Mayor Adams admitted Tuesday that he reached out to the head of the FDNY in 2021 to resolve a building safety issue on behalf of the Turkish government — an episode that has caught the attention of federal authorities investigating the mayor’s campaign as part of a public corruption probe.
As first revealed Sunday, the feds, who seized Adams’ cellphones and iPad last week in the probe, are scrutinizing the mayor for asking then-FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro in September 2021 to look into quickly dispensing with fire safety violations detected at Turkey’s consulate in Manhattan, which was at the time about to open. Adams, who was then Brooklyn’s borough president and the Democratic Party’s mayoral nominee, made the outreach after Turkish Consul General Reyhan Özgür asked him for help.
In a press briefing at City Hall on Tuesday, Adams confirmed he checked in with Nigro on Özgür’s behalf — but disputed the notion that there was anything unusual or nefarious about it.
“I did not speak to any other individual in the FDNY, did not circumvent the commissioner. The commissioner was the person that I asked, ‘Can you look into this?’ And that was all I spoke with,” Adams said in what marked his first press briefing since the feds confiscated his electronics.
The mayor added: “The role of elected officials is to receive a call from the constituency of a particular issue, and then we go to the agency and assist them to navigate that. That’s the role of an elected official. I must have done that thousands of times of people who were having a challenge navigating government.”
After Adams’ intervention, the Turkish consulate was able to open in late September 2021 in time for a visit by the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In addition to seizing Adams’ electronics, the FBI raided the home of Brianna Suggs, his top campaign fundraiser, on Nov. 2, confiscating her cellphones and documents.
As first reported by the New York Times, the feds are investigating allegations that Adams’ campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal campaign contributions via straw donors in exchange for official favors. KSK Construction, a Brooklyn-based contractor with ties to Turkey whose executives donated generously to Adams’ 2021 campaign, is also being scrutinized in the inquiry.
Neither Adams nor his campaign have been formally accused of any wrongdoing by the feds.
It’s unclear if the feds are probing any other specific episodes besides the Manhattan consulate episode involving Nigro.
Nigro has received a grand jury subpoena as part of the probe, according to CNN, which also reported Tuesday that the former FDNY honcho “voluntarily” spoke to FBI agents.
While the mayor was forthcoming with the consulate detail, he and top aides declined to answer additional questions at Tuesday’s briefing about whether federal investigators have seized the phones of anyone else working for Adams’ administration or campaign.
He also didn’t answer questions about whether he’d resign if indicted as part of the probe, only saying he’s “not speculating on that.”
“We don’t do the straw donors. We don’t, you know, do quid pro quo,” he said. “We follow the law.”
Several times during his briefing, Adams deferred to his chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, about the investigation, which came into public view after the Nov. 2 raid at Suggs’ home.
Zornberg said “there has been no indication” Adams is a target of the probe.
“No one has been accused of wrongdoing in the investigation to my knowledge,” she said.
Adams also declined to provide more detail on a statement issued last week by Boyd Johnson, a criminal defense attorney Adams retained to represent him and his campaign.
In that statement, issued after the seizure of the mayor’s phones, Johnson said Adams’ campaign had discovered “an individual had recently acted improperly” and that it was “immediately and proactively” reported to investigators.
Adams’ campaign has declined to identify that person or say what they did. Zornberg also declined to directly answer several questions Tuesday, saying that doing so would “impede” the probe.
“We’re not going to impede an active investigation by providing more detail,” she said.
Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor who works as a criminal defense lawyer, said it should come as no surprise Adams would defer to Zornberg.
“He gains nothing from commenting publicly on it,” Levin said.
The feds approached the mayor with their search warrant and seized his electronic devices as Adams was leaving an official event at NYU on Nov. 6, four days after the raid on Suggs’ apartment.
That raid wasn’t the only one that took place in connection with the probe, according to CNN. The same day of the Suggs’ raid, the FBI also executed search warrants or conducted interviews at a dozen locations, CNN reported.
Adams has a long history of traveling to Turkey, saying recently he’s gone there at least six times.
One of those trips, taken in 2015 when he was Brooklyn BP, was paid for by the Turkish consulate, according to financial disclosure forms, which list the purpose as being “to discuss a sister city agreement” with Turkish officials.
