Friday Briefing: New York City’s mayor is indicted

September 27, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta

Good morning. We’re covering the indictment of New York City’s mayor and a rejected cease-fire deal.

Plus, control behind K-pop goes public.

Mayor Eric Adams is wearing a suit and speaking into a microphone.

Mayor Eric Adams of New York speaking outside the mayoral mansion. Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, was indicted on federal charges

The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. He is the first sitting mayor of the city to be charged with a federal crime.

Adams, a Democrat, insisted that he was innocent and that he would not resign, despite numerous calls from elected officials to do so. The indictment against him was unsealed yesterday morning after a search of the mayor’s official residence. Adams will appear later today for an arraignment, where he will be formally informed of his rights and will enter a plea, presumably of not guilty.

The investigation against him, which started in 2021, focused on whether Adams had conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign campaign contributions in exchange for acting on its behalf. Prosecutors said the “multiyear scheme” began when he was a top elected official in Brooklyn and continued after he became mayor.

According to the indictment, Adams had “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits” since at least 2014. The benefits included luxury travel — free and discounted Turkish Airlines tickets and free meals and hotel rooms — from wealthy foreigners and at least one Turkish government official, prosecutors said.

Details: The U.S. attorney in Manhattan said Adams took more than $100,000 in graft. In exchange, he is accused of pressuring the New York Fire Department to allow the Turkevi Center, which houses the Turkish Consulate, to open despite defects in its fire safety system.

What’s next: There appear to be two ways Adams could be removed from office against his will. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat, could force him out. The second stems from a provision in the city’s charter that allows “a committee on mayoral inability,” made up of city officials, to remove him.

A badly damaged building surrounded by rubble.

A building destroyed by an Israeli attack in Baalbek, Lebanon, on Wednesday. Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

Israeli officials dismissed a cease-fire proposal

As Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, arrived in New York yesterday to speak to the U.N. General Assembly, he gave no indication that he was inclined to accept a new cease-fire proposal.

“We continue to hit Hezbollah with all our might,” Netanyahu said in a statement released as he arrived in New York City. “This is the policy.”

Several key members of Netanyahu’s government have already dismissed the proposal, which was put forward yesterday by the U.S., its European allies and several Arab nations. Hezbollah has not responded to the proposal.

Israel’s military carried out new strikes while Netanyahu was en route, including one in Beirut that targeted the commander of Hezbollah’s drone unit.

Analysis: It would be hard for Israel or Hezbollah to accept the proposal because it falls short of each side’s conditions, some experts say.

Gaza: The Israeli military said it had bombed a school compound being used as a temporary shelter in northern Gaza, claiming it housed a Hamas command-and-control center. Palestinian officials said 15 people, including women and children, were killed.

A wide city view of the Red Square in Moscow.

Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times

U.S. officials warned about foreign interference ahead of the election

Federal officials battling foreign interference in the 2024 election say they are entering what may be the most perilous period of the campaign: October, when the prospect for mischief runs high.

Russia is making little attempt to hide its support for Donald Trump. China, which seems uncertain which candidate it detests more, is conducting influence operations on local races. And groups in Iran, which desperately wants to stop Trump, are busy hacking into his campaign and dumping whatever they find, as well as plotting to assassinate him.

The Justice Department is expected to announce, possibly as soon as tomorrow, the indictment of an Iranian group closely associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the hacking of the Trump campaign, along with efforts to attack the accounts of Washington journalists and others.

More on the U.S. election

Americans head to the polls in less than 50 days.

Vice President Kamala Harris met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, a sign that President Biden is positioning her to take over a politically fraught diplomatic relationship.
A study found that Trump’s economic plans could cause inflation to peak as high as 9.3 percent.
In a rare interview, Melania Trump blamed Democrats and the mainstream news media for the assassination attempts on her husband.

Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we’ll find the answers.

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EXPLORE MORE

MORE TOP NEWS

Three women in Pakistan sit on the ground, in front of a row of microphones.

From left, the mother and wife of Shah Nawaz, a Pakistani doctor killed by the police. Allah Bux/Associated Press

Pakistan: The police killed two men accused of blasphemy in the course of a week.
Sudan: The country’s military launched an operation to retake Khartoum, the capital.
Japan: Iwao Hakamada, believed to be the world’s longest-serving inmate given a death sentence, was exonerated after 44 years on death row.
Hong Kong: Two journalists convicted in August of conspiracy to publish seditious articles were sentenced in a landmark case.
India: At least 46 people, including 37 children and seven women, died in Bihar State in a ceremony that involves bathing in rivers and streams.
Weather: Record-setting ocean temperatures are acting like “high-octane jet fuel” on Hurricane Helene, which could hit Florida with winds of up to 130 miles per hour.
Switzerland: Officials said they were investigating a reported assisted suicide that used a coffin-sized, air-tight pod that replaced oxygen with lethal nitrogen gas.
U.S.: More than 700 children and teenagers have been arrested and accused of making threats against schools in the three weeks since a school shooting in Georgia.

Sports

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Formula 1: Red Bull confirmed that Liam Lawson would replace Daniel Ricciardo for the rest of the season.
Bundesliga: St. Pauli, European soccer’s pre-eminent left-wing club, will start selling a majority stake in its stadium to its own supporters.

MORNING READ

A vast, modern, high-ceiling room with a wall of windows. Spread throughout are rows of bookshelves.

The Qatar National Library, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. Andreas Meichsner for The New York Times

With the look of a jagged-edge spaceship and the Gulf sunshine illuminating almost every angle, the Qatar National Library stands out among the growing number of libraries designed by celebrity architects. With more than a million books and thousands of centuries-old manuscripts, maps and globes, it also fits into the country’s goal of becoming a major museum hub.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Long time, no see: A new Siri feature leaves iPhone users wondering why their phone keeps asking them to check in with their exes and other seemingly random contacts.
From damsel to hero: It’s been a long road, but Princess Zelda is no longer helpless nor simply an assistant.
Bequest request: A museum director’s heirs are laying claim to 25 Rembrandt paintings meant to be on permanent display at the Mauritshuis in The Hague.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

Five women in color-coordinated soccer kits stand in a staggered formation while performing.

Members of the K-pop group, NewJeans. Anthony Wallace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The control behind K-pop goes public

K-pop idols rarely break character. The genre’s commitment to top-down control has made exactitude into an artistic virtue. So it was striking when, a couple of weeks ago, members of a group called NewJeans spoke in a live YouTube broadcast about their dissatisfaction with their parent company, Hybe. The performers put their external image at risk to argue for their creative lives.

Now Hybe’s micromanaging methods are central to a new Netflix series directed with nervy patience by Nadia Hallgren: “Pop Star Academy: Katseye,” about the making of an English-language global girl group. Part behind-the-scenes documentary, part elimination competition, the show is in thrall far more to the labor behind the art than to the art itself.

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That’s it for today. Have a good weekend. — Gaya

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