New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's staffers are afraid that he will "sacrifice" one or more of them to federal prosecutors investigating potential corruption at City Hall.
A source in City Hall told the New York Post on Monday of the anxiety being experienced by aides who fear de Blasio will throw one of them under the bus over allegations that he and his office gave illegal favors to the mayor's campaign donors from 2013. De Blasio is expected to meet with Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in the next few days.
"Folks in the mayor's office are very nervous about the mayor going in and speaking," the source told the Post. "Everybody is expendable."
"Someone is going to be sacrificed," the source also said.
Aides in the mayor's office believe that it will be difficult for de Blasio to defend himself in the interview without providing at least one of their names to prosecutors to alleviate pressure on himself.
Bharara convened a grand jury in December to look into the mayor's alleged corruption. In addition to potentially benefitting his campaign, investigators are probing whether donors gave money for favors to de Blasio's now defunct non-profit 501(c)4 organization, Campaign for One New York.
De Blasio answered questions from state prosecutors on Jan. 25 as part of a separate investigation. The mayor is facing allegations that his team illegally funneled money through upstate county committees to support Democrats in state Senate races in 2014.
"It's tough to see how the mayor walks in there, turns to [Bharara], and says, 'I'm innocent. I did nothing wrong. My staff is innocent. They did nothing wrong,'" the source told the Post. "He's got to give them something."