The case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams is "entirely political" and related to "his straying from the reservation by criticizing Biden over the migrant crisis," says political consultant Dick Morris.
"I think it's a message that you step out of line and we're going to get you. And I think it's disgusting, disgraceful," Morris said Saturday during an appearance on Newsmax TV’s "Saturday Report."
Adams pleaded not guilty Friday to federal bribery charges, firmly rejecting allegations that he accepted overseas travel, campaign cash, and other perks from foreign interests seeking to harness his influence.
His appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker came a day after prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing him of taking $100,000 in flights and stays in opulent hotel suites from people tied to Turkey and fueling his run for mayor with illegal donations that helped him qualify for more than $10 million in public campaign funds.
Morris said he hopes Adams "overcomes it."
"Let me just say that this whole matching system of campaign finance is an invitation to fraud, because now the candidate not only has to say that his own money is honest, but that the matching money is based on underlying donations that he says are honest. And if he doesn't, he could be indicted for it. How do you know? I mean, you get thousands of matching donations and how do you know how honest each of them is? And if you probe each of them, you could probably indict anybody," he added.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove Adams from office, appeared to issue a warning to a mayor she has often portrayed as a close ally, saying in a statement that she was reviewing her "options and obligations" and expects "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."
Morris said Hochul cannot remove Adams "without getting killed in the black vote in New York this year.
"The House of Representatives really hinges on two or three seats in Long Island in particular, which Republicans took and now the Democrats want back. And if Hochul were to remove Eric Adams, I don't think they would get any Democratic votes in those seats. And would basically be giving Congress back to the Republicans. Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in New York and in the House, would probably be the leading advocate of keeping Adams on his job," he added.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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