The mayor of New York City blamed his federal indictment on the defiance of his political party, which included calling for federal action to address the city’s migrant influx.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams released a prerecorded video Wednesday night amid leaks of the imminent federal charges.

“I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target, and a target I became,” Adams said. “Leaks and rumors have been aimed at me in an attempt to undermine my credibility and paint me as guilty.”

“Despite our pleas, the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system. With no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics,” Adams added.

The 57-page federal indictment against Adams, unsealed Thursday, charges him with five criminal offenses, alleging that the New York City chief executive accepted bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources.

Adams, a Democrat, said in December that he had met with President Joe Biden several times in 2021 and early 2022. The mayor said he asked for federal assistance because states were transporting tens of thousands of migrants to his city.

“The federal government said to New York City, ‘We’re not going to do our job, you do our job. You take care of 4,000 people a week, Eric. You and your team,’” Adams said of his meetings with the president.

A month earlier, Adams posted a video on X from a plane. He said he was on his way to join fellow mayors across the country to demand that the Biden administration immediately act to resolve what he defined as a “crisis.”

“We are headed to D.C. to meet with our Congressional delegation and the White House to address this real issue with asylum and migrant issues in our city, and we’ll keep you updated as the day goes,” Adams said.

However, Adams abruptly changed his plans to travel to the nation’s capital and instead promptly returned to New York City. The New York Times first reported the change was possibly linked to an FBI raid on the Brooklyn home of the mayor’s primary campaign fundraiser.

Federal search warrants showed that the residence of Brianna Suggs was searched earlier on the same day Adams boarded his flight to Washington. Suggs was compensated by the Adams campaign as its primary fundraiser, according to campaign finance records.

Suggs was not directly named in the federal indictment.

Meanwhile, Adams, surrounded by close political allies, renewed his vow to fight the criminal charges on Thursday outside Gracie Mansion.

“I will continue to do the job for the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do,” Adams said to reporters.

Over 210,000 migrants arrived in New York City between spring 2022 and fall 2024, according to the New York Times.

Adams declared a state of emergency for the city in 2022. He urged President Biden to do the same nationwide in August 2023 during a news conference at New York City Hall.

Brooklyn Borough President Anthony Reynoso said later that month that the immigration crisis could hurt Democrats politically.

“We need those seats,” Reynoso said. “I want to be very clear that this can be used against the Democratic Party during these congressional races.”