Watters Eric Adams indictment

Fox News

After NYC Mayor Eric Adams was indicted for bribery, right-wing media baselessly cried political retribution

Written by Isabella Corrao & Alicia Sadowski

Research contributions from Sophie Lawton

Published

On September 26, 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud, and solicitation of illegal foreign campaign donations.

In an attempt to continue a false right-wing narrative about the Justice Department’s supposed weaponization against President Joe Biden’s political enemies, right-wing media claimed that Adams’ indictment was political retribution against Adams for criticizing the Biden administration on immigration policy.

After a day of right-wing media started spreading the claim, former President Donald Trump repeated it at a press conference.

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  • Ahead of Trump’s press conference, right-wing media claimed the indictment was motivated by Adams’ immigration policy criticisms

    • Fox host Brian Kilmeade questioned if Adams’ critique of the Biden administration’s handling of migrants led to the investigation: “He’s taking the stance, he’s Trump. He’s saying, ‘You’re going after me because I criticized the government. Because I said, ‘You have cost me $5.5 billion of illegal immigrant care and you’ve done nothing.’” Kilmeade countered, “Give him the benefit of the doubt until we hear.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/26/24]

    • Fox host Lawrence Jones claimed the Biden administration retaliated only after Adams became “critical of the illegal migrants entering his city.” Fox host Ainsley Earhardt agreed: “When I heard Mayor Adams question the Democratic Party and their policies on immigration and heard AOC disagree with him, we all knew he was in trouble.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/26/24]

    • Fox host Earhardt: “It sounds like if you don't fall in line with the Biden family or this White House or this administration or the top Democrats, your life can be ruined.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/26/24]

    • Newsmax host Shaun Kraisman claimed that “you can't ignore the fact that seemingly a lot of — this indictment is coming after a time where Mayor Eric Adams has been very critical of the Biden-Harris administration in terms and only in terms of immigration.” [Newsmax, The National Report, 9/26/24]

    • Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen commented that Adams was “trying to portray himself as a modern-day Donald Trump who’s being targeted for politics.” He added, “New York is now spending $5 billion housing, feeding, caring for illegal migrants. New Yorkers are not happy about that, but Democrats don't like having a Democrat calling them out for these policies and so maybe there is politics in it.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 9/26/24]

    • Fox host Sean Duffy cited indictments against January 6 insurrectionists to suggest that Adams could have been indicted by the DOJ as political retribution. He explained: “After the Trump indictments, after the January 6 indictments on grandmas who walked through the Capitol, the politics of the Department of Justice, when Eric Adams says, ‘Is this political? Is this political retribution?’ For me, that sounds different today than it would have you know, again ten years ago, because of how political this agency has been.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 9/26/24]

    • Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis alleged that the Biden administration had Mayor Adams indicted for retribution: “If there was intention behind this with a slow walk … it just shows then even within your own party, when they turn on you, they can do the same thing.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 9/26/24]

    • Jeanine Pirro questioned the validity of the indictment: “With this new weaponization of the Justice Department, and this is the Joe Biden Justice Department. … I don't know. But I have a bad feeling about this.” [Fox News, America Reports, 9/26/24]

    • Newsmax hosts Katrina Szish and Bob Brooks speculated on the timing of Mayor Adams’ indictment after Adams spoke out against Biden’s migrant policy. Brooks said, “He was so outspoken about it happening in New York. It was going to bankrupt New York City. Then all of a sudden the conversation stopped. And then he was under investigation.” [Newsmax, American Agenda, 9/26/24]

  • After a day of right-wing media started spreading the claim, former President Donald Trump repeated it at a press conference

    Trump suggests that Eric Adams was indicted because he shares his stance on immigration pic.twitter.com/Q2FXy39ypt

    — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2024

  • Right-wing media continued to blame an allegedly “weaponized” DOJ after Trump’s press conference

    • Jesse Watters countered that he has “no evidence” but agreed that Adams is being targeted by the Justice Department for speaking out on the migrant crisis: “He was one of the ones that spoke out against Biden. And if you speak out against Biden, you get punished. Menendez spoke out, got punished. Adams spoke out, got punished. Trump got more than punished.” [Fox News, The Five, 9/26/24]

    • Pirro claimed that “there is a smell to this indictment” because once the Justice Department began “weaponizing against political opponents, you then question … whether or not this is something that was motivated based upon the fact that Mayor Adams was critical of the White House because of the migrants.” [Fox News, The Five, 9/26/24]

    • Laura Ingraham said that “the fact that so many are questioning the government's motives here is itself an indictment of the Biden-Harris administration.” Guest and disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich responded: “I don't think it's unreasonable at all to have a healthy skepticism about whether or not this is being done to the mayor who took on the establishment, as I believe I did, as President Trump did. He did by criticizing the Biden administration about their mishandling of migrants.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 9/26/24; CNN 5/31/18]

    • After reporting on the charges against Adams, Watters cautioned that Joe Biden’s “justice department has a history of indicting his enemies.” Correspondent Kevin Corke emphasized that “indictments are one-sided and highly slanted interpretations of the facts by prosecutors meant to secure a conviction” and noted that Trump was “right” in his prediction of Adams’ indictment. [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 9/26/24]

    • Alan Dershowitz suggested that Adams would not face a successful prosecution because “the courts are in real trouble today, they are becoming politicized.” [Fox News, Hannity, 9/26/24]

    • Former Trump administration acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker claimed the indictment “reek[s] of politics” and was to keep Adams “quiet” on the “number one issue that is the weakness of Kamala Harris: the border and immigration.” He added it is “hard to get that stink of politically motivated prosecution, because the Department of Justice under Merrick Garland has demonstrated time and time again that they will go after their political enemies.” [Fox News, Hannity, 9/26/24]

    • On Newsmax, guest Rob Schneider claimed Roberts was targeted by the Biden administration for “saying the truth” about immigrants “ruining our city.” [Newsmax, Prime News, 9/26/24]

    • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt claimed Adams “went against the machine” by speaking out against Biden’s immigration policies and now “he's not protected.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 9/26/24]

    • Fox host Steve Doocy and guest Jonathan Turley agree that there’s “not much there” in the Adams indictment. Turley also had a New York Post op-ed on the subject. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/27/24; New York Post, 9/26/24]