(Photo
by
TIMOTHY
A.
CLARY/AFP
via
Getty
Images)
The
spectacular
collapse
of
the
Mayor
Adams’s
administration
is
still
in
progress.
Pretty
much
everyone
with
ties
to
the
ex-cop,
current
mayor
has
either
been
informed
of
an
ongoing
investigation
or
managed
to
infer
that
following
multiple
raids
by
the
FBI.
The
mayor’s
handpicked
police
commissioner, Edward
Caban,
resigned
shortly
after
these
raids
occurred,
most
likely
because
he
was
on
the
receiving
end
of
one
of
these
raids.
So
were
First
Deputy
Mayor
Sheena
Wright,
Deputy
Mayor
for
Public
Safety
Phil
Banks,
Phil
Banks’s
brother,
David
Banks,
who
is
the
schools
chancellor,
and
Timothy
Pearson,
the
mayor’s
adviser.
Edward
Caban
issued
a “get
out
of
accountability
free”
missive to
the
NYPD
as
he
left
the
building.
He
was
replaced
by
former
FBI
Special
Agent
Michael
Donlon… whose
own
house
was also raided
by
the
FBI.
In
the
middle
of
all
this
raiding
and
resigning,
the
Mayor’s
PR
people
came
forward
to
say
the
mayor
was
shocked,
shocked!
to
discover
there
might
be
some
sort
of
corruption-laden
city
government
with
himself
at
the
center
of
all
of
it.
The
issued
statement wasn’t
quite
the
exoneration
it
was
meant
to
be:
“As
a
former
member
of
law
enforcement,
the
mayor
has
repeatedly
made
clear
that
all
members
of
the
team
need
to
follow
the
law.”
You
know
who
doesn’t
have
to
say
that
kind
of
thing
repeatedly?
Someone
who
oversees
a
bunch
of
people
who
have
expressed
no
interest
nor
engaged
in
acts
that
might
potentially
violate
the
law.
No
honest
politician/advisor/political
appointee/police
chief
needs
to
be
“repeatedly”
reminded
to
“follow
the
law.”
It
just
comes
naturally
to
most
people.
But
Mayor
Adams’s
people
are
not
most
people.
A
lot
of
them
are
also
former
cops.
Perhaps
that
explains
all
the
corruption.
Mayor
Adams
himself
isn’t
immune
to
this
ongoing
investigation.
In
fact,
he
experienced
his
own
personal
raid
a
year
before
the
onslaught
of
recent
raids
that
have
made
headlines
around
the
nation.
Now
that
the
mayor
is
under
indictment,
court
filings
are
starting
to
expose
a
lot
of
details
that
were
deliberately
kept
out
of
public
view
as
the
FBI
engaged
in
its
investigation.
One
of
those
details
is
the
fact
that
the
FBI
executed
a
search
warrant
targeting
multiple
phones
used
by
Mayor
Adams.
However,
his
personal
phone
was
not
among
those
seized.
A
subpoena
was
issued
ordering
the
mayor
to
turn
over
his
personal
phone
(which
is
alleged
to
be
the
device
the
mayor
used
to
“communicate
about
the
conduct
described
in
this
indictment”).
Mayor
Adams
complied.
Sort
of.
He
gave
the
FBI
his
phone.
What
he
didn’t
give
the
FBI
was
a
way
to
see
the
phone’s
contents, according
to
this
report
by
Gaby
Del
Valle
for
The
Verge.
When
Adams
turned
in
his
personal
cellphone
the
following
day,
charging
documents
say,
he
said
he
had
changed
the
password
a
day
prior
—
after
learning
about
the
investigation
—
and
couldn’t
remember
it.
Sure
looks
like
an
attempt
to
withhold
and/or
destroy
evidence.
The
fact
that
this
happened
the
day after the
FBI
seized
the
mayor’s
other
phones
isn’t
going
to
work
out
well
for
him
in
court.
His
excuse
—
that
he
couldn’t
remember
it
—
is
no
more
believable
than
his
office’s
assertion
that
everyone
engaged
in
legal
behavior
because
they
were
repeatedly
told
not
to
violate
the
law.
But
both
of
those
statements
are far more
believable
than
the
mayor’s
explanation
of
the
post-FBI
visit
password
changing:
Adams
told
investigators
he
changed
the
password “to
prevent
members
of
his
staff
from
inadvertently
or
intentionally
deleting
the
contents
of
his
phone,”
the
indictment
alleges.
LOL
Keep
in
mind,
this
was
the
mayor’s personal phone.
Pretending
staffers
had
routine
and
easy
access
to
it
or
its
contents
beggars
belief.
And
the
simplest
way
to
prevent
staffers
from
“accidentally”
deleting
evidence
of
alleged
criminal
actions
would
be
to
maintain
possession
of
the
phone
on
your
person
or
throw
it
in
a
safe
or
lock
it
in
a
desk
drawer
or
do
literally
anything
other
than
change
a
password
and
immediately
“forget”
what
it
was.
Again,
none
of
this
is
going
to
reflect
well
on
the
mayor
as
he
faces
these
charges
in
court.
Any
judge
will
see
it
the
way
the
rest
of
us
see
it:
a
deliberate
attempt
to
thwart
a
federal
investigation.
Even
so,
let’s
hope
this
doesn’t
result
in
any
stupid
precedent
motivated
by
the
mayor’s
apparently
willful
attempt
to
obstruct
this
investigation.
There’s
some
potential
here
for
rulings
that
might
negatively
affect Fifth
Amendment
rights and/or
give
the
feds leverage
to
agitate for
compelled
assistance
from
phone
manufacturers.
Because
there’s
a
chance
it
might
do
any
of
these
things.
The
FBI
has
had
the
phone
for
a
long
time.
And
it
still
hasn’t
managed
to
access
its
contents.
The
FBI
insists
(without
supporting
evidence,
obviously)
that
this
is
a
BIG
DEAL
that
might
BREAK
THE
CASE.
During
a
federal
court
hearing,
prosecutor
Hagan
Scotten
said
the
FBI’s
inability
to
get
into
Adams’s
phone
is
a
“significant
wild
card,”
according
to
a
report
from
the New
York
Post.
I
want
to
believe
that
might
be
true.
But
only
because
I
want
the
feds
to
deliver
a
ton
of
incriminating
evidence
that
takes
down
Mayor
Adams
and
anyone
else
in
his
administration
who
engaged
in
corruption.
On
the
other
hand,
the FBI
always
claims any phone
it
can’t
get
into
must
be
loaded
with
incriminating
evidence
capable
of
producing
slam-dunk
prosecutions.
The
FBI’s
anti-encryption
agitation
relies
on
its
fervent
belief
that
the
best
and
most
incriminating
evidence
is
always
found
on
encrypted
devices,
therefore
courts
should
force
companies
(or
accused
persons)
to
decrypt
the
contents
so
special
agents
can
open
and
close
investigations
without
ever
leaving
their
desks.
I’m
definitely
here
for
the
fallout.
I’m
guessing
these
raids
will
lead
to
a
string
of
resignations,
a
cooperating
witness
or
two,
and
a
few
wrist
slaps
for
ex-law
enforcement
officials.
But
if
someone’s
going
to
burn
for
this,
it
should
be
the
person
at
the
top
of
the
city
food
chain.
And
as
much
as
I’d
like
to
see
that
happen,
I’d
much
rather
it
was
accomplished
without
collateral
damage
to
Ccnstitutional
rights
or
the
security
and
privacy
provided
by
strong
encryption.
The
FBI
Has
Apparently
Spent
A
Year
Trying
To
Crack
NYC
Mayor
Eric
Adams’
Personal
Phone
Court
Reminds
Cops
That
Smelling
Decriminalized
Weed
Ain’t
The
Probable
Cause
It
Used
To
Be
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