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‘I’m just in my Job moment’: Mayor Adams cites biblical figure amid federal investigations
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Sep 8, 2024
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Mayoral Photography Office
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Sep 8, 2024
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As federal investigations loom over his administration, Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday visited a pair of Brooklyn churches where he compared himself to Job — the biblical figure known for enduring tragedy as a test of his faith in God.
Speaking to congregants at two churches in East New York on Sunday morning, Adams suggested that an ongoing FBI probe is just the latest round of affliction in his life that he’s overcome.
Last week, federal agents raided the homes of several Adams aides, including first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright, who shares a home with her partner, Schools Chancellor David Banks. Agents also searched the Queens home of the deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks, and federal officials seized the phone of NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban along with multiple other police officials and a Caban family member.
“[A] reporter said to me this morning ‘Do you feel like you’re being persecuted?’ I said no, I’m just in my Job moment,” Adams said to a crowd of worshipers at the Changing Lives Christian Center. “I know what got me here and I know what’s going to sustain me here.”
Pastor Paul B. Mitchell also led a prayer circle around the mayor.
“We know that when you’re a public servant, the forces of evil want to come against you,” Mitchell said.
Adams also visited the Power and Authority Evangelical Ministry in the same neighborhood.
The FBI previously raided the home of Adams' key fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, in November. Additionally, in 2023, the mayor’s electronic devices were seized by federal agents. The raids of the past year come as federal authorities are investigating Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign. The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing and no official has been formally accused of a crime.
“It was so important for me as a child, to sit in nursery school and Sunday school to learn that lesson of Job. And how, when you’re in those dark places, they are not burials, they are plantings,” he said Sunday.
Adams, who once said “I am mayor because God gave me the authority to be mayor,” has turned to churches when his administration has faced controversy in the past.
Voters in East New York had a strong showing for Adams in his 2021 bid for mayor. According to election data, more than 90% of votes went to Adams in several districts in the Brooklyn neighborhood, reflecting his strong support base in the area.
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new york city
Politics
eric adams
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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