New York City Mayor Eric Adams, fresh off his corruption case being dismissed by a federal judge, appeared on a podcast and said he believes the ‘deep state’ is real.
President Donald Trump and his closest allies have spent the last eight years talking about how to dismantle this so-called shadowy group of unelected bureaucrats hellbent on sabotaging Trump’s policies.
Those who believe in the deep state ‘conspiracy theory’ generally posit that unelected officials embedded in agencies like the CIA and FBI are the ones really pulling the strings of the US government – not the president or Congress.
Adams now counts himself as a believer, crediting FBI director Kash Patel’s 2023 book on the subject as the thing that swayed him.
‘Kash was in the [Department of Defense]. He was in the FBI. He prosecuted terrorists,’ Adams said Wednesday on ‘Flagrant’, a podcast hosted by comedian Andrew Schultz.
‘So he comes with this wealth of knowledge, and the way he breaks it down, it’s just unbelievable what this deep state is about and and why it’s so important for Americans that we cannot have a weaponizing of our prosecutorial powers,’ he continued.
Adams, who announced this week he was leaving the Democratic party to run for re-election as mayor, described the deep state as a ‘permanent government’ that happily waits out presidents and mayors.
After Schultz said the term is used too much, Adams cut him off and said, ‘It’s not used too much. It’s real, brother.’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (pictured alongside New York Governor Kathy Hochul and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) admitted he now believes in the ‘deep state,’ a so-called group of deep-cover individuals that truly run the US government, according to the conspiracy theory
President Donald Trump and his closest allies have been talking about the deep state for going on eight years
Adams’ admission comes after he beat his corruption case, following a surprise intervention in February by the Department of Justice on his behalf (Pictured: Adams arrives at Manhattan federal court)
Adams’ stunning admission comes after the Department of Justice in February forced the Southern District of New York (SDNY) to drop the corruption charges it was pursuing against the embattled mayor.
Prosecutors trying the case, which began last September under the Biden administration, alleged that Adams took illegal bribes from the Turkish government in the form of fully-paid-for luxury air travel and stays at lavish hotels in Turkey.
In exchange, prosecutors said Adams allegedly pressured the New York City Fire Department to open a Turkish government-owned high rise in Manhattan despite the building failing safety inspections.
At least four prosecutors with the SDNY, including acting US Attorney Danielle Sassoon, resigned in protest after the order to drop the case came down from then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
Bove argued that the charges against Adams were politically motivated, adding that the prosecution had been ‘unduly’ limiting the mayor’s ability to ‘devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.’
This part of the order from Bove, himself an SDNY prosecutor once, sparked speculation that there was a quid-pro-quo between Adams and Trump that if he assisted with the White House’s mass deportation efforts, the charges against him would be dropped.
Trump has said he did not personally order the charges to be dropped, though he has also said they ‘looked to be very political.’
Critics also said evidence of a quid pro quo was evident in a joint Fox News appearance between Adams and border czar Tom Homan, who said if Adams violated ‘the agreement we came to’ on enforcement, he’d be ‘in his office.’
Adams and border czar Tom Homan appeared on Fox News in February just days after the corruption case was dropped by the Department of Justice. The two discussed immigration enforcement
President Donald Trump has claimed he knew nothing about the charge against Adams being dropped. In his podcast appearance Adams said that anyone who believes Trump interceded on his behalf has ‘Trump derangement syndrome’
Adams began his reversal on immigration policy in February 2024, seven months before he was charged, when he declared that New York should no longer be a sanctuary city.
Adams who has suggested the charges he once were faced politically motivated, appeared to take issue with the SDNY being independent of the executive branch.
‘Now imagine the Southern District of New York – that’s one of the most powerful US attorney’s offices. In their mind, they said, “We’re sovereign.” You know what that means?’ he said on Schultz’s podcast.
‘They don’t have to answer to anyone … they don’t have to answer to the president, they don’t have to answer to the US attorney in Washington, the attorney general in Washington. They believe they’re a sovereign entity,’ Adams claimed.
‘You’re not elected,’ Adams said of the SDNY. ‘You know what I’m saying? Imagine an entity believing they don’t have to answer to anyone.’
Adams also said that anyone who believes Trump interceded on his behalf has ‘Trump derangement syndrome.’
Jessica A. Roth, a former SDNY prosecutor, told The New York Times in February that the SDNY’s sovereignty status is crucial for it to maintain prosecutorial independence.
In her resignation letter, Sassoon argued much the same, saying that dismissing the case against Adams ‘will amplify, rather than abate, concerns about weaponization of the Department [of Justice].’