuff that I've done that the Post says, this is the right guy for the job.

Question: So in the interests of having you write a chapter of your book right now, can you just clear the air about Terrence Banks' communications with you?

What you said the other day was that you had no conversations with him in City Hall. Just a clarification, I'm sure there's something more to that that you can just spell out. And then more importantly, have you ascertained or are you looking into the scope and nature of his conversations with his two brothers, David Banks and Phil Banks, and whether any of that had anything to do with his clients?

Mayor Adams: So let's deal with two parts. I shared, the last time we spoke, I have known the Banks family. Their dad was a lieutenant who encouraged me to study. I have a relationship with the Banks family. Back during the Million Man March, there was a front page Times editorial on the family. And we have a long relationship. That includes every member of the Banks family. And I will continue to have a relationship with the Banks family.

Whatever communications they've had, I'm not going to interfere with, let me evaluate your communications. That's the wrong thing to do. Let the reviewers review and make the determination. That's not my job to do. And I'm not going to in any way give the impression that Eric is trying to interfere with the review that's taking place.

Question: Hi, Mayor. How are you?

Mayor Adams: I'm well. How are you?

Question: Two very distinctly different questions. I'll start with the one a little bit off topic than anything's been asked. We lost an 11-year-old to subway surfing yesterday, as I'm sure you're well aware of. And you've spoken out against it a bunch of times. There's the Stay Alive, Ride Inside campaign. But at this point, does more need to be done? Do the continuous trains are a long ways away, which should largely solve that problem? Do the ladders need to be taken away? Does the messaging need to change? to change because the kids aren't getting it. That's number one.

Number two, I was wondering if you could specifically respond to something that the comptroller proposed today. He said he actually worked with you at the beginning of the administration on it. It was more transparency around no-bid contracts, around subcontracts, and around people doing business with the city being transparent about their political donations. He says without those things, it enables a culture of corruption. So I'm wondering where that effort got derailed. It seems like you guys were working on that early on, and it never really came together. Where, in your view, did that fall apart?

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I would love to. Any ideas that we could have around really giving strength to any rules or procedures, I welcome that. And what's often not reported, and I don't quite understand why. I'm probably the only candidate, I think Senator Gillibrand also did recently, that says let's take money out of politics altogether.

No one wants to call 20,000 people and ask them to contribute to campaign. We should take money out of politics altogether. Instead of doing a matching fund program, everyone gets a million dollars to run for office. That's it. The city gives you a million dollars after you have some form of qualifier. It could be signatures, it could be polling numbers, it could be whatever. This antiquated method of having money in politics, we need to get money out of politics altogether. That's what I believe. And so it will equal the playing field that everyday New Yorkers, any New Yorker that wants to run based on their hard sweat equity is able to do so.

I've said this from my days in the State Senate, I said it as borough president, I stated it as mayor, and I will say it again. There's no reason money should be in politics in this state. And so if Brad has some ideas and he wants to support me on that call, I look forward to that. Even if I disagree with him on a host of things, where I agree with you a person on, I will stand with him on that.

The subway surfing, it's just, if you go and look at some of these subway surfers, they get millions of views, millions of views. And this was not around when I was in law enforcement, it was a long time ago, but as a transit police officer, you didn't see this. This daredevil from climbing top of buildings and taking photos to riding on top of trains, to social media's role on this, we brought together a group of young people who helped design our campaign. The chief of Transit, Michael Kemper, what he has done, visiting family members, visiting parents and showing parents, here's what your child is doing, and how dangerous it is. They have gone beyond the law enforcement part of it.

We have been getting in front of this as much as possible, and you can't really judge your results of how many lives were saved, because of that action, because you always have the incident like an 11-year-old child. An 11-year-old child was riding on top of the subway and was killed because of that. I think Mike's work has saved many more lives. I think that going into the schools where we're seeing these young people are coming from has been successful, but you don't get the, you don't get the credit for what you have saved when you have an 11-year-old that lost his life.

My heart goes out to the family, but, you know, social media needs to be more responsible. They should not post any subway surfing video. That should not, that is helping to proliferate this problem, and it's not helping, but it's harming, and I think it's irresponsible.

Question: I know you have some Health Department stuff with social media right now. Is part of that more aggressively going after these companies for allowing these videos to stay up?

Mayor Adams: Yes, that is our desire. Several other antisocial behaviors that are being proliferated on these social media channels just to get clicks. Just to get clicks. You can't put profit over public safety. We can't lose these children. Like, we saw a real rash at one time, so I think what Mike Kemper has done has made an inroad, but, you know, it breaks all of our hearts to have an 11-year-old child that was, that lost their life over this.

His hand was raised for a while. Go ahead. Ask your question.

Question: You made the point several times in the last hour that New Yorkers just don't really care about this federal investigation stuff. I guess they don't. They're not interested in the resignation of their police commissioner. Yesterday, a fire official took bribery charges. The fact that a small business owner was forced to close after he signed a shakedown operation involving one of your aides, who was sort of fired, all the stuff with the Banks brothers, including a consultancy that's representing clients with businesses in the city. So my question is, do you care about this stuff?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: Do you care about this stuff?

Mayor Adams: First of all, let me be clear. New Yorkers are concerned because this is concerning, and we want to resolve that, and we want, I strongly believe, at the final analysis, is you're going to see that just as the overwhelming number of city employees are doing what's right, that's what is going to come out of this. That people are doing what is right. And so I'm not dismissive that this is something that needs to be resolved.

What I'm saying to you about everyday New Yorkers, they want to know, Eric, what are you doing about the safety of my city, my schools, my housing, my employment? That is at the top of their agenda. Because that's what I hear when I'm out in the streets. That's what I hear when I'm at the town halls. That's what I'm hearing when I'm at the churches, the mosques, the synagogue. This is what I hear. And so the investigators will do their investigation. This team up here, we have to move this city forward. We can't come later and say, hey, we stopped doing everything because of their investigations, no.

Ten months ago, my phones were taken. And when you look at what has happened in those ten months, it's right up there. We are moving this city forward. I was elected to move this city forward. And that's what we're doing every day. And if you look at the numbers and you look at the analysis, you can't walk away with that this mayor has been distracted and has not continued to move the city forward.

Question: Is there anything that's concerned you that has come out since these federal investigations have become public? There's been a lot of reporting, you're not concerned about any of these regulations?

Mayor Adams: I know how I live my life. I follow the law. I've been a police officer. I know how important it is to follow the law. That's what I do. If I've had someone around me that I believe violated their oath of office, they would not be in my office.

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