New York City Mayor Eric Adams, while not a rabid leftist, has been known for many not-so-great things. Despite campaigning as a tough-on-crime cop, NYC’s crime rate has soared. He has upheld the declaration of New York as a sanctuary city, to which Texas Governor Greg Abbott obligingly responded by sending buses of immigrants to the Big Apple. Adams also gave the key to the city to Sean “Diddy” Combs last year, which really wasn’t a great choice in hindsight.

Now, Adams has become even more infamous. He was indicted on Wednesday, becoming the first sitting mayor of NYC to earn this dubious distinction. He was charged with five different counts. Count one: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, receiving campaign contributions by foreign nationals; count two: wire fraud; count three: solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national; count four: solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national; and count five: bribery.

These allegations have been building since 2023, and several people close to Adams have been the subjects of federal raids. The most serious charge concerns Adams’s entanglement with the Turkish government. He purportedly received campaign money from the Middle Eastern enclave in order to fast-track a building project in Manhattan. He got all sorts of air travel perks, also known as “straw contributions,” through Turkish Airlines.

What has been released looks pretty bad for Mayor Adams. However, considering the other circumstances surrounding his becoming the subject of a federal probe, there is likely more to this than meets the eye.

Is this a witch hunt for Democrat betrayal?

Last year, Adams was shouting from the rooftops about how bad the migrant crisis was in New York City — ironic, given its sanctuary status — and demanding that the federal government help out. He even attempted to schedule a meeting with President Joe Biden but canceled it after the feds started making aggressive moves in his direction. Adams became a nuisance because he was helping to highlight a major issue and political blight for the Democrats.

Adams again made this more plain in his address to New Yorkers yesterday, stating, “I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became. If I am charged, I am innocent, and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”

Going after their own when they are proving to no longer be useful is a tactic Democrats happily and routinely employ. Just ask former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was ousted not because of COVID-response malfeasance but because of allegations of sexual impropriety, or Joe Biden, who was ousted in a coup after his atrocious debate performance against Trump.

**Is the Adams indictment about appearances?“

Another thought that springs to mind is that Trump was also spuriously indicted and convicted in New York. Is the pursuit of Adams a way for New York to show that it’s happy to go after any politician, Republican or Democrat? Is Adams a convenient sacrificial lamb for a greater political end?

Is it justice?

If Adams was acting as an unregistered foreign agent, did he deeply betray his country for some money from the Turkish government? As National Review’s Jim Geraghty pithily puts it, "Those bribes were offered because what those politicians and officials could do was worth the cost to those foreign governments. In the end, a whole lot of people inside and outside of government are for sale. And foreign governments are often the highest bidder.”

Frankly, all of the above could be true. I.e., Adams is being punished for stepping out of line, and/or he’s corrupt and guilty, which, politically speaking, conveniently gives Democrats the patina of fairness to the lawfare against former President Trump.

What is unfortunately certain is that New Yorkers are in for a bumpy ride as this mess gets sorted out. With all the calls for Adams’s resignation — the loudest of all from his progressive colleagues — New York might be about to fall into the communist clutches of the interim heir apparent, Jumaane Williams. And that is a result that no one should want.