New York
Prosecutors Attack Adams’s Claims That Biden Targeted Him as Payback
Mayor Eric Adams has said it again and again: The federal corruption charges brought against him last year were payback for his criticism of President Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis.
Until Wednesday, the prosecutors who brought the indictment against the mayor — charging him with bribery, fraud, conspiracy and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions — had not provided a detailed response.
In a court filing, they pointed to what they called the mayor’s “shifting attempts to suggest that he was indicted for any reason other than his crimes.”
“At the outset of the case,” they wrote, “Adams contended that his indictment resulted from a policy disagreement with the prior presidential administration arising in October 2022.”
That claim, the prosecutors said, “disintegrated” when material turned over to defense lawyers in advance of the trial “made clear that the investigation into Adams began more than a year earlier, based on concrete evidence that Adams had accepted illegal campaign contributions.”
A spokeswoman for one of the mayor’s lawyers, Alex Spiro, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The rejection of the mayor’s version of events came in a court filing in the case. It was the government’s response to Mr. Adams’s most recent argument in a long-running dispute over his unsubstantiated claims that prosecutors have leaked secret grand jury information to the news media, and to The New York Times in particular.
The prosecutors’ filing came shortly before the judge in the case, Dale E. Ho, for a second time denied a request by Mr. Adams to hold a hearing to seek evidence of the alleged leaks and consider sanctions against the government, up to and including dismissing the indictment.
The mayor has hewed to his account during the course of what is widely viewed as his campaign for a pardon from the newly inaugurated President Trump, who has expressed kinship with Mr. Adams on the basis of what Mr. Trump has described as their shared abuse at the hands of the Justice Department.
Seeming to tear a page from Mr. Trump’s playbook, Mr. Adams has described himself as the victim of a vengeful administration and weaponized Justice Department. Without offering evidence, he and Mr. Trump have said that they are both innocent victims of the politics of lawfare.
Last week, an adviser to the mayor expressed hope that a pardon would come quickly, so that Mr. Adams would not have to endure weeks of negative news from a criminal trial in April, just months before the June primary, and has time to remind voters of his merit before they go to the polls.
Mr. Adams has taken pains to court the president, traveling to Palm Beach, Fla., to have lunch with him at Mr. Trump’s golf course, attending his inauguration, and refusing to publicly criticize any of the president’s more polarizing actions.
In their filing, the government also took issue with the mayor’s recent arguments that the judge, in weighing whether to hold a hearing on leaks, should consider an opinion piece by former U.S. attorney Damian Williams, who oversaw the case until he resigned last month. One of the mayor’s lawyers, Alex Spiro, contended the article violated a rule about public statements by people involved in the case and showed that the prosecution was politically motivated.
“Having offered one false theory about the origins of the case, Adams’s latest, self-publicized argument is simply an attempt to shift the focus away from the evidence of his guilt,” the prosecutors wrote. “Williams did not cause Adams to be investigated. The evidence of Adams’s crimes was uncovered by career law enforcement officers performing their duties, in an investigation that began before Williams took office,” they wrote, and continued after he left.
Mr. Adams, in a pretaped interview with the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that aired Tuesday night, renewed his disputed theory of the case.
“When I heard of this investigation, I was like, ‘What?’” Mr. Adams told Mr. Carlson, who maintains a warm relationship with Mr. Trump. “And then when I read it, I was like, ‘Where are the bags of cash?’ ”
Mr. Adams argued that his complaints about the Biden administration, which he said had failed New York City, and his constant petitioning for more aid did not have the desired effect. Rather than receiving federal help for an influx that he says cost the city nearly $7 billion, he told Mr. Carlson, federal officials instead complained that he was not behaving like a “good Democrat.”
“You complained, and this indictment was punishment for complaining?” Mr. Carlson said.
“That is clearly my belief,” the mayor responded.
Later in the interview, Mr. Carlson suggested Mr. Adams’s predicament was not as uncommon as he might think.
“You hear that with a lot of people who’ve been successful,” Mr. Carlson said. “You know, you get to this place that you never thought you’d be and you realize you don’t have as much power as you thought you had. And when you disobey, you get crushed.”
“Right, right,” Mr. Adams said. “Just like that.”
new video loaded: Historic Brooklyn Church Destroyed in Fire
By Meg Felling
June 22, 2026
How can people possibly afford to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet? It’s a question New Yorkers hear a lot, often delivered with a mix of awe, pity and confusion.
We surveyed hundreds of New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save. We found that many people — rich, poor or somewhere in between — live life as a series of small calculations that add up to one big question: What makes living in New York worth it?
Maruf Abubakari Sadick left Ghana for New York in April 2023, confident he was prepared for chilly weather.
When he arrived that morning, the temperatures were in the 50s. He might as well have arrived during a snowstorm.
“‘It’s really cold,’” he told his brother, who laughed and reminded him it wasn’t even winter. His brother brought him a warm jacket, sparking a love affair with outerwear, as well as clothes and colognes.
Three years later, these are the little luxuries on which Mr. Sadick splurges when he is not working two jobs as a security officer in the city.
“I really like to look good, and I like to smell good,” Mr. Sadick, 37, said. “I just tell myself ‘I work too hard. It’s self care.’”
Together, his security jobs bring in close to $46,000 a year, which pays for rent, remittances to his family in Ghana, Wi-Fi, his phone bill and groceries. At the end of the month, he squirrels away what he can so he can one day pay for nursing school.
His rent is $700 a month, which affords him a room in a four-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in the East Bronx that he shares with two other men and one woman.
“Funny enough, we don’t have a schedule for the bathroom,” Mr. Sadick said. “It’s not easy.”
He buys a 30-pound bag of rice for $30 from the nearby bodega that lasts him about three months and a 40-pack of Poland Spring water for $20 so he can bring a bottle to work.
The housemates often share food, usually fish stews and okra soups that Mr. Sadick pours into a thermos, along with the rice, which he then takes to work. It helps him avoid paying for takeout which can cost more than $20.
Mr. Sadick said he learned quickly that to survive in New York, you need to share.
Two Jobs, Little Sleep
Mr. Sadick makes $17 an hour at both jobs, earning the current minimum wage in the city. By next year, he could be making at least $22.20 an hour, with two weeks of paid vacation and paid holidays.
The bump in pay is part of the Aland Etienne Safety and Security Act, a city law that Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed shortly after he took office that set a minimum wage for security guards. The law, which also requires employers to contribute to paid time off and health benefits, was named after the security officer who was fatally shot in July 2025 at 345 Park Avenue by a gunman who killed three others before killing himself.
Mr. Sadick did not know Mr. Etienne, but he said his death terrified him and other security officers, who realized how vulnerable they were at work.
The job “seems easy,” he said. “It seems quiet. Then, one moment, it’s all chaos.”
From Tuesday to Friday he works a four to eight-hour shift when he guards a sprawling office complex in Long Island City, Queens.
On weekends, he guards a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in East Harlem from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. When his shift ends, he takes the subway for a 40-minute commute back to the office complex in Queens, where he works 12-hour overnight shifts on Saturday and Sunday.
Three days a week he takes GED classes in the morning, which are free to state residents. Mondays are his one day off, which he uses “to make up for the two days that I don’t sleep,” Mr. Sadick said.
During the summers, when school is not in session, he tries to make some money selling bus tours to tourists around Times Square. On a good day, he will make $250 to $500 in commissions. On bad days, he will spend five hours in the heat with nothing to show for it.
He said he was exhausted, but driven to pursue a career in medicine.
“I like to take care of people,” he said.
Sending Help Home
A big part of Mr. Sadick’s salary goes to his family in Ghana. On average, he will send $500 a month to help pay for his parents’ food, his grandmother’s health aide and his sister’s schooling.
Last month, he sent a $1,200 so that his parents could buy two sheep. He sent the money through Taptap Send, an app that lets people send money to countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.
The sheep should provide enough meat to last them a couple of months, he said. His brother sent over $2,000 around the same time so that their extended family could buy a bull.
Sending money home is “expected,” Mr. Sadick said, adding that he feels “very good” about being able to help.
“We are brought up in a system where it’s all about family,” he said. “You are brought up to provide.”
Self-Care Is Worth the Splurge
When Mr. Sadick has extra money in his pocket, he will pop into Zara or Macy’s, where he shops for shoes, jackets and button-down shirts.
He has six bottles of cologne. His favorites are Al Rehab Lord Eau De Parfum and Mountain Woody Forest from Zara. The Al Rehab cologne, which sells for $10.95 an ounce on Amazon, is for daytime. He saves the Mountain Woody Forest — $74.99 on Amazon — for special occasions.
He owns 18 pairs of shoes, including red and white Air Jordans that he bought for $200 and a pair of brown, suede boots from Zara that cost $100.
“These are my favorites,” he said, stroking the soft Zara boots. “I look a bit professional in them.”
He is still trying to figure out what he will do when his salary goes up.
Most likely, he said he would keep working both jobs so that he could save more money. But he daydreams about quitting one of them.
It would be nice, Mr. Sadick said, to get more sleep, have time to play soccer and visit art museums.
What he would really like is more time to take long walks.
One of his favorite places to walk is Dumbo, where he worked briefly guarding a construction site and fell in love with the sweeping views of Manhattan and the cool breeze that comes off the water.
A place in Dumbo, he said, would be the ultimate indulgence.
“That would be a dream come true,” Mr. Sadick said. “It’s so nice there.”
We are talking to New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save.
new video loaded: Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire
transcript
transcript
Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire
New York Knicks fans showed up in droves to a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan in their best orange and blue outfits to honor the N.B.A champions.
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“Patrick Ewing. He didn’t get a ring. But I wear your sneakers, bro. When I was in high school, back in the ’90s, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, they were the team that I rooted for in the ’90s. They didn’t make it. So as a tribute to him because this is where I started at being a fan, Patrick Ewing. Knicks hat in denim — I’m a denim fanatic. So I love denim — Knicks hat. And yeah, that’s it.” “This is my style. I usually dress like this every day. But I did a special Knicks edition. It’s all really fun. I start with my makeup. I did really cute flames on my eyes because the Knicks are fire. I don’t really know what I’m going to do before I put it on. I just figure it out along the way. Like, this is a piece of fabric and I just layer in stuff.” “This is from my online boutique and the hat I just bought on the way to the parade because I wanted to match the jumpsuit, and that’s how I came up with the outfit.” “She was ready to go, man.” “Can you show your fingernail?” “She’s been sleeping in her Jalen Brunson jersey for the last 10 weeks. We’ve been watching all the games. You want to tell them who’s your favorite player?” “Jalen Brunson.” “I’m pretty sure this jersey was actually made for a human baby. But they’re selling them around the block. And we threw it on Chester and everyone started clapping. So — he wears it well.” “Blue and orange.” “So I did blue and orange.” “It had to be orange and blue. “Orange and blue. Orange and blue.”
By Meg Felling, Jeremy Raff, Ang Li and David Cheung
June 18, 2026
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