Eric Adams is Trying on Donald Trump’s Playbook

It’s the go-to play nowadays.

If you’re a politician collared for alleged crimes, feign indignation, call it a “conspiracy,” blame the “corrupt” Department of Justice, and refuse to resign.

New York Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on five federal charges related to 2021 campaign contributions, wire fraud, and bribery. The scathing 57-page indictment was unsealed on Thursday, and according to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, Adams was “showered” with gifts from foreign entities — namely Turkey — that he knew were illegal.

According to the indictment, there was luxury travel, free airline tickets, meals and hotel rooms from Turkish officials, and Adams allegedly tried to hide the gifts, the value of which exceeded $100,000 — all in return for political favors.

Adams is innocent until proven guilty. But the SDNY isn’t dumb.

As my CNN colleague Elie Honig, a former state and federal prosecutor, said, “I’m going to put this real unscientifically for you: if you’re going to charge the sitting mayor of New York City, you better be damn sure that you have the evidence on him, because if you don’t, it will be a disaster.”

But gone are the days of bowed-head press conferences and resignations in the wake of painful, costly, ugly and damaging scandals. So Adams has done what others before him did — some unsuccessfully, one very successfully.

First, he denied all charges and called them “lies.”

“My fellow New Yorkers, it is now my belief that the federal government intends to charge me with crimes. If so, these charges will be entirely false, based on lies.”

Then, he tried to claim he was being “targeted.”

“I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target, and a target I became.”

Then, he pointed fingers.

“Exactly who in the federal government, White House, do you say is targeting you for speaking out,” he was asked by one reporter.

“I think you need to ask the federal prosecutors who gave the directive and the orders, I don’t know. But we should ask them who gave the directive and orders that we’re going to take on and create this group of lies? They have the answer to that question.”

And finally, he refused to resign and let the people of New York get on with their business, instead insisting on dragging them into what will undoubtedly be a political circus that will unquestionably affect his ability to do his job.

But no matter — Adams is trying a play that was popularized by Donald Trump over decades. Deny, blame, deflect.

Over the course of his multiple indictments for alleged crimes during and after his presidency, Trump has blamed the “corrupt” DOJ, even going so far as to name and smear attorneys, judges, clerks, and their family members.

Many of those folks have endured death threats and harassment because of Trump’s baseless attacks.

Anyone can see how dangerous these attacks are, but Trump has so far managed to avoid prison, a trick others seem all too willing to try.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez tried it after he was indicted for a panoply of crimes, including corruption, conspiracy to act as a foreign agent, and obstruction of justice. For months he asserted his innocence, called the charges a conspiracy, and refused to resign.

In January, he had this to say: “The United States Attorney’s Office has engaged not in a prosecution, but a persecution. They seek a victory, but not justice.”

In July a jury found him guilty of all charges.

To believe these greedy, self-serving conspiracies, you’d have to ignore the fact that in fewer than four years, the Biden DOJ has indicted seven Democrats — including his own son!

But they’re not meant to make sense, only to enrage and tug at the conspiratorial impulses of a voter base that is now all too used to hearing tales of “rigged” and “stolen” elections, “the deep state,” and a “corrupt DOJ.”

To save their own political hides, Trump, Menendez and now Adams are shamelessly willing to smear and undermine these institutions to the point of breaking them.

And it’s working. Average confidence in institutions is at a pathetic 28%, with just 8% of Americans having “a great deal” of confidence in the criminal justice system. Forty-two percent have “very little.”

Among all the detritus and wreckage of the Trump era, this is one of his most enduring legacies — a playbook for politicians to try to save themselves by throwing everyone else under the bus. Including America herself.

========

(S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.)