This is special coverage on WNYC of the criminal indictment of Mayor Eric Adams. Good morning, everyone.

I'm Brian Lehrer. The indictment has not been officially announced yet by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan,

but multiple news organizations are reporting that there is a sealed indictment

and that an official announcement could come today, probably this morning, maybe very soon.

And Mayor Adams himself seems to have confirmed that this is real

because he released a two and a half minute

video defending himself and basically accusing his accusers of targeting him for political reasons.

So we will get some basic facts on the table here first and then we will play the mayor's

full video, the audio of it obviously, for you so you can hear his initial line of defense in full for yourself.

Joining us first is WNYC Senior Political Reporter Bridget Bergen. Good morning, Bridget.

Good morning, Brian. First of all, how surprised or even shocked are you by this? I mean,

there's been all this investigation news swirling around

the mayor for months and months. His phone was seized back in November. His chief counsel resigned

suddenly a couple of weekends ago, the chancellor of the school system, the police commissioner.

And yet, somehow when this news started breaking last

night that the mayor himself had been indicted, I was still like, wait, what? Really?

Yeah. I mean, it is a stunning development. You know, as you said, these investigations have been

going on for the better part of a year.

And just recently, it has felt like the volume just got jacked way up.

The month of September has been astounding when you think back to how it started.

The first week of the year, three of the mayor's closest, um, advisors to deputy mayors,

the city schools chancellor, having their phones seized by the FBI, the city's police

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