By Michael V. Cusenza
Mayor Eric Adams recently defended his decision to not resign in the face of a federal indictment and touted his administration’s accomplishments at a Community Conversation in Corona.
“I know I didn’t do anything wrong,” Adams told the crowd at IS 61. “When I went through a difficult period, people told me step down. You know what I did? I stepped up. I stepped up because all of you in this room have went through challenging times. Many people forget who I am. They forget as a little boy what I went through. They forget that a mother raised six children. They forget that I know what hard times are.”
Hizzoner was charged in September with one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and commit wire fraud and bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, which each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. His trial is scheduled to start in April.
Adams also took time during the Corona appearance to pat himself on the back.
“I inherited a city where we were dealing with serious crime issues. I inherited a city where we were not seeing the equality that we deserve. Unemployment was high. Our subway system was unsafe. We looked at a city where we were having thousands of illegal guns on our streets; where Black and Brown unemployment was at a high level; where we were not invested in foster care children; where we were not given vital services that we all know we should have. Where are we now, three years later?” Adams said. “Really the turnaround was almost two years into our administration. We have more jobs in the city’s history. Today standing next to the police commissioner in the Bronx at the 25th Precinct, we removed 20,000 illegal guns off our street. 20,000 illegal guns off our streets; 1,400 of them were ghost guns that we were able to remove off our streets.”
The mayor said he’s not going to wilt this year under such pressure.
“Yes, people are going to criticize, they’re going to critique. They’ve done that for years. It’s nothing new to be criticized and critiqued, but I’m in the field of battle,” Adams said. “I’m fighting for this city. I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years and protected the children and families of the city folks; put my life on the line for New York. I’m not going to stop putting my life on the line for New York. There comes a time when you have to appreciate the five-letter word, trust. If I’ve been who I’ve been for 64 years, why the hell am I going to change now as the mayor of the city? Either you trust or you don’t trust. With trust or non-trust, I’m going to fulfill my mission that I was elected to accomplish.”
