In the midst of a hectic electoral season, one of the stories that continues to be seriously underreported is that of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the federal corruption indictments that have swept up most of his administration at this point. Fortunately, Ed Morrissey provided us with some updates while I was on vacation last week, but plenty of details have continued to emerge. The barebones explanations offered thus far seem fairly basic. Adams' Police Commissioner and his twin brother have both been indicted for allegedly running some sort of protection racket involving the entertainment district. At the same time, Adams himself stands accused of acting as a foreign agent working at the behest of the Turkish government, fattening his own pockets while ushering through certain policies favorable to the Turks. What has been less obvious is the frantic work undertaken by Adams' legal team to ward off the indictments. Those efforts have not borne fruit thus far, but they do go to demonstrate just how insulated Adams felt, acting with impunity as if he were simply above the law. (NY Post) 

Mayor Eric Adams’ lawyers mounted a desperate 11th-hour bid to quash the criminal charges against him — including by arguing to the feds that his historic prosecution would be ruinous for the city.

A behind-the-scenes Sept. 12 missive — exclusively obtained by The Post — was sent from Adams’ legal team to Manhattan prosecutors before the historic federal indictment against Hizzoner was unveiled Thursday and provides a detailed glimpse into the mayor’s defense.

The feds’ case — based on accusations that Adams accepted bribes and illegal straw donations to his 2021 mayoral campaign from Turkish nationals — is on flimsy legal ground, especially after a recent US Supreme Court ruling that significantly narrows what counts as a bribe, the mayor’s lawyers argued in the letter.

The fact that these revelations are coming from the Post should come as no surprise. Over the years, that paper's reporters have built strong ties and reliable sources inside the department and if any of the administrators of the NYPD have any dirt to peddle, they go to the New York Post before anyone else. While the details of the federal prosecutor's case remain murky and the odds of a conviction are unclear, the political optics stink to high heaven.

Even worse are the arguments being made on Adams' behalf by his legal team. It sounds as if his attorneys aren't even attempting to deny that he did what the prosecution is claiming. They are instead arguing over legal definitions and political implications. For example, they have dredged up previous Supreme Court rulings seeking to define what does or doesn't constitute a bribe. It looks like a defense founded on the proposal that Adams may have done some big favors for the Turkish consulate and received some lucrative payments in return, but so what? The feds would need to demonstrate some sort of quid pro quo that would hold up in court. But that seems like a rather silly argument when the feds have seized the bank records involved. They literally have the receipts.

Perhaps even more unbelievably, Adamas' legal team argues that such a prosecution of the Mayor would be "historic" in nature and could be "detrimental for New York City and the 750,000 voters who put him in Gracie Mansion." Yet this wasn't some random rumor or headline that showed up in the local tabloids. We now know that this investigations has been underway for well over a year. The feds have swooped in and collected the phones and other electronic devices of most of the major players involved. This case has grown far beyond the normal boundaries of local spats over municipal politics. The cat, as they say, appears to be fully out of the bag.

The one thing that Adams appears to have going for him is the fact that the allegations against him are rather tame based on historical, New York Mayoral standards. Things were far worse in New York City back during the days of Tammany Hall. (And a lot of those people never wound up spending a single day in jail despite numerous political opponents winding up dead or simply "missing.") I've seen too much of New York City politics over the years to act surprised if some or even most of the people being charged wind up skating off scott-free. But that's New York, for you. So nice they say it twice.