Attorney David Schwartz Talking About NYC Mayor Eric Adams @NewsNationTV

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[Music]
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and I look
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forward to defending myself and
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defending the people of this city all
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right joining us now with more on all
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this is New York Daily News City Hall
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reporter Chris sumers felt he's on the
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phone former Federal prosecutor Francy
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hakes and criminal defense attorney
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David Schwarz he's known and worked with
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mayor Adams for years Chris you're the
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city hall reporter so I want to start
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with you maybe my bar for bribery is
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high after Senator Mendez was found with
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stacks of gold bars and bags of cash and
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a mercedesbenz but did Adams allegedly
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really sell his soul for free flights in
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hotel
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rooms it sounds like it based on the
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indictment but I will still say we are
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talking about
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$125,000 worth of free flights free
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hotel rooms for him and multiple of his
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associates according to indictment but
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perhaps even more serious is the fact
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that the mayor is being accused of
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having received tens of thousands of
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dollars in illegal campaign donations
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that are coming from Turkish Nationals
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or being funded by Turk Turkish
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Nationals the way that New York City's
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campaign Finance system works is that
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these allegedly illegal donations
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unlocked nearly $10 million in what's
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called public matching fund
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right which is City taxpayer dollars
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that were able to prop up the mayor's
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campaign quite a lot and what the
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prosecutors are alleging is that he
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should have gotten none of this money
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because of the illegal Turkish donations
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that he allegedly uh received all right
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David the indictment says that not only
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did the campaigns Adam Adams campaign
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take this money they did it explicitly
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at the direction of Adams himself
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according to text messages in this
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indictment right so we have to look at
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the text messages we have to look at all
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the surrounding circumstances I agree it
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would be it would be very serious if
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Adams knew about it or he directed it
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but right now there is no evidence an
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indictment is evidence of nothing okay
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an indictment is a prosecutor preparing
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a 57 page document which outlines what
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they think their case is going to show
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the only time it's relevant is when
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there's a conviction so an indictment is
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evidence of nothing uh there has to be a
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quidd pro quo here so although well the
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allegation is he took all this money
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from turkey and from Turkish interests
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and then he when they couldn't get a
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building approved to be open he told the
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fire inspector if you don't agree to
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open this building I'll fire you and I
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think that's all hypothesis and that's
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speculation and the Supreme Court was
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very clear on on this issue there has to
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be an exact quid proquo there has to be
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the exchange between what I'm benefiting
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from and what you're benefiting from has
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to be very tight and and so far I don't
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I don't see that I see some upgrades I
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don't see gold bars going to Eric Adams
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I don't see sacks of cash going to Eric
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Adams where did Eric Adams benefit
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personally from when from my reading of
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that indictment yes the campaign may
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have benefited he had upgrades he had
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hotel rooms but that's not benefit he
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had some free there there are text
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messages to the extent that you know he
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was he was flying and staying in hotels
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not just upgraded but for free or
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sometimes paid a nominal fee but we'll
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get we'll those are technical violations
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yes okay not a crime Francy indict the
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indictment was handed down last night
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he's going to appear in court tomorrow
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it was sealed I'm just curious why did
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the feds raid the mayor's home this
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morning after the indictment was handed
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down well they must think Elizabeth that
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they can find more evidence they must
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think that since the indictment was
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unsealed that there is something at Eric
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Adams house that they can find that
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proves their case which is a little
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concerning typically speaking when you
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unseal the indictment the investigation
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is largely over other than maybe
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flipping codefendants or even the
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defendant himself or some other
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Witnesses so it is a little bit curious
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I have to agree with David though
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Elizabeth this is this indictment is a
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little bit small ball and the Civil
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campaign Finance violations have been
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handled civil rather than criminally in
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many cases in the past so it makes me
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curious as to why the Department of
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Justice has brought this indictment
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because if you look at the Hillary
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Clinton campaign the Barack Obama
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campaigns they had very serious very
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high dollar campaign Finance violations
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that could have been prosecuted
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criminally but were instead handled
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civil and Donald Trump with the stormmy
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Daniels payments and now Eric Adams with
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this campaign Finance scheme as they
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call it is being handled criminally so
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I'm curious as to the different
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treatment uh it's it also it's not just
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the seizure by the way Francy of the
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mayor's own devices 10 months ago and
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again this morning the feds have also
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searched and seized the phones of so
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many senior AIDS in the Adams
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Administration this is unusual and very
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aggressive well this is them trying to
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prove what they've got in the indictment
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which is all these conversations I'll
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give you a great example of something
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that can be argued either way they said
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they have a text message that Eric Adams
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at one point said regarding uh campaign
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contributions everyone has to be a US
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citizen his defense attorneys are going
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to say that Eric Adams was describing
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the lawful donation that it has to be
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from US citizens but what the government
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is saying is that he was in effect
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inviting a fraudulent and criminal
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scheme so that's just one place where I
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want to see the evidence that I think
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can be found if it exists on all these
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different devices all right super quick
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Chris C governor Kathy hokel says quote
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this is a very serious matter that is
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unfolding and that she would quote
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deliberate before deciding whether or
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not she's going to remove him from
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Office what do you think is going to
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happen it's very hard to tell at this
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point uh Governor hokel has been a
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steadfast Ally standing by Eric Adams
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throughout a lot of scandals and as you
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mentioned there have been quite a few
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even before this indictment was handed
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down the fact that she did not come out
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and offer support immediately for the
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mayor stood out to me just given how
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supportive she has been for him for a
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long time oh all right whether or not
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that means that we should know that we
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should read into that that the governor
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is going to try to actually unseed them
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we we can't tell at this point do you
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think you survived 10 seconds I believe
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in the presumption of innocence so um
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that's not the same that's not what I'm
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asking I believe I believe the facts
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will come out I'm not too sure right now
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oh you're not sure you're not sure he'll
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I'm hoping survives because the
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presumption of innocence Chris
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sommerfelt David Schwarz Francy hes
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thank you so much all of you for joining
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us on that political hurricane of sorts
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in New York City