• Show Notes
  • Transcript

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted Wednesday night by federal prosecutors. The bombshell charges include bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions.

This episode kicks off a new series of special episodes for members of CAFE Insider. Each week, Insiders will get a second episode of the podcast co-hosted by Elie Honig and other CAFE contributors, Joyce Vance, Asha Rangappa, Barb McQuade, and Rachel Barkow, as well as occasional guests. Each episode will tackle one major legal or policy issue, bringing you all the analysis you need to stay informed in 30 minutes or less. We’ll do this in the coming weeks, so let us know what you think. Write to us at letters@cafe.com

This week, Elie is joined by former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade to break down the Adams indictment. They discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the charges, Adams’s potential defenses, and the process by which New York Governor Kathy Hochul could remove Adams from office if he refuses to resign.

Shownotes & transcript can be found at CAFE.com.

Elie Honig:

From CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is a special new series of CAFE Insider. I’m Elie Honig. The CAFE team is trying out something new for Insiders. We’ll be bringing you a second weekly episode of the Insider podcast, where I’ll be joined by other CAFE contributors, including all your favorites, Joyce Vance, Asha Rangappa, Barb McQuade, and Rachel Barkow, as well as others. Our plan is to tackle one major legal or policy issue per episode. We will bring you all the analysis you need to stay informed in 30 minutes or less.

We’ll do this in the coming weeks, so we want to hear what you think. Write to us at letters@cafe.com. And now what better way to kick things off than with the bombshell news, that phrase gets overused, but this is a bombshell of New York City Mayor Eric Adams after his late night indictment on Wednesday. The charges we now know include bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions. And joining me to discuss this is really the perfect guest for this particular topic, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Barbara McQuade. Barb, thank you for being here.

Barbara McQuade: