At a Tuesday in-person media availability, Mayor Eric Adams began with the promises he made and those kept. “Two years ago when we came into office, we had a clear vision: protect public safety, rebuild our economy and make the city more livable for all New Yorkers in general, but specifically, working-class New Yorkers. And we’re delivering on all three every day and each week we roll out our focus on that.”

The mayor went over the deliverables his administration achieved and before opening for questions, he addressed the elephant in the room.

“Everybody’s familiar with the allegations that were made in November of last year, and I want to immediately respond to that as I did in November when they first came out on Thanksgiving Day.

“This did not happen. It did not happen. I don’t recall ever meeting this person. During my time in the Police Department back in ‘93, many of you know, those who have followed me, I was one of the most outspoken voices for fighting not only police abuse, but also for the rights of people. My life has been dedicated and committed to that.

“I’m sorry that Tracey and Jordan, my family, is going through this right now, but I have been very clear on fighting on the rights of behalf of women, and I’m going to continue to do that.“My life has been a clear open book for almost 40 years now.

I have been one of the most public faces in the city, and I have always carried myself with a level of dignity that New Yorkers expect from me.“And I want to say to New Yorkers, I’m going to continue to do my job of navigating the city out of the crisis that we have been in, just as we navigated out of Covid, the asylum seeker crisis, public safety, the housing crisis. I’m focused on doing that.

I’ve given three comments over and over again: stay focused, no distractions, and grind, and the legal team will handle the other aspects of this.”