The family of a fallen officer is breaking three decades of silence to defend New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is under scrutiny, partly over a comment he made in a Turn to Tara special last year on gun violence.
"You know, I carry around a picture of Robert Venable, my close friend that was shot several years ago, when during my early days of policing. And I always have Robert's picture. The pain never dissipates," he had told Rosenblum during the 2022 interview. Now, the New York Times is reporting that his claims may be untrue.
Following the interview, the Turn To Tara team made a request to the mayor's press team to send News 12 the picture of his fallen comrade. The picture that was sent has now become the target of intense scrutiny.
The New York Times article questions whether that picture spent decades in his wallet or landed there after News 12's interview.
Unnamed sources in the report allege City Hall workers were directed to fake an old picture by printing it out in black and white and splashing coffee on it.
In response, Adams team admitted to making a photocopy of an old picture from a police bulletin but said that the article depicted a "fabricated narrative."
A spokesman also alleged the Times was initially working on a story suggesting Adams and Venable were never friends.
A relative of the fallen officer says this claim is false, and decided to speak out for the first time publicly.
"They were going to take a trip together before he died," says Meredith Benson, the niece of Venable.
Meredith Benson was only 14 when she lost her favorite uncle.
"He served as my dad growing up. So, he was my uncle-father," says Benson. "He was supposed to be here to watch me get married and to go to college. He never got to see me do any of those things. And so, I have a son who is now 25 and my son is named after him." Benson told News 12 her entire family struggled after Venable's death, too.
She says that Adams was there to support them long after the cameras stopped rolling.
"The reporter who contacted our family, I told her specifically, 'Is Eric helping to decrease crime in New York City?' 'Yes' Then that's what this is about. He used my uncle's story, his relationship with my uncle to highlight gun violence. And that's what he should be highlighting. And for you to try to use my uncle's legacy to discredit him is ridiculous," she says.
The mayor's office says Adams remains focused on the heavy toll gun violence continues to take on the city.
"All I can do is commit myself to prevent it, either eradicate or alleviate the level of violence that we're witnessing in our city," he says.
The mayor's office released a response that said, in part, "While yesterday’s initial inquiry mentioned a photo, the crux of this request and all initial questions in writing focused on the Times’ claim that there was no real relationship between the two former officers...After this allegation was disproven, the Times refocused its piece on when a photo was printed. To be clear, Mayor Adams made a photocopy of a photograph of Officer Venable that was printed in an NYPD Transit News Bulletin from November 1987, which Mayor Adams still has possession of to this day and which the Times saw."
Terrell Jermaine Starr, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and host of the Black Diplomats podcast joins Cheddar News to discuss Russia's attempt to invade Ukraine.
With an increasing number of teachers and staff calling out sick by the day, the state of Oklahoma is turning to an unusual solution. Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has issued an executive order that permits state employees to work as substitute teachers. Shaily Baranwal, founder and CEO of Elevate K-12, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the stance of the U.S. and its allies should Russia make any forays into Ukraine, a seeming response to President Biden's remarks that should Putin engage in something short of a full invasion, there might be some indecision among allied nations regarding what to do. Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the think tank Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar to discuss the difficulty faced by Blinken wrangling unity as tensions run high in the region. "There'll be a smaller incursion, and the president implied, there'll be a weaker response because our European allies have created this horrible situation where they are dependent on Moscow for their gas supply," Cohen explained.
During a nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, President Biden spoke on his accomplishments and challenges from the first year of his presidency, and what his administration hopes to accomplish in the coming year. However, his approval ratings are underwater as COVID remains a big concern for voters — as does inflation, noted Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of polling aggregator RealClearPolitics. "The public thinks [inflation] is priority number one, and the administration is concerned about it, they talk about it, but they're not spending enough time on it as far as the public is concerned," said Bevan.
The drama surrounding tennis star Novak Djokovic continues after he was deported from Australia over the weekend due to the nation's COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Djokovic was forced to leave the country on the eve of what was to be his first match in defense of his Australian Open title after three judges ruled in favor of his removal and revealed their reasoning for doing so. Adding to his woes, a law recently passed in France is putting his chances of defending his French Open title in jeopardy. The director of Marist's Center for Sports Communication, Jane McManus, joined Cheddar to discuss the ongoing fallout.
As the midterm elections get ever closer, candidates have been getting creative with their campaigns to stick out and to connect with voters. Gary Chambers, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, has definitely attracted attention with an advertisement featuring him smoking a blunt, making a point about the inequity of anti-cannabis laws. "We wanted to bring the seriousness of the moment," he said of the ad. "But we also wanted to make sure that people understand that there are 19 states that are legal right now but Black people and brown people are being over-incarcerated in mostly Southern and Midwestern states in America for cannabis possession."
If some members of Congress have their way, there might finally be a 'TLDR' on sites' terms of service, introduced by the terms-of-service labeling, design, and readability act – or TLDR for short. With this act, users will actually understand what they're agreeing to or the many ways in which their data is being used before pressing 'accept.' J.D. sat down with co-sponsor of the bill and Senator Bill Cassidy, to discuss.
President Joe Biden's first year in office is wrapping up. What has he achieved, and what else remains on the table while the Democrats have control of Washington? Amid an ongoing pandemic and rising inflation, Biden's approval rating is at an all-time low and his party is plagued by infighting. Will he be able to continue pushing key parts of his agenda? Paul Glastris, former Bill Clinton speechwriter & Editor-in-chief of 'Washington Monthly,' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the president's achievements in his first year, where he's fallen short, and what he must do in order to get more of his agenda signed into law.
Tech giants Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple are faced with a bipartisan antitrust legislation effort underway in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The companies stand accused of promoting their own goods and services over smaller competitors on their platforms, holding too much monopolistic power via their app stores and services. Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a technology industry trade group, joined Cheddar to argue that the bills that are being debated currently could end up hurting consumers, rather than helping.
