NERMEEN SHAIKH: We begin today’s show here in New York City, where Eric Adams has become the first mayor in the city’s modern history to be indicted on federal charges. The news of the indictment broke on Wednesday night. Federal agents reportedly searched his official residence at Gracie Mansion this morning. As we broadcast, the indictment is still sealed, but The New York Times reports the federal investigation has focused at least in part on whether Adams took illegal campaign donations from the Turkish government. Part of the probe reportedly focuses on whether Adams pressured Fire Department officials to ignore safety concerns at a new 35-story Turkish Consulate building near the United Nations. The Times reports Adams is also being investigated for his interactions with Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan.

Eric Adams is a Democrat and a former police officer who was elected three years ago. Many of Adams’ top aides are also facing federal investigations. On September 12th, New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned just days after federal agents searched his home and seized his cellphone. Mayor Adams’ top attorney, Lisa Zornberg, abruptly resigned on September 14th. She reportedly stepped down after Adams refused to fire a number of top aides being investigated.

AMY GOODMAN: New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks has also announced he’ll soon resign. He made the announcement after federal agents seized his phone, as well as devices of several people close to him, including his partner, Sheena Wright, who serves as first deputy mayor, and Banks’ brother, Phil Banks, who serves as deputy mayor of New York City for public safety, in charge of the police and Fire Department. Federal agents also searched the home of their brother Terence Banks, who works as a consultant and had contracts worth millions of dollars with the city. Federal authorities have also subpoenaed the mayor’s director of asylum seeker operations, Molly Schaeffer.

On Wednesday night, Eric Adams released a video, vowing to stay in office and fight the charges.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS: My fellow New Yorkers, it is now my belief that the federal government intends to charge me with crimes. If so, these charges will be entirely false, based on lies. But they would not be surprising. I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target. And a target I became. For months, leaks and rumors have been aimed at me in an attempt to undermine my credibility and paint me as guilty.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: On Wednesday, hours before news broke about the federal indictment, New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on Mayor Adams to resign, writing on social media, quote, “I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City. The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening gov function. Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration. For the good of the city, he should resign.”

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by two guests. Tiffany Cabán is the first member of the New York City Council to call for Adams to resign. She called for him to resign last week. She’s a Democratic-Socialist, former public defender. And we’re joined by Ross Barkan, contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, columnist for Crain’s, author of the Substack Political Currents. His piece for The Nation is headlined “Is Eric Adams’s Luck About to Run Out?”

Well, maybe you’ve answered that question, Ross. You got that answer yesterday. Can you explain what’s happening, and especially for a global audience who might not have been following over these past weeks and months the number of people, including the mayor himself, who have had their phones, electronic devices seized, the number of people who are leaving, who have resigned, and what this indictment means today?

ROSS BARKAN: So, there’s a dizzying amount of corruption investigations into Eric Adams, at least four different federal probes, which is unprecedented. No mayor in modern times certainly has been indicted in New York City, but even the sheer number of investigations. This indictment has yet to be unsealed. It appears to be related to the investigation pertaining to whether Eric Adams acted as a foreign agent and tried to assist the Turkish government and possibly took money from Turkey. But again, that’s still speculation until the indictment is unsealed today, so I don’t want to go too deep into that.

What I can say is that a sitting mayor of New York never been indicted. We are in uncharted waters. He is in great political peril. Many politicians, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are calling for him to resign. He’s up for reelection next year. He has said he will not resign. I do think he will stay in office as long as he possibly can.

If he is forced to resign — again, forced would be political; the only mechanism to actually make him leave would be the governor removing him from office, and it’s unclear if the governor, Kathy Hochul, will actually do that. If he steps down, the public advocate, which is this strange position unique to New York City, not quite a vice president but something like the ceremonial post that is technically the second in line of succession, the public advocate, Jumaane Williams, he becomes acting mayor. But then a special election is called by law shortly after Jumaane Williams assumes the office. The special election would be held in about 90 days from that point, and it would be nonpartisan. It would actually not be a Democratic primary. And many, many different candidates would run, probably including Jumaane Williams. So, that would be truly, truly unprecedented. And cannot emphasize enough that we are entering a new terrain here with an indicted mayor of New York City.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Tiffany Cabán, you were the first city councilmember to call on Eric Adams to resign. Explain why. You said he’s unfit to govern.

TIFFANY CABÁN: That’s right. I mean, it’s not just that he has been under federal investigation and now, we know, formally indicted or that over 15 of his associates have been investigated, and we are going to see some — at least some of those folks have formal indictments unsealed later today, but it’s really also a culmination of his leadership failures. Right? This is wholly distracting. This is the biggest job in the biggest city in the country, and it demands the attention of every single second of your energy, your resources. We have seen a mass exodus of leadership positions. I mean, as a sitting councilmember who is the most local of representatives, to tell you that it’s chaotic and impossible to deliver services to our constituents right now is an understatement.

And you add to that that throughout the entirety of his tenure in office, we have seen him being OK with NYPD abuses. We have seen him cut over and over again critical services like, you know, homeless services, education, our library budgets. And New Yorkers deserve better. We need somebody who can take this job seriously, take public health and public safety seriously in this moment, and he can no longer do that.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, can you talk about his record, in particular, as a former police officer and what happened to the NYPD since he’s been mayor?

TIFFANY CABÁN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, one of the big things that we saw happen was the resignation of Commissioner Edward Caban — which, I just want to be clear, there is no relation. And that in itself was unprecedented. But under that former commissioner’s leadership and under the leadership of our mayor, we have seen a decades-high number of unconstitutional stop-and-frisks. We have seen — as reported by the New York Civil Liberties Union. We have seen a record number of misconduct settlements, and that’s our taxpayer dollars that is going into that, that can’t go into, again, other critical services. We have seen the CCRB, which is our civilian oversight board, their — the commissioner, again, under the mayor’s leadership, has thrown out more than half of their substantiated misconduct investigations. And that has never happened in NYPD history, right? And he has also defunded that agency and several other oversight agencies. So we have a pattern of sort of preventing the council and the general public from getting a look under the hood, which, you know, makes you think about what’s happening right now. So we don’t even know the breadth of what’s going on within that agency, but we know it’s not good.

AMY GOODMAN: With all these commissioners having their cellphones taken, can you reach anyone?

TIFFANY CABÁN: No, no. And I’ll give you a perfect example. You know, currently my office is trying to get a constituent help with a pretty important and serious issue at the Department of Education. I said, “Well, can I call Chancellor Banks?” I was told, “No, the FBI has both of his cellphones.” I called two other high-ranking Department of Education officials, got no calls back up to this point, right? And so, you can really see just really concrete examples of how this exodus and how this distraction and chaos is really impeding our ability to deliver.

I’ll give you one more quick example. I have constituents coming in that, you know, are applying for SNAP benefits, food stamps, and they’re waiting three months to get those food stamps approved. That shouldn’t happen. That’s the difference between going hungry and having food. They come in with an approved CityFHEPS voucher. That’s a housing voucher here in New York City. They found an apartment, and, you know, the administration has to complete their paperwork. They don’t do it in time, and they lose the apartment. It’s the difference between being homeless and sheltered. So, New Yorkers again, this is critical. It’s, like, lifesaving. And the current administration is not delivering.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Tiffany Cabán, you mentioned David Banks, who is the outgoing New York City schools commissioner. He announced he’s leaving at the end of the year. He’s got two brothers. He’s got Phil Banks, who serves as deputy mayor of New York City for public safety, which is in charge — and, Ross Barkan, I want to put this question to you — of both police and fire. It seems like the Fire Department is under scrutiny because of approving the Turkish Consulate in New York. If you can explain what this is all about and, although the indictment has not been unsealed as we broadcast, what this scandal is about? And then, the third brother, Terence Banks, who works as a consultant, his consulting firm has gotten millions from the city.

ROSS BARKAN: Yeah. So, lots to unpack. Well, I’ll say Philip Banks, first, is a very close ally of Eric Adams. He’s someone who left city government about a decade ago under a scandal cloud, never was indicted. Now he’s had his phone seized. He has this position which is very nebulous. It actually did not exist before the Eric Adams administration. And the first police commissioner, who was somewhat independent of Eric Adams, she actually left after about a year, because she didn’t like that Banks was meddling so much in her affairs and not letting her discipline officers. So, this has set the stage on Philip Banks.

Whether Philip Banks is tied to this indictment, it’s not yet clear. I do want to emphasize that. But there are other investigations. His brother Terence was or is running a consulting firm that was trying to do business with the Department of Education. They had some new technology they were trying to sell to DOE. So there could be quid pro quo there.

Again, there are so many scandal clouds. And it is [inaudible]. And I do not see how politically Eric Adams will survive this. I don’t think he will. I think the question for New York, as the councilwoman pointed out, is: How can he govern? And how will government services be delivered? They weren’t being delivered terribly well before all of this, if you go back one to two years ago, but now there is a sense of real paralysis at City Hall. And Eric Adams is defiant. And he is not so different in some ways than the former President Donald Trump, where the indictment is not going to necessarily cow him.

So, that is — that, again — and I said uncharted waters before. You know, you’ve got a city of over 8 million people. You have a very powerful executive position. You have many officials who have had their phones seized. You have had resignations. And there is a sense that nothing can really happen right now. And the frightening thing is: What if there was a crises — a crisis or crises of some kind that needed immediate executive attention? It is not clear that could be handled in any way.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Ross Barkan, could you explain whether, under any circumstances, it’s considered legal or legitimate for city officials to receive donations from foreign governments?

ROSS BARKAN: No, it’s not. It’s illegal. So, if he took this money and there is a record of that — campaign donations or something else — it is against the law. And we’re going to find out very soon. There should be a press conference this morning. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District is going to indict Eric Adams, so we’ll know a lot more. But acting as a foreign agent, taking foreign money, it is not permitted. The question will be: What is the evidence? And also, what is the Adams defense, right? And he’s still — he will be charged, has not been found guilty yet, so we will wait and see.

But certainly, to get to this level — typically, federal prosecutors do not like charging executives. Executives have a lot of staff around them. What you’ll see is, if there are corruption investigations, someone close to the executive gets charged, but not the executive himself or herself. So, the fact that they’re going after Adams directly is indicative that they feel confident about the case. I’ll put it that way.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Tiffany Cabán, it might surprise some people to know, outside of New York City, the governor of New York, in this case Kathy Hochul, can remove the mayor of New York City. And there’s another entity that can. It’s a new one. It’s called the “inability committee.” Can you talk about that?

TIFFANY CABÁN: Yeah. So, I mean, that committee is made up of a number of people who get together and have a vote and have a say on that process. I know that the comptroller is, you know, one of those people that sits on the committee, along with others. So there are a couple of different mechanisms that could make it happen. But I think, ultimately, you know, when you look outside of the official mechanisms that can be used, it’s going to be political pressure that pushes those mechanisms forward. And it’s not going to happen without that.

AMY GOODMAN: And Kathy Hochul is governor because Andrew Cuomo had to step down. Ross Barkan, you wrote a whole book on him, The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York. Now he is considered a wildcard possible — possibly running for New York City mayor. Your final comment?

ROSS BARKAN: Yes. Yes, he is considering a comeback. I think Andrew Cuomo must be taken seriously as a mayoral candidate in New York City. If Adams were to resign, there would be a special election, so it would be a very fast election held over, you know, a short — a short period of time relative to Democratic primaries here. So, Cuomo wants a comeback. He wants redemption. He might try to seek it. He is well known throughout the city. He certainly is scandal-scarred. He has many people who find him distasteful. At the same time, he does have a fan base. He does also have some support in the working-class Black communities in New York City, similar to Eric Adams.

So, I think Andrew Cuomo is certainly among the many other candidates. The city comptroller, Brad Lander, is running; the former comptroller, Scott Stringer; two state senators; possibly an assemblyman from Queens. It’s going to be a very big field regardless. And so, Cuomo will stand out. I would add, New York, we have ranked-choice voting, so voters can rank up to five candidates. So it’s not your typical winner-take-all primary. So, if you had a winner-take-all primary, I would say Cuomo would be heavily favored to win, given the split-vote problem. But in ranked-choice voting, it gets a lot more interesting, because candidates can form coalitions. They can say, “Don’t rank this person.” So, I would consider Cuomo something of a favorite if he got in, but I also wouldn’t say he is a lock to be the next mayor of New York City.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Tiffany Cabán, the mayor made a statement last night. He said he is a target. Let’s remember how he got his start. He was an officer, African American police officer in New York, who sued the New York City Police Department for racism. He said he’s being taken down right now, or they’re attempting to, because he’s serving the people of New York City. Your final comment?

TIFFANY CABÁN: I mean, I’d have to disagree. But I just want to put some of this in context. His story when he ran, he said, you know, “I joined the Police Department because I wanted to straighten it out from the inside.” And what we’ve seen is actually the opposite. He’s emboldened more abuses and misconduct from the NYPD. He has refused to fire officers who have killed New Yorkers in the past several years. Like I said, he’s turning a — not just turning a blind eye, but really encouraging a lot of the outrageous behavior, including the suppression of the press, right? We’ve seen the NYPD attack journalists, push them out of spaces so that they couldn’t report, and then go on and kind of film these propaganda videos.

And, you know, I was a public defender for seven years. I know how these investigations work. I will say that my clients were not being charged or accused of being foreign agents. This is just not the types of clients we saw as public defenders. But this is part and parcel of what we’ve seen as a practice of the mayor in terms of not following the law, playing it fast and loose, being loyal to a fault and to our city’s detriment. And these are not — you know, you don’t just get these subpoenas all willy — it’s not an easy thing to do. And what you’ll see is that they start really wide, get more information, put pressure on full, try to get them to flip and be cooperators, to continue to get more and more information. And Ross Barkan said it earlier, there’s really a hesitation, especially with the feds, to charge executives, and executives close to elections, because of the destabilization factor. They know what’s at stake.

And so, I’m just very, very curious to see how this turns out. But whether he is guilty or not, for me, is not the question at hand when it comes to does he resign, is he fit to govern. It’s clearly: Is he fit to govern under these circumstances? And the answer is no. He can have his day in court. But can he serve the people of New York today? No, he cannot.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both for being with us. Tiffany Cabán is the first New York City councilmember to call for Mayor Adams’ resignation. And we want to thank Ross Barkan, contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, columnist for Crain’s. His Substack is Political Currents. And we’ll link to your article in The Nation, “Is Eric Adams’s Luck About to Run Out?”

Coming up, we turn to Lebanon. Israel is continuing to bomb Lebanon after rejecting an international call for a 21-day ceasefire. We’ll go to Beirut for the latest.