Mayor Eric Adams spoke out Sunday morning for the first time since the FBI seized his phones and iPad last week amid an ongoing investigation into his 2021 campaign fundraising.
"What I am really hoping is that these periodic leaks stop," Adams said.
Adams also reiterated that he is cooperating with the FBI investigation.
"We need to do this together so all the facts can come out," Adams said.
The mayor was in Rockaway Park Sunday morning for the annual American Airlines Flight 587 memorial service.
Adams responded to questions from reporters for less than a minute as he was leaving the scene.
"This is not the place to have this conversation," Adams said before getting into his car. "You know, we do open questions on Tuesday. We are looking forward to that."
Adams left the memorial service before families of the Flight 587 victims laid out roses. The mayor then later canceled a scheduled 11:30 a.m. appearance at a church in Brooklyn.
The FBI seizure of the mayor's electronic devices came days after federal agents raided the Brooklyn home of Adams' chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs.
Multiple reports said the Suggs raid was part of a probe into whether the Adams campaign conspired with a Brooklyn construction company and the Turkish government to funnel foreign money into his campaign.
The New York Times reports that federal authorities are also investigating whether Adams "pressured [FDNY] officials to sign off on the Turkish government's new high-rise consulate in Manhattan despite safety concerns with the building" in the summer of 2021, after he won the mayoral primary but before the general election. He was the Brooklyn borough president at the time.
The New York Post, citing sources, reports that the messages "don’t appear to show any criminal activity beyond typical outreach that elected officials do on behalf of constituents."
The mayor responded to these recent allegations Sunday, saying he has "not been accused of wrongdoing and [he] will continue to cooperate with investigators."
"As a borough president, part of my routine role was to notify government agencies of issues on behalf of constituents and constituencies," Adams said in a statement.
The Adams campaign said in a statement that "it would be inappropriate to discuss details of an ongoing investigation."
"The mayor continues to cooperate with investigators and has not been accused of any wrongdoing," the campaign said in a statement.
The news follows a weeklong political conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico – called SOMOS El Futuro – where politicians described the latest developments as a “distraction” from city business.
“It’s very bad for the city of New York right now. We need stability, we need productivity, we need performance as a city, we don't need scandal, so I'm very concerned about what this means for New York,” City Councilman Erik Bottcher, a Democrat who represents Midtown Manhattan, told NY1.
“It's definitely a distraction. And it continues to erode the trust not just from the public but from the overlapping government, from the federal government because they've been pushing back on our numbers saying, 'Do you actually have a budget deficit of the amount that you proposed that you have?' And if they can't trust that you are going to be a person of integrity with your own campaign finances, why should they trust anything he says?” added Queens City Councilwoman Julie Won, a Democrat.