Mayor Eric Adams, grilled about federal probes of his administration, says he 'follows the law' 

Into the City Hall Blue Room Eric Adams strode Tuesday to his regular walkout music, then warned that he was done answering more questions about the cascading corruption scandals engulfing his mayoralty. Everyday New Yorkers, Adams told reporters at his weekly news conference, don’t ask him about those topics, and the mayor has a city to run.

But for more than an hour, he was hit with questions from reporters drilling him on the scandals he had said he wouldn't address anymore. He answered some questions, defending himself and his aides, and dodged other questions.

"I know how important it is to follow the law. That’s what I do," Adams said, seated in the Blue Room beneath a painting of Alexander Hamilton. "If I had someone around me that I believed violated their oath of office, they would not be in my office."

For almost a year, there have been periodic FBI raids on his inner circle and donors; last week, there were the sudden resignations of his top lawyer and police commissioner; and then there is Adams’ ongoing defense of close-friends-turned-top-aides. One senior staffer, Tim Pearson, has been sued four times, in litigation alleging sexual harassment, by multiple subordinates. The public's funding of his defense has been controversial.

Federal authorities are also reportedly investigating Pearson — and several other of the mayor's aides — on allegations of self-dealing, monetizing their city posts and other forms of corruption.

Adams, his inner circle and political campaign are under at least four federal probes, which have included subpoenas of City Hall, searches of aides’ homes and the seizure of electronic devices, including the mayor’s own. ("Ten months ago, my phones were taken," Adams said Tuesday.)

No one has been accused of a crime.

Adams vowed that the investigations won't distract him and his administration.

"What I’m saying to you about everyday New Yorkers, they want to know, 'Eric, what are you doing about the safety of my city, my schools, my housing, my employment,'" he said. "That is at the top of my agenda."

Adams has long defended his close friends whom he’s hired for top posts, such as Pearson, a senior staffer with an ambiguous portfolio that includes contracting, who has also had his phone seized by the FBI.

Pearson is an ex-NYPD officer and Adams confidant who at one point was simultaneously triple-dipping with a private job as a casino executive in Queens, a post in the administration and a police pension. He quit the casino job after his employment there went public. In addition to being sued for sexual harassment, he was also seen on a video allegedly beating up migrant shelter security guards, having them arrested and threatening them. ("There are lawsuits leveled against people often," Adams said.)

Lisa Zornberg, the top lawyer who quit Saturday, reportedly decided to resign after Adams rebuffed her advice to fire Pearson and others under investigation for wrongdoing. Adams declined to confirm that Zornberg, a former federal prosecutor, had sought the ousters, saying the conversation was private.

Adams has also defended Phil Banks, another close friend and current deputy mayor for public safety, whose brothers — the school chancellor, David, and Terence, who has a consulting firm — had their phones seized by the FBI. 

Phil Banks oversees the police department, whose commissioner, Edward Caban, resigned last week under pressure from City Hall after his phones were also seized by the FBI in an investigation that is also probing Caban's twin brother, James. That brother was fired years ago from the NYPD and served jail time. The FBI is also reportedly looking into whether the brother took money from bars and nightclubs in exchange for special treatment from the NYPD.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.