JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Our next story starts with a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips, ripple cut, but there were no chips inside of the bag. There was, though, a red envelope with at least one hundred-dollar bill and several twenties. A longtime aide of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was also affiliated with his reelection campaign, handed this bag to a journalist for the news outlet called THE CITY. The reporter tried to give back this bag as soon as she discovered what was inside it. Failing that, THE CITY was naturally first to report this incident. The reporter left holding the bag is Katie Honan, and she speaks to us now from City Hall. Hi, Katie.
KATIE HONAN: Hi. Thanks for having me.
SUMMERS: Thanks for being here. Katie, just start by briefly walking us through the events of that day. Who was this aide and what happened?
HONAN: So Winnie Greco, who formerly was employed here at City Hall but remains close to the mayor, was involved up until yesterday with his reelection campaign, worked with him when he was a Brooklyn Borough president, she was at his reelection campaign office opening. He's been opening all these campaign offices, and I see her at every single event.
SUMMERS: Sure.
HONAN: And I chat with her because I've reported on her previously. And like any reporter will tell you, I want to - they want to talk to people.
SUMMERS: Right.
HONAN: I saw her at the start. I saw her at the end. She texted me to call her. We hadn't really texted previously. And when I called her, she told me to meet her across the street, where when we walked into a Whole Food, she handed me the bag of chips, which were opened, and the top was crumpled. There were still some chips inside. But, you know, I tried repeatedly to give it back to her. And then after three times, I just, you know, held on to the bag. We chatted. As we left, she brought the chips up again. I said, you know, I don't really want the chips. You can take the chips. She told me to have them. And then a few moments later, after we left, when I got to the top of the subway, I opened the bag up, and that's when I discovered the red envelope, which I recognized from Lunar New Year and other celebrations - although it's August.
SUMMERS: Right.
HONAN: So it's not really timely. And I hoped it was information, but instead, it was money.
SUMMERS: Well, Katie, do you - I know that you've said you've spoken to her before. You've seen her a bunch. Your news outlet has investigated her work. Do you have any idea of what she was trying to do by giving you this bag of chips with money inside of it?
HONAN: I don't know. And I don't know what her full motivation was - if she was, as she told us and her lawyer told us when we reported this out, that it's part of her culture, which isn't really backed up when I've spoken to other people and obviously friends of mine who are Chinese. I don't know if she was looking for a long-term thing or a short-term thing, but it was obviously incredibly inappropriate for her to do given my role. And, you know, she'd repeatedly said, even previously, that, oh, she wanted us to be friends, and she could talk. And I think that was maybe her end goal. But it just put me in a rough spot, and it was unfortunate that she did that.
SUMMERS: I'm going to read part of the statement from her attorney, Steven Brill. He denied that this was nefarious, said that he assures - I'm quoting here - "that Winnie's intent was purely innocent. In the Chinese culture, money's often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude." He goes on to say that she's apologetic and embarrassed by any negative or impression or confusion that this may have caused. Katie, I wonder, have you heard from Mayor Adams' office, his representation, City Hall, anything about this incident?
HONAN: So Todd Shapiro, who's his campaign spokesperson, commented to us last night and did say he - Mayor Adams had no involvement or knowledge of it and that she's no longer involved in the campaign in which she was working in a volunteer capacity. But the Adams administration - it comes at an inopportune time for him because today, one of his former top aides, truly someone so close to him he called a sister, was indicted four more times in four separate cases for things that include bribery and misusing her position within City Hall...
SUMMERS: Right.
HONAN: ...To help people who gave her money. So it really has been a bad 24 hours for him.
SUMMERS: I don't want to ask you to speculate, but is there any reason to believe that all those investigations that you've just been talking about involving Eric Adams' inner circle and the incident that happened to you, any indication or any reason to believe that they might be related?
HONAN: At this point, it's hard to tell. And there have been so many separate and loosely connected or strongly connected investigations in the people who've worked for Eric Adams. The only thing tying them together is that they worked in the Adams administration. So I don't know what was - what's involved and what's connected, but it all rests - excuse me - on our current mayor.
SUMMERS: Last thing, in the few seconds we have left, have you or your newsroom heard anything else from any investigators about this incident?
HONAN: I have not. We referred it to the Department of Investigation, which is the city agency. It's an independent body that does investigate city employees. It was our understanding that they were still investigating for things Winnie may or may not have done as a city employee. So that's the latest.
SUMMERS: Katie Honan is a reporter for THE CITY and cohost of the "FAQ NYC" podcast. She's literally all that and a bag of chips. Katie, thanks.
HONAN: Thanks so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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