At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams again brushed aside questions about his legal troubles while setting ground rules for what he would and would not answer amid federal investigations into him and his administration.
After spending much of the briefing balking at questions on campaign finance and his investigations, Adams — who often speaks of his ability to “compartmentalize” — explained the complicated situation he now is in as the city’s first indicted sitting mayor.
“This is broken into four sections: My personal case is Alex [Spiro.] My campaign case is Vito Pitta,” he said, naming the two attorneys leading the defenses. (He wound up mentioning Pitta 10 times throughout the press conference.)
“What the Southern District [Manhattan federal prosecutors] or investigations are doing, speak with them. Running the city of New York, Eric Adams. That is the standard. It’s time for us to continue doing the great things that we’re doing.”
In terms of running the city, the mayor also addressed the early exit of Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, who on Tuesday pushed a planned Dec. 31 resignation up to next Friday, citing family issues.
“He was very forthright, he was very honest, and he loved the work he was doing,” Adams said. “What Dr. Vasan has done has just really changed the game around these important healthcare issues.”
Two weeks ago, Schools Chancellor David Banks made a similar early departure, changing an end-of-year resignation to Oct. 16.
The mayor said he would fill the top doctor role with someone from the “deep bench” of city government.
Adams also announced the promotion of Chauncey Parker as the next deputy mayor for public safety, following the resignation of Philip Banks III, whose phones were seized as part of the multiple federal investigations into the administration.
Parker previously served under Banks as assistant deputy commissioner. Mona Suazo, another NYPD veteran, will now will take on that role.
Adams’ campaign filings, released Tuesday by the city Campaign Finance Board, showed he raised around $212,000 in the last fundraising cycle, which covers much of the summer and through when he was indicted.
But his campaign also returned 88 donations totalling around $82,000.
It’s the lowest amount he’s raised for his 2025 re-election campaign, but campaign lawyer Pitta told POLITICO that they already “raised the maximum amount it can spend in the primary with anticipated matching funds for his reelection far ahead of schedule.”
Asked if he anticipated getting his matching funds from the CFB — or if he should get them at all given that he is charged with campaign finance violations, Adams punted to Pitta.
Adams haul for the July 12 to Oct. 7 cycle was lower than his arguably strongest challengers: Former comptroller Scott Stringer brought in $591,116, while current city Comptroller Brad Lander who raised $315,880.
Adams, however, still has a much higher total than both of them, with over $3 million in his campaign coffers.
