New York City's mayor could face "severe jail time" if an investigation into his 2021 mayoral campaign funds shows he had a "quid pro quo" relationship with Turkey backers, a former FBI agent told CNN Friday night.
Rob D'Amico appeared on CNN "Out Front" to unpack the breaking news that feds surprised Mayor Eric Adams this week with a warrant to seize control of his electronic devices as part of a corruption probe over 2021 ties to Turkey.
D'Amico said jail wasn't likely if Adams, who denies wrongdoing, is proven to have violated campaign laws by accepting money from a foreign government, then dove a little deeper.
If Adams acted "as an agent of the Turkish government, " D'Amico said, that "gets into very severe fines or very severe jail time of almost up to ten years."
The mayor has come forward to say he is cooperating with the investigation and his campaign attorney claimed that a review found “an individual had recently acted improperly.”
D'Amico said he thinks "this is just the beginning of the thread being pulled."
In fact, D'Amico suspects strategy to spring on the mayor in order to secure the gizmos was likely to prevent any key material they were seeking in the warrant from being compromised.
"Once you get someone's phone, with apps today that people have that they think are secure — I think that's probably one reason they took it very quickly because if word got out, some of these apps, if you delete those messages, they're unretrievable without having that device," he said adding, "So I think that's why you saw the act right there on the street getting him into the vehicle and taking his phones and his iPad."
Some in Adams' orbit have also found themselves to be formally indicted, according to the Times report.
Adams' former buildings commissioner and senior adviser Eric Ulrich was indicted in Manhattan on 16 felony charges that include bribes and conspiracy, the Times reports.
In July, the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought cases against six people who worked with Adams on charges of conspiring to funnel illegal donations to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.
FInally, the Department of Investigation is looking into one of Adams' closest advisors Timothy Pearson over a violent dustup at a migrant center in Manhattan.
