Eric Adams and Donald Trump claim the mayor of New York was targeted. Key details undermine this.

The indictment of New York Mayor Eric Adams (D-state) blows another hole in the baseless claims by Donald Trump and his allies that the Justice Department has been weaponized against their side. After Adams joined, the Justice Department indicted a handful of prominent Democrats, including former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Sen. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) and President Joe Biden’s own son, Hunter Biden.

Perhaps sensing another setback to the Trump conspiracy theory, many on the right quickly welcomed the news of Adams’s indictment, suggesting that in fact reinforced their point.

They implied and outright claimed that this was also a political goal – except this time the target was a Democrat who refused to follow the party’s positions on issues like immigration and crime.

However, such theories appeared mainly before the indictment was published on Thursday. And details in the document itself quickly undermined this lean explanation.

» READ MORE: Feds accuse New York mayor of selling his influence to foreigners. He says he will not resign.

The document presents schemes that seem brazen. This suggests at least some knowledge by Adams and his assistant that what was decided was not entirely as expected. And some of the episodes detailed took place years before Adams’ comments dissuaded some Democrats.

The indictment charges Adams with five counts, including bribery, wire fraud and obtaining illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources – charges Adams denies.

The suggestion that Adams was the target quickly emerged from the right, with assistance from Adams himself and later Trump.

After popular right-wing coverage The New York Post ran a suggestive article contrasting Adams’ indictment with his “battles with the White House over the migrant crisis.” Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt said, “It appears that if you don’t align with the Biden family, the White House, this administration or leading Democrats, your life could be ruined.” Many others have made or suggested the same thing.

Trump joined them later Thursday, saying he predicted Adams would be impeached when Adams began complaining about immigrants last year. “Look at what they are doing, they are dirty players. These are bad people,” Trump said at a news conference, admitting he was not familiar with the indictment.

Adams also gestured against such theories, claiming in a video posted Wednesday night: “I always knew that if I stood up for New Yorkers, I would be a target, and I was.”

However, the indictment contains many colorful scenes and details that are hard to reconcile with the claim that Adams was singled out for political reasons.

At one point, the indictment describes an Adams employee betting that his boss would object to a specific aspect of the alleged plan, only to later learn that his boss had no such qualms.

The indictment states that in June 2018, an anonymous employee of Adams talked to an anonymous Turkish entrepreneur about how Adams was raising money in Turkey. The employee asked how the collected money would be declared in the United States if it could not be done legally, and the entrepreneur transferred it through an American citizen who was Turkish.

“I don’t think he would engage in such fun,” Adams’ employee allegedly replied to his boss, adding: “I’ll ask anyway.”

The indictment further states that after the employee brought the idea to Adams, “contrary to Adams Staffer’s expectations, ADAMS directed him to proceed with it.”

At another point in 2021, the indictment describes an Adams employee negotiating with the CEO of Turkish National Airlines in the New York area regarding flights to Istanbul.

An airline official suggested that Adams pay just $50 for the tickets, but Adams’ employee objected and stated that the price should be higher to “Let’s make it at least a little bit real.”

The indictment alleges that Adams became so accustomed to the airline’s travel benefits that he did everything in his power to employ the carrier’s services. At one point he even asked if it could be used to fly to Easter Island in the South Pacific – a route the carrier doesn’t offer.

Another detail suggests that Adams understood the alleged quid pro quo in his relationship with Turkish interests.

It describes a telephone conversation in 2021 in which a Turkish official told an Adams employee that because of their support for Adams, it was “his turn” to support them – specifically by helping them obtain a fleeting employ permit for the building in New York known as the Turkish House.

When the employee expressed the opinion that it was Adams’ “turn,” Adams allegedly responded, “I know.”

The indictment describes other cases that prosecutors could employ to establish awareness of guilt.

The indictment says that while texting an employee about a 2019 trip to Turkey, the employee urged Adams: “Let[n the] secure site. Please delete all messages you send me. Adams allegedly replied, “I always do.”

The indictment says Adams also changed the password to his personal cellphone after the investigation came to delicate in November 2023, but just days later he claimed to have forgotten the up-to-date password.

Adams produced the cellphone the day after FBI agents conducted a search on November 6, 2023, which resulted in other phones but not his personal device.

The password has been changed to six digits from four. The indictment states that Adams claimed he did so on November 5, in the words of the indictment, “to prevent members of his staff from accidentally or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone because… he wanted to keep the contents of his phone for the sake of the investigation.” “

However, when he returned the phone, which was locked, according to the indictment, Adams “claimed that he had forgotten the password he had just set and was therefore unable to provide the FBI with the password to unlock the phone.”

To put it chronologically, the investigation became public on November 2, 2023, and Adams apparently changed the slogan on November 5. However, just two days later, he returned the phone and stated that he did not know the password.

Trump allies have long espoused gun conspiracy theories, given the number of Trump allies — and now Trump himself — who have been charged and, in some cases, convicted. The idea that the Justice Department is “armed” has become an article of faith on the right and an easy way to explain why so many people in Trump’s orbit are convicted criminals.

But if anything shows how speculative this whole endeavor has been, it may be the attempt to immediately turn that view into an indictment of a prominent Democrat.