New York Mayor Adams says 1993 sexual assault allegation detailed in new lawsuit ‘did not happen’

NEW YORK (AP) — In his first public comments since a former colleague sued him for sexual assault, New York City Mayor Eric Adams vehemently denied the allegations, insisting that he did not remember ever meeting the woman who says he attacked her in a parked car more than three decades ago.

Adams, a Democrat, was accused Monday of demanding oral sex from a police aide in 1993 in exchange for his help advancing her career. When she refused, he exposed himself to her and started masturbating, according to the lawsuit.

“This didn’t happen,” Adams said at the start of his weekly media briefing on Tuesday. “I don’t recall meeting the person. That is not who I am as a person.”

Characterizing the allegations as an unwelcome “distraction,” Adams said he was confident the lawsuit would not upend his mayoralty.

“I want to say to New Yorkers that I’m going to continue doing my job of navigating the city out of crisis,” he said, before offering a twist on an oft-repeated mantra: “Stay focused, no distractions and grind, and the legal team will handle the other aspects of this.”

Though the actions described in the lawsuit long predates his time in city government, the mayor said he would be represented by a taxpayer-funded attorneys with the city’s Law Department.

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