Mayor Eric Adams is corrupt. He’s also an idiot.
The Feds allege that for the past decade Adams has been accepting lavish free travel and related luxury entertainment from . . .
A union? The mob? Fox News? Bzzz. The correct answer is the government of Turkey.
The fuck? What does Turkey want from the mayor of New York? Nothing in particular, it turns out. The bribes were just a retainer against possible future favors. They eventually called in their chits by asking Adams to kick the fire department’s ass for holding up construction of a new consular building. Apparently Adams kicked the right asses and the building opened on time.
They also asked him to please not mention the Armenian genocide on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day—which must have been quite a trick if he said anything at all. I mean, what else do you talk about on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day?
There’s other related mopery and dopery involving piles of cash from business moguls, all related to Turkey. But as amusing as this penny ante corruption is, it’s not the funniest part of the story. Investigators got hold of a telephone call where a Turkish Airlines manager is arranging a trip for Adams. “We can do it for 50 bucks,” the manager says. No no, an Adams staffer says shrewdly. That’s too obvious. Make it a thousand. No one will ever figure out that’s a bribe.
Anna Merlan has a complete rundown of the hilarity here. We all knew Adams was a weird dude, but who knew he was such an incompetent and comical bribe taker?¹
¹Alleged bribe taker. Adams says he can explain everything.
