Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday supported his police commissioner — for the most part — amid a barrage of questions at his first full press conference since federal authorities raided the homes of the commissioner, schools chancellor and other top administration officials.
“He hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing. His role is to make sure the NYPD is safe, to make sure the city and New Yorkers are safe,” the mayor said of Commissioner Edward Caban, whose phones were reportedly seized last week as part of a cluster of federal investigations.
Adams, who said he tested positive for COVID on Monday, held his weekly media briefing virtually — and started with a message to New Yorkers that the growing investigations “have raised a lot of questions and a lot of concerns.”
“Serving you is an honor, but it’s also a responsibility, and I want to assure you that I feel the awesome weight of that responsibility with my whole heart, and I will never do anything to betray your trust,” he said from Gracie Mansion.
Federal investigators seized cell phones belonging to Caban, his brother James, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III, his brother Schools Chancellor David Banks, the chancellor’s girlfriend, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and top police officials, according to reports and sources.
Despite several consecutive questions asking Adams for details about the probe and his views on rumors that the police commissioner was being told to resign, the mayor and his team remained tight-lipped, repeating that they could not comment on the active investigation.
Adams said reporting in local media outlets including POLITICO — which posted Monday that Caban would resign in a matter of days — was “false.”
“If anyone is telling you that City Hall, and I am City Hall, and any orders that come from City Hall to make a personnel shift is going to come with my blessings, and…did not come from my blessing,” he said.
Adams also faced questions about the top cop’s ability to lead amid the probe, especially when the NYPD needs to coordinate work with federal law enforcement agencies that are investigating him.
“I have the utmost confidence in the New York City Police Department,” Adams said — notably not using Caban’s name.
He directed more specific questions on policing and the FBI to the NYPD’s press offices.
Righting Wrongs
Adams’ first deputy mayor, Wright, who lives with Chancellor Banks, also spoke publicly for the first time since their Harlem home was raided last week.
“I remain committed to serving New Yorkers each and every single day. That is my job, and I’m committed to it, and I continue to do it,” she said.
“I am cooperating fully with any investigation. I’m confident that I have done nothing wrong, and I just remain committed to doing the work that we have to do,” Wright added.
Adams also during the news conference apologized on the police department’s behalf after NYPD spokesperson Tarik Sheppard called a New York Post reporter a “f—ing scumbag” for calling police officials without going through the press office.
“I made that clear that was — that was inappropriate, and I personally apologize for you,” he told the reporter.
A Storm of Cases
The mayor has also faced questions about his own ability to lead in the middle of multiple investigations — starting with the Nov. 2, 2023 federal raid on the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs, his head campaign fundraiser. At around the same time, FBI agents took temporary possession of Adams’ phone and other electronic devices.
And on Feb. 29, the FBI raided two Bronx homes owned by Winnie Greco, a longtime volunteer and fundraiser for Adams who is working for him as a liaison to the city’s Asian-American community.
In March, the mayor was sued by a former coworker who alleged sexual assault decades ago, while Adams served in the NYPD.
On Monday, lawyers for Adams filed a motion in Manhattan Supreme Court to dismiss the case because the accuser failed to show up for a scheduled deposition on Friday after multiple delays — as well as other “willful discovery misconduct,” court papers say.
Former NYPD Transit Bureau worker Lorna Beach-Mathura filed the lawsuit against Adams and the department last year alleging that when she met Adams in his car in 1993 seeking assistance getting a promotion he requested oral sex and, after being rebuffed, masturbated on her.
Adams was a transit officer and a leader in the Guardians Association, a coalition of Black police officers, at the time. He has denied the claim and said he doesn’t recall ever having met Beach-Mathura.
Monday’s court filing by high-profile attorney Alex Spiro and New York City’s acting corporation counsel, Muriel Goode-Trufant, said Beach-Mathura has missed two court-ordered depositions and that her team has provided limited documents during the discovery process despite months of requests.
“There was no advance warning of this failure to appear, nor has there been any explanation since,” the attorneys wrote in a motion to dismiss that also seeks sanctions. “Plaintiff’s unjustified, months-long refusal to provide deposition testimony — including in direct defiance of this Court’s Orders — warrants dismissal standing alone.”
Attorneys for Beach-Mathura, who has not spoken publicly about her case but once self-published a book on how to win lawsuits, did not respond to requests for comment.
Spiro and Goode-Trufant requested a Sept. 24 court hearing on the motion to dismiss.
