FBI seizes NYC Mayor Eric Adams's phone ahead of expected indictment

The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s phone early Thursday, hours before a federal criminal indictment against him was expected to be unsealed, The Associated Press reported.

Federal agents arrived at the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, at about 6 a.m. and entered the building to search his home, The New York Times reported.

The group of nearly a dozen men and women was seen entering Adams’s apartment wearing business attire, after arriving in SUVs, the Times said, noting that at least one of which had a sign on its dashboard indicating that it was a federal law enforcement vehicle.

“Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams phone (again),” Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, said in a statement to the AP, adding that the mayor had not been arrested. “They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in.”

A grand jury indicted Adams on federal criminal charges, the AP reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. The indictment is expected to be unsealed in New York federal court on Thursday.

Adams vowed to fight any charges against him in a video released Wednesday night.

“I always knew that If I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became,” Adams said.

“If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit,” he added.

Federal prosecutors have investigated numerous officials in Adams’s orbit and seized the devices of the city’s police commissioner and of at least four top deputies to Adams. FBI agents also seized Adams’s electronic devices last year, as part of an investigation focused, at least in part, on campaign contributions and possible interactions between Adams and the Turkish government.

The Hill has contacted the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and Spiro for comment.

The Associated Press contributed.