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Former New York City Hall employee Mohamed Bahi was arrested for allegedly obstructing the investigation into Mayor Eric Adams and his campaign.
Bahi resigned on Monday from his job in Adams’s administration. He previously served as the senior liaison in the administration’s community affairs department, ABC News reports.
He has been charged with witness tampering and with destroying evidence, according to prosecutors.
The criminal complaint against Bahi claims he told the mayor’s campaign donors to lie to the FBI and that he deleted the Signal messaging app from his phone when federal agents began to search his home.
US Attorney Damian Williams said in a Tuesday statement that Bahi allegedly “obstructed a federal criminal investigation by instructing witnesses to lie and then destroying evidence.”
“The charges unsealed today should leave no doubt about the seriousness of any effort to interfere with a federal investigation, particularly when undertaken by a government employee,” Williams said. “Our commitment to uncovering the truth and following the fats where they may lead is unwavering.”
In 2020, Bahi allegedly organized a fundraiser for Adams’s campaign at the offices of a Brooklyn-based construction company. Four of the donations were allegedly made by individual workers, but prosecutors claim those donations were made at the behest of the company’s CEO.
Bahi is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
The former comms liaison’s arrest comes on the same day that Sheena Wright, a longtime ally of Adams and his first deputy mayor, announced her resignation.
Her resignation marks the seventh senior official to leave Adams’ administration as federal investigators circle his office, according to the New York Times.
“We are grateful for First Deputy mayor Wright’s years of service to the city and all she has done to deliver for children, families, and working-class New Yorkers,” Adams’s office said in a statement. “She is an exceptional leader who assembled a strong team and constantly demonstrated a bold vision for this city.”
She and Bahi’s resignations come two weeks after Adams was indicted on five counts including wire fraud and bribery.
As the resignations pile up, more than half of the city’s residents said the next resignation they want to see is that of Adams himself. A recent Maris Institute for Public Opinion poll, released on Friday, found that 69 percent of respondents wanted Adams to resign.
“It’s hard to imagine how Mayor Adams could be faring any worse in the court of public opinion,” Lee Miringoff, the Marist Institute’s director, said in a statement. “Not only do New York City residents think he has done something illegal, but they think he should resign or have Governor [Kathy] Hochul start the process of removing him from office.”
