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News 12 Staff

BXBKPP929B_2024-09-29-12-09-43

Welcome back to Power and politics as we continue to follow the fallout of Mayor Eric Adams indictment on federal charges and joining us now to unpack the legal ramifications and the possibilities in this case is criminal defense attorney Richard Serafini, who was an assistant D A here in the city before going on to work for the Department of Justice. So Richard, we're really grateful to have you with us here and to tap into that expertise to unpack what's happened. My pleasure. Good to be with you. So the charges that Mayor Adams now faces include bribery wire fraud and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. How serious are these charges? And they're being filed at the federal level. The charges are quite serious. They're all felony charges. The maximum penalty. I know the mail fraud is 20 years. I think that that may be the max. Some of the others may have a lower max, but since these were be run sentences would run concurrently, you're probably looking at a maximum penalty of 20 years, which makes this a very, very serious charge, not that he would get 20 years if he's convicted, but it is the legal maximum, which makes these, these significant charges. What do you think? Significant indictment? Apologies for the interruption. But what do you think is the likelihood a that he is convicted? But b that he could serve time in prison if so? Well, I, I think it's, uh, it's extremely premature to hazard any type of a guess as to whether or not he'll be convicted. Um, so far, all we really have are the, uh, is the indictment and it's a, it's a, an extensive indictment, what we call a speaking indictment which lays out the facts, uh, a lot of the facts of the case, but we haven't seen the, the discovery yet. Um, we don't know, uh, what might be the holes in the case. And then remember in each of these charges, the government has to change, has to, uh, uh, charge or has to, uh, approve each, uh, charge in each of the elements within the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. If they fail on any element, they fail in that charge. So there's a lot of work to be done to make a determination as to how, how strong the government's case is. Typically if you're going to government that is going to go after a, uh, a sitting politician, particularly someone at the level of, of the mayor of the largest city, they're going to go forward with a case they think is their type, but whether it is or not remains to be seen once we start to see the, uh, the discovery and once the, uh the process plays out clearly a lot to be learned from that discovery process. But what did you think about the information included in this 57 page indictment? And the case that the southern district has already started to assemble against the mayor of New York City? Well, look the indictment reading the 57 pages and seeing what the government alleges it looks damning, but there's no such thing as an indictment that doesn't look damning and that is the government's charge. Uh So I would just suggest that people uh withhold judgment until they get more information and not, not make judgments simply based on what the government has alleged in its uh in its indictment. That's only the first step of the process. The mayor was arraigned for those charges on Friday. We know his lawyers mentioned that they plan to file to dismiss the case next week. Do you think it's likely that that will be granted? Uh It's very hard to get a uh a dismissal, basically what the court will look at it. It will take the allegations in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party that would mean that the most favorable to the government. And, and since that's the standard, it seems unlikely that at this point, uh that that a motion to dismiss would be granted. And then overall how successful is the southern district of New York when bringing, uh, uh, uh charges such as these and cases such as these, uh to the courtroom in winning these cases, ultimately. Well, I haven't done, done an analysis honestly of the southern district of New York and, and their record suffice it to understand that the justice department has a, uh, a pretty good record when bringing official corruption charges. Uh typically because of, of the type of charges because they're brought against public officials, the government really likes to, to be satisfied that it has a very compelling case that it can present to a jury and be successful in uh in presenting the case to the jury and then they don't win all the time. So whether or not this is one of the cases where um there's been no to reach where there's a mistake or for whatever reason, there are elements that the government is not gonna be able to, to prove to the jury. We'll have to wait and see. Richard. You've worked on both sides. You are now a criminal defense attorney. If you were an attorney for the mayor, what would you be doing right now to prepare for this trial? II, I would be interested primarily in getting as much information the discovery um going through the discovery. Uh I would want to try and, and what I could do to limit what the, uh what the government is saying. Ex parte uh in other words, words outside, I will say ex parte that I mis misuse the term what they're saying outside of court to try and condition, uh, uh, the, the potential jury pool. Um, basically make sure that my client gets a fair day in court, uh, be prepared, uh, looking at, at the evidence to see where the weaknesses are, to see if down the road, if there is, uh, some way that a, uh, a motion to dismiss would be, would be effective and would be winnable. Um And, and in, in essence, just uh make clear to the public that, that uh we think that the mayor is not guilty of any of these charges that the mayor intends to defend himself vigorously and, and is confident that at the end of the day that he'll be able to prevail and will not be found guilty of any of these charges simply because he hasn't committed any, any of these violations. Well, the mayor and his lawyer certainly taking at least that piece of advice here in these early few days as this trial plays out. We'll see what comes Richard Serafini. Thank you so much for lending your expertise to the conversation here on power and politics. We appreciate it. My, my pleasure still to come. News 12 was the last outlet that the mayor spoke to just hours before this indictment dropped what he had to say when power and politics returns

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BXBKPP929C_2024-09-29-12-10-59

Welcome back to power and politics. Nearly hours before the indictment against mayor Eric Adams was announced, the city's highest ranking official was here on our air taking your calls for ask the mayor. Of course, the topic of investigations into his administration came up as well as the calls from city officials for him to resign. Here's what he had to say in response to congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez who posted on X that she didn't think the mayor could leave the city under these circumstances. You know, what is unique about this administration is our ability to stay focused. I don't listen to those comments that come from, uh a, you know, just basically a nohow congresswoman, uh she's not doing constituent services in her district. I do constituent services every day as the mayor of the city of New York. I don't know when the last time I saw her in her con congressional district and that was not the first time Mayor Adams addressed those investigations on our air. The topic came up during last month's edition of Ask The Mayor and during that episode, he maintained his innocence and what's so important. Uh Let the process play out. Uh, I, I strongly believe that on the other side of this, uh, people are gonna see that I did nothing wrong. I continue to say that, uh, I did not serve, uh, enforcing the law to break the law and I'm, I am looking forward to just fighting on behalf of New Yorkers. The law lawyers would deal with that process. I'm going to keep, keep delivering for the city Governor Kathy Hoel weighing in on all of this saying in a statement in part quote, while I review my options and obligations as the governor of New York, I expect the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well served by their leaders. And as we mentioned earlier, the governor has the power to remove the mayor. Meanwhile, a lot at stake for public advocate, Juani Williams says he is next in the line of succession. If the mayor were to step down or be removed, he is not going so far as to call for that at this point. He did release a long statement. Part of it reads, it is federal officials obligation to prove their case. It is the mayor's obligation to prove to New Yorkers that there is a real plan and path to govern the city effectively and regain trust and his time to show that plan is rapidly running out. Of course, stay with us here on News 12. As we continue to follow the developments on Mayor Eric Adams historic federal indictment. We'll have much more on this throughout the coming days and that is all for this week here on power and politics right here on News 12. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time.

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Amanda Bossard sat down with Professor Christopher Malone, associate provost at Farmingdale State College, and criminal defense attorney Richard Serafini to dive deeper into the federal corruption charges the mayor faces.

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Power & Politics: A deep dive into the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams

Amanda Bossard sat down with Professor Christopher Malone, associate provost at Farmingdale State College, and criminal defense attorney Richard Serafini to dive deeper into the federal corruption charges the mayor faces.

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