{"id":1578,"date":"2024-11-12T02:17:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T02:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/why-eric-adams-mess-in-nyc-doesnt-help-gop-conspiracy-theories\/"},"modified":"2024-11-12T02:17:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T02:17:49","slug":"why-eric-adams-mess-in-nyc-doesnt-help-gop-conspiracy-theories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/why-eric-adams-mess-in-nyc-doesnt-help-gop-conspiracy-theories\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Eric Adams\u2019 mess in NYC doesn\u2019t help GOP conspiracy theories"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Steve Benen<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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UPDATE<\/strong>(Sept. 26, 2024, 10:55 a.m. ET):This piece has been updated to reflect new details from Thursday morning’s unsealed indictment against Mayor Eric Adams.<\/em><\/p>\n

The details are still coming into focus, but on Thursday Mayor Eric Adams<\/a> was indicted in New York on five counts, including bribery, wire fraud, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery. According to the indictment<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Eric Adams, the defendant, sought and accepted illegal campaign contributions in the form of ‘nominee’ or ‘straw’ contributions, meaning that the true contributors conveyed their money through nominal donors, who falsely certified they were contributing their own money. By smuggling their contributions to Adams through U.S.-based straw donors, Adams’s overseas contributors defeated federal laws that serve to prevent foreign influence on U.S. elections.”<\/p>\n

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The mayor has denied any wrongdoing. NBC News also reported<\/a> Thursday that the FBI arrived at the mayor’s Gracie Mansion home to search the premises, and all of this comes against a backdrop of high-level resignations amid at least four federal probes related to the Adams administration.<\/p>\n

We’ll learn soon enough what happens next in this ongoing drama, but in the meantime, it’s also worth pausing to appreciate the larger pattern that’s unfolded in recent months. The Justice Department, under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland, has:<\/p>\n