Free Republic

Donald J. Trump’s electoral victory alarmed most New York Democrats — but not Eric Adams. For Mr. Adams, the mayor of New York City who had been criminally indicted and faced political isolation, it was a golden opportunity. In the weeks before the presidential inauguration, Mr. Adams cozied up to Mr. Trump, his political allies and his family. The mayor called the president-elect on multiple occasions, congratulating him on his election victory and discussing city affairs. He met at a luxury Manhattan hotel with Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s ally and former top aide. And he contacted the president’s second...

Four top New York City officials are expected to resign in the coming days, after the outgoing U.S. attorney for Manhattan accused the mayor of trading cooperation with President Trump’s mass deportation agenda for a dismissal of his criminal indictment, according to three people with knowledge of their plans.The four officials — Maria Torres-Springer, the first deputy mayor, and Meera Joshi, Anne Williams-Isom and Chauncey Parker, all also deputy mayors — oversee much of New York City government, and their departure is poised to blow a devastating hole in the already wounded administration of Mayor Eric Adams.Mr. Adams, a Democrat,...

The top agent at the F.B.I.’s New York City field office vowed in a defiant email to his staff to “dig in” after the Trump administration targeted officials involved in the investigations into the Jan. 6 attack — and praised the bureau’s interim leaders for defending its independence.“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the F.B.I. and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and F.B.I. policy,” wrote James E. Dennehy, a veteran and highly-respected agent who has run...

In its first 24 hours, the new Trump administration has reached into critical U.S. attorney’s offices to quickly appoint new interim leaders, signaling a break from past practice that reflects the importance of frontline prosecutors to the administration’s plans.In three of the most important federal prosecutors’ offices — two in New York City and one in Washington — new acting leaders have been announced. Two of the picks are respected longtime prosecutors; the third is a Trump loyalist who had pushed for the release of Jan. 6 defendants.The new acting head of the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is Danielle...

Allen H. Weisselberg, for decades one of Donald J. Trump’s most trusted executives, has reached a deal to plead guilty on Thursday and admit to participating in a long-running tax scheme at the former president’s family business — a serious blow to the company that could heighten its risk in an upcoming trial on related charges. Mr. Weisselberg will have to admit to all 15 felonies that prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office accused him of, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And if he is called as a witness at the company’s trial in October, he...

Federal investigators in Manhattan executed a search warrant on Wednesday at the Upper East Side apartment of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became President Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the matter said. One of the people said the investigators had seized Mr. Giuliani’s electronic devices. Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president, and it marks a major turning point in the long-running investigation...

The New York Times, The Washington Post and NBC News walked back their reporting about FBI's communication with President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani regarding Russia. The Washington Post was the first to report on Thursday that Giuliani was warned that he was the target of a Russian influence campaign last year. The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, also reported that One America News (OANN) was given similar warning. But the Post issued a correction on Saturday saying that it removed assertions that Giuliani and OANN had received such warnings. "An earlier version of this story, published Thursday,...

Attorney General William P. Barr on Friday night abruptly tried to fire the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, who has investigated several of President Trump’s closest associates, but Mr. Berman said he would not leave.

The review, led by the prosecutor John Durham, has focused on former investigators who are frequent targets of President Trump. Federal prosecutors reviewing the origins of the Russia investigation have asked witnesses pointed questions about any anti-Trump bias among former F.B.I. officials who are frequent targets of President Trump and about the earliest steps they took in the Russia inquiry, according to former officials and other people familiar with the review. The prosecutors, led by John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Connecticut, have interviewed about two dozen former and current F.B.I. officials, the people said. Two former senior...

Federal prosecutors are reviewing Mr. Bezos’ claim that he has been extorted, according to two people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. And those prosecutors have planned a meeting with Mr. Bezos’ representatives, one of those people said. If American Media is found to have broken a law — any law — it would be in violation of a [previous] deal with federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York.

An explosive device was found on Monday near the Westchester County home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who is a favorite target of right-wing groups, according to a law enforcement official. The device did not explode on its own, and bomb squad technicians “proactively detonated” it, the official said.

“The news for New York City is spectacular," New York’s Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told a City Hall press conference on May 24. He and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly [Email him] were claiming credit for new FBI crime stats showing major crimes—murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, car theft, larceny and arson—dropping 5.8% in the city in 2003. New York’s crime rate now ranks it 211th of the 230 U.S. cities with 100,000-plus population—behind Omaha, Nebraska and Wichita, Kansas. Unfortunately, there must have been at least one skeptic at the press conference. Hizzoner reportedly “bristled” at suggestions that...