00:00We have some breaking news this evening to bring you tonight involving the
00:04mayor of America's largest city, this one. The New York Times is reporting
00:07tonight that New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal
00:11charges. NBC News has not independently verified that report and the Times
00:16reports that those charges remain sealed as of this evening, so we do not know
00:20what those charges are and what they include or do not include. Joining me now
00:25is Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney and an MSNBC legal analyst. Joyce, just to
00:29reiterate what we have now, NBC News can report that New York City Mayor Eric
00:33Adams is expected to face federal charges by prosecutors out of the
00:37Southern District in New York and those charges could come as soon as tomorrow
00:41according to two sources familiar with the matter. Joyce, just your top-line
00:47reaction first to the fact that the feds are charging potentially, reportedly, the
00:52mayor of New York City. If that is in fact what happens, Eric Adams will
00:58become the first mayor in New York City history to be charged while in office.
01:03Your thoughts. So I think this looks like a classic federal public corruption
01:10investigation. Unfortunately, the Justice Department has repeatedly been in the
01:15business of indicting mayors who are involved in corruption. That doesn't come
01:20as a surprise, I don't think, to anyone. There have been a number of
01:23investigations here. Joyce, I'm gonna let you turn your phone off. I'm gonna do it
01:30magically. Hey Siri, stop my alarm. It happens. Just in terms of, you know, you're
01:39talking about a classic corruption investigation, what we know is that the
01:43feds were interested in potential illegal foreign donations. The countries
01:47that have been mentioned in the reporting, again, we do not know if this
01:50is going to be in the indictment, included Turkey, Israel, China, Qatar, South
01:54Korea, and Uzbekistan. You know, Lisa Rubin mentioned there may be up to five,
02:00six, or seven different federal investigations. How would those work?
02:05I mean, what is the sort of pecking order of those investigations and sort of how
02:10do you expect them to work in concert vis-a-vis these indictments that we're
02:14going to be seeing tomorrow morning? So it's possible that this is multiple
02:19sorts of branches of the same investigation, that in the course of
02:23doing one investigation, prosecutors stumbled upon other crimes and began
02:29branching out the investigation. That wouldn't be at all unusual. Much of the
02:34early interest, some of the early indication that we had involved these
02:38investigations about Turkey. Perhaps it was some sort of bribery or pay-to-play.
02:42We don't know, but prosecutors have likely been to the grand jury, obtained
02:48an indictment that will be unsealed, and we'll learn more about the details of
02:53what they're alleging once they unseal that indictment, whether it's limited
02:58simply to the Turkey investigation. Are there others? Will it only involve the
03:04mayor or will there be multiple defendants in a conspiracy in this case?
03:08You know, I should just, again, for folks who haven't been following this
03:11closely, and that is totally understandable, the investigation thus
03:15far, the reporting that we have for The New York Times has focused on Mr. Adams
03:20pressuring the fire department to approve a new high-rise Turkish consulate
03:24in Midtown. They've examined free flights and flight upgrades the mayor received
03:29from Turkish Airlines. They have also looked at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar,
03:36which the mayor attended, as well as, you know, information about the tickets he
03:41got to the World Cup in Qatar. I mentioned this in my conversation with
03:44Lisa Rubin. We're also looking at Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea, and Uzbekistan.
03:49Joyce, they seized the mayor's phones, several, I say phones, plural, maybe just
03:55phone, singular, but what would you imagine they would want to get out of the
03:59seizure of the mayor's phones in a case like this? Right, so the forensic
04:05investigators who look at phones are very sophisticated and able to obtain
04:10data, sometimes that the individual whose phone it is believes that they have
04:14deleted or can't be recovered. So it can be useful simply for recovering
04:20addresses and contacts and patterns of communications. If you have the
04:25appropriate probable cause, you can get communications themselves. You might see
04:30searches on the phone. What has the individual whose phone you've seized
04:34been searching for? Phones are a goldmine, a real treasure trove for investigators
04:39that can help you develop linkages between individuals and events, as well
04:44as providing specific evidence that's used to further a prosecution. Joyce,
04:49when you talk about, you know, this is obviously very much a quickly moving
04:55weather front, but when you talk about the mayor's ability to lead the city on
05:00a practical matter facing
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