Today’s notice: New York City’s mayor gets indicted, and a former president weighs in. The long-term impact of the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill. And an exclusive look at where else Democrats are spending money.
Strange Bedfellows Alert
New York Mayor Eric Adams’ five-count indictment was all anyone in New York could talk about Thursday, even at Trump Tower.
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Except, it almost didn’t come up. Campaign communications strategist Jason Miller was hanging around the lobby with reporters ahead of Donald Trump’s press conference, when I asked him if his team was following the Adams controversy. Not really, Miller said.
But the reporters were ready and so was Trump: “Can Eric Adams get a fair trial in New York City?” one yelled to the former president.
“I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal immigrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us and we shouldn’t have to take them, and I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted within the year,’” Trump said. “And that’s exactly what we have. We have people that use the Justice Department and the FBI at levels that have never been seen before.”
Trump is making a similar case to the one Adams, who denies wrongdoing and has vowed to stay in office, is making: that politics are the motivation. Maybe it’s strange politics on its face, that a prominent Democrat accused of corruption months before an important string of congressional races in the New York area — where Republicans are running on what they call Democratic mismanagement of the state and city — could suddenly find something of an ally in the GOP presidential nominee.
One Democratic-allied operative working on those races even seemed surprised. “Did he really?” was the response when I asked what they made of the former president’s comments about Adams.
But Trump gets to look consistent about his own legal woes by calling Adams’ a conspiracy too. And Adams can run the same playbook as Trump in an effort to prevent the scandal from slowing down his political ambitions.
“I think we should ask the federal investigators and prosecutors, ‘Who gave the directive to take the actions that we are witnessing right now?’” Adams said at a chaotic press conference Thursday morning when asked if the prosecution was driven by the immigration fight.
Trump echoing Adams’ take on things did not impress members of New York’s political class. “I think it probably drags Adams down,” one veteran Brooklyn Democratic operative told me. “But we will see Nov. 5, if he survives that long.”
—Evan McMorris-Santoro, reporting from New York
NOTUS Investigation: Biden’s Law Takes the Long Way Home
Remember that historic infrastructure bill Joe Biden shepherded through Congress in 2021?
It got round-the-clock coverage on Capitol Hill at the time, and the administration heralds the legislation as a signature achievement. And yet, most of its biggest projects are still years in the making.
NOTUS’ Byron Tau reviewed thousands of pages of local, state and federal documents related to the nearly $2 trillion in federal spending and tax incentives on infrastructure, broadband, clean energy and environmental cleanup to figure out how long Americans will be waiting for the payoff.
What he found: Road projects with over $100 million in funding have an average completion date of mid-2029. And big passenger rail investments (mostly bridge and tunnel projects) are not expected to be complete until the mid-2030s and many transit projects are still on the drawing board.
Plus, most of the money goes toward restoring infrastructure suffering from decades — or in the case of the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel, over a century — of underinvestment. As Corrigan Salerno, policy manager at Transportation for America, told NOTUS: “Averting catastrophe essentially doesn’t really win you much.”
In response to NOTUS’ reporting, the White House pointed to projects across the country that the administration said would have tremendous local impact. But behind the scenes, the Biden administration knew implementation would be a challenge.
“The eye-popping figure is basically a number on a page until it’s turned into something tangible that improves life for all the people that we serve,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged in 2022.
Front Page
- ‘Republicans for Harris’ Have Settled on Their Pitch: She’s Not Trump: And a Republican Senate will keep her in check, they say.
- The Self-Appointed Investigators Into Trump’s Assassination Attempts Take the Mic: Reps. Eli Crane and Cory Mills spoke as expert witnesses. They weren’t on the official list.
- A New York Court Questioned If Trump Was Correctly Nailed For Bank Fraud: The state appeals court is evaluating whether Letitia James went too far.
The Dubious Future of Ukraine Aid
“I am a convert supporter of Donald Trump,” Rep. Joe Wilson told NOTUS. “Years ago, he was not my candidate, but he sure is now. I believe that I would actually compare Trump and Zelenskyy. They’re people of extraordinary intestinal fortitude.”
Wilson, perhaps Ukraine’s biggest Republican ally in the House, is convinced that Trump will also be a friend to Ukraine if he retakes the White House. Given Trump’s latest standoff with Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and history of skepticism toward Ukraine funding — other Republicans aren’t so sure.
NOTUS Exclusive: Guess Where the DNC is Spending Money
If you guessed Idaho, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Dakota, Arkansas or Kansas … then Ding Ding Ding!
As NOTUS’ Alex Roarty reports, the DNC has so much money it’s investing $2.5 million in ruby-red states, hoping to make gains way down the ballot. The money is mostly earmarked for grassroots GOTV efforts. In WV for example, $50,000 is being directed toward flipping four state legislature seats.
Number You Should Know
35.5 million
That’s the conservative figure for how many dollars both parties have poured into New York’s competitive 19th Congressional District so far, where Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro and Democrat Josh Riley are running for the seat. That makes this House race the most expensive in the country this cycle, according to Politico.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by … not us.
- Survivors, their relatives and elected officials tell untold stories about the Baltimore Key Bridge disaster to The Baltimore Banner.
- The latest bombshell from ProPublica: Despite persistent warnings, Texas rushed to remove millions from Medicaid. That move cost residents care.
- A timely reminder from The Atlantic: Undecided voters are not who you think they are.
- Mother Jones explored why ballot measures are democracy’s last line of defense.
Be Social
Check in on your friends in New York right now. They’re definitely going through it.
Approached Leader Schumer, asked if he had any reaction to the indictment of Eric Adams, he pulled out his phone, put it to his ear and said, “I’m talking to my doctor.”
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 26, 2024
Tell Us Your Thoughts
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