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(NewsNation) — The FBI seems hot on the trail of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. At issue is whether he was doing favors for the Turkish government in exchange for illegal contributions to his 2021 campaign war chest. Specifically, agents are trying to determine if he pressured New York Fire Department officials to approve a Manhattan high-rise for the Turkish consulate, despite apparent safety concerns with the building’s structure.
But, there is a much bigger issue at play with this investigation.
It started last week with an FBI raid on a top ally of Adams, his chief fundraiser Briana Suggs. It was a search Adams deemed to be so serious that he abandoned a series of much anticipated meetings at the White House after he was already en route.
Now, the mayor’s electronic devices have been seized by the feds, who snatched them from him right on the street. The investigation has apparently been ongoing since the spring, and by all accounts, the FBI is now really zeroing in on the New York mayor. Adams addressed the investigation Tuesday.
“We are fully cooperating with whatever the reviewers are looking for. We are fully cooperating with it. And my role is to allow them to do their job without interference, and I have to do my job of continuing to make sure the city navigates the various issues that we are facing,” Adams said.
There were no claims of a witch hunt or a biased FBI. But, of course, Adams is a Democrat. So the idea that the FBI would be going so hard after him doesn’t fit the narrative that many on the far-right have been trying to so hard to sell — that the Department of Justice has been weaponized against Republicans.
That argument seems to get more far-fetched by the week, as prominent Democrats continue to be busted by an FBI that is supposedly doing their bidding. Adams is just the latest well-known Democrat to be targeted by the feds.
In the past 24 months, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, former California Congressman TJ Cox, former Louisiana Democratic Party chief Karen Carter Peterson and former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum have all been arrested and charged by the DOJ.
And now, there’s this big investigation into Adams. It’s making it even harder to argue that the FBI is somehow being biased against Republicans.
On “Meet the Press” on Sunday, NBC’s Kristen Welker challenged RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel.
Welker asked: “Doesn’t that undercut the argument that there’s a two-tiered system of justice? Democrats are being indicted and investigated, as well. How can you guys continue to make that argument?”
McDaniel answered: “I think when you look at what’s happened with the Biden family and what’s been uncovered since we’ve taken the House …”
Welker said: “Well, Hunter Biden’s been indicted, too.”
McDaniel replied: “But it’s more than that. I mean, when you see $20 million go to 10 different family members through different LLCs from foreign companies, it’s really concerning. I always think, if this were Donald Trump Jr. getting that money, there would be a big issue.”
Of course, McDaniel conveniently neglected to mention the $2 billion in loans from Jared Kushner to the Saudis or the quickly approved China patents for Ivanka Trump, etc. But still, it’s clear “what if it were Trump” will continue to be the mantra.
But it’s getting harder with this Adams investigation, and that means it’s time for an explanation. You might even call it a conspiracy theory. But it’s not coming for Adams himself. Now, some on the right are arguing that Adams is now in the crosshairs of the DOJ as retribution for his critique of President Joe Biden on the migrant crisis in New York City.
That’s right. They think a Democratic president is now supposedly targeting America’s most prominent Democratic mayor criminally because they don’t see eye-to-eye on an issue.
The New York Post floated the idea in an editorial over the weekend, which was titled: “Are the feds targeting Eric Adams because he criticized Joe Biden?”
The piece argues, “The feds aren’t simply investigating him: They’re out to inflict maximum embarrassment in a political vendetta, presumably in retribution for the noise he’s made about President Biden’s disastrous border policies.”
What? An effort to carry out a “political vendetta” against Adams? Of all the political enemies Biden has to worry about right now less than a year from the 2024 election, you’re telling me the one he’s absolutely got to take down is Adams, a fellow Democrat who’s lobbed a couple of mild criticisms at him about immigration?
Somehow, this totally unsupported conspiracy theory got oxygen since Fox News ran with it on Saturday’s “Fox and Friends.” And there’s zero credible evidence to support the notion that the Republican-led FBI is somehow retaliating against its political opponents.
It would be bad, wrong, downright dangerous — We can all agree on that, right? Well, maybe not.
Last week, Univision asked former President Donald Trump whether he would weaponize the FBI if he’s reelected. Trump responded: “If they do this and they’ve already done it, but if they want to follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse. It can certainly happen in reverse. They released the genie out of the box.”
He continued: “If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘go down and indict them.’”
It’s exactly what many on the right have spent the better part of the last year screaming would be so wrong. Yet, the former president has repeatedly made clear he intends to do just that — use the DOJ for political payback.
The claims of bias have mostly centered on the FBI. Republican FBI Director Christopher Wray hasn’t just addressed those criticisms, he has almost mocked them.
Wray told lawmakers: “I see an FBI every day that conducts themselves with integrity and professionalism and selflessness and rigor. And I do not accept the characterization of our performance in this particular case. With some specific partisan actors, I said the vast majority of the 38,000 are people of integrity. And the idea that I, as a Republican appointee and a lifelong Republican is biased in the way that you are describing makes absolutely no sense.”
He’s right. The idea the FBI led by him is now targeting Republicans makes absolutely no sense. Adams is learning that the hard way. And it’s becoming clearer by the day that it never made sense. Many of those pushing it now know it, too.
Because if they were truly interested in making sure it doesn’t happen, if they truly believed that politicizing the FBI or DOJ would be downright dangerous, they might turn their attention to the one political leader who’s telling us flat out he’s planning to do it.