New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday tried to downplay the FBI raiding the home of his top campaign fundraiser — saying he still has “full confidence” in the young political operative caught up in the possible foreign election interference.
“Where’s there’s smoke, there’s not always fire,” Adams told Dan Mannarino on PIX11 in his first sitdown since the raid on the home of his staffer, Brianna Suggs.
“I have full confidence in [Suggs]. She has done an amazing job,” Adams continued, adding, “She will stay with the campaign team.”
Federal agents swarmed Suggs’ house early Thursday, removing three iPhones, two computers and boxes of other evidence, including a manila folder labeled “Eric Adams.”
Law-enforcement sources told The Post agents were searching for evidence of possible illegal donations made to Adams’ 2021 campaign from the Turkish government through a Brooklyn-based construction company, KSK Construction.
Suggs, 25, had a meteoric rise in the city’s Democratic Party after joining Adams’ staff in 2017 while he served as Brooklyn Borough president. She enjoys close ties to the mayor’s longstanding adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who sources have said has been a political “godmother” to the young operative.
Moments after learning that the feds descended on Suggs’ house, the mayor abruptly canceled his slate of DC meetings and returned to the Big Apple.
Underscoring the gravity of the situation was that Adams had been supposed to participate in a long-sought-after sit-down with White House officials with other US mayors to address the migrant crisis.
When asked about the decision and potential appearance of picking his campaign over the migrant crisis, the mayor defended his actions to PIX, saying “I wanted to be here to make sure we fully complied.
“If anyone did anything inappropriate outside of our compliance procedures, law enforcement will determine that,” Adams said. “This is new and evolving. I have not been contacted by any law-enforcement agency, and no one has been told they did anything wrong.”
He added that he has not been contacted by the FBI.
Suggs says on her LinkedIn that she raised millions of dollars for Adams’ first mayoral run after working more than four years in Brooklyn Borough Hall where Lewis-Martin was Adams’ deputy.
“She is a very bright, energetic young lady,” Adams said of Suggs.
“She led the fundraising numbers when you look at the entire campaign,” he said, heaping praise on the young aide. “Often young African American ladies don’t get the opportunity that others receive in the business of politics, she stood up.”
“I would love for her to stay with the campaign team,” Adams added.
Insiders, though, told The Post they previously pegged much of her rise to prominence in his campaign due to the close relationship with Lewis-Martin.
“It was pretty clear she was there because of who she knew,” a source said.