DRIVING THE DAY: Former President Donald Trump, the native New Yorker, was indicted late Monday along with 18 allies — including former Mayor Rudy Giuliani — in an attempt to corrupt the 2020 election by subverting Joe Biden’s victory in the state. It’s the latest legal trouble for Trump, which includes charges in New York for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up an affair with a porn star. Read more about the defendants here, and here you can read the indictment. REPPING THE MAYOR: Who the heck would want to be Mayor Eric Adams’ press secretary? “You brief the mayor ahead of time and pray that he sticks to the script,” said George Arzt, onetime press secretary to Mayor Ed Koch. And given Adams’ penchant for going off-script? “I think that this mayor is probably very difficult for a press secretary.” Adams is looking for a new spokesperson, after promoting Fabien Levy to deputy mayor for communications yesterday. He’s also looking for a new communications director, after Maxwell Young departed in July. Another top comms aide, Anthony Hogrebe, defected to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office this month. It has been a tough summer for Adams, and City Hall is expected to hire externally, rather than promote from within, so the new spokesperson would be joining midseason. Adams loves to talk about his work ethic. So he warned any job applicants at a press conference yesterday announcing Levy’s promotion: “I cannot say it enough — working for me is a grind. It’s a grind. It’s sunup to sundown.” For a press secretary, that means “not being with your family, not being able to enjoy holidays off. Having your family think you’re in a secret relationship because I’m texting you at 2 in the morning.” Good thing he’s upfront about it, said Freddi Goldstein, former press secretary to Bill de Blasio. “I slept with my cell phone on loud next to my pillow every night so that if something happened it would wake me,” she said. “Burnout is certainly a factor.” Stu Loeser, who held the gig for six-and-a-half years under Mike Bloomberg, recalled, “The easiest and best part of leaving [was], I don’t get an alert about there being a child dead.” So who’d want to do that? A lot of folks. “It is one of the best jobs in public life. It is as good and very often better than the podium job in the White House,” Loeser said. Goldstein called it “an amazing job.” Arzt, “incredibly great.” Bill Neidhardt, who also worked for de Blasio, said it was “world changing.” You’re not just taking reporters’ calls all day, the formers all said, but you’re a top adviser, informing and dictating policy. Also, you make about $211,000. And you get a chauffeur. HAPPY TUESDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE’S KATHY? Making an economic development announcement in Utica. WHERE’S ERIC? Delivering remarks at The Laborers' International Union of North America’s Leadership Conference and speaking at a flag-raising ceremony for India. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Defendant has failed to demonstrate that there exists concrete, or even realistic reasons for recusal to be appropriate, much less required on these grounds,” Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan wrote in rejecting former President Donald Trump’s call for his recusal.
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