Fire chiefs told FBI investigators in April that they faced a pressure campaign to rubber stamp the new Turkish consulate building despite safety concerns, according to an attorney representing one of the chiefs.
"My client was pressured to do something unsafe," said attorney Jim Walden, who represents Joseph Jardin, the former FDNY Chief of Fire Prevention.
Walden says Chief Jardin is one of several current and former FDNY officials approached and questioned by the FBI in the spring about a campaign to expedite the Turkish building.
"It was abundantly clear to my client and is now abundantly clear to the FBI that the people responsible (for the approval) felt as though if they didn't do it they were going to be fired," Walden said.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
But he declined to say who specifically threatened the chiefs' jobs, citing his desire not to impede an ongoing investigation. Walden says he has spoken with several witnesses who told investigators that pressure to perform political favors has been a problem at the FDNY since the de Blasio administration.
"The FBI was told it was to the point that a list started circulating internally about projects that City Hall wanted to be expedited," Walden said.
The round of FBI interviews in the spring came months before the news broke about a probe into Turkish campaign donations to Mayor Eric Adams, and his advocacy related to that building in the months before he became mayor. Adams acknowledges that he texted former FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro for help getting an FDNY letter that would enable the Buildings Department to issue a temporary certificate of occupancy.
Two sources who have seen the text exchange say Adams explained that the DOB would approve of the temporary certificate if the fire department approved it first. Commissioner Nigro agreed to check into the situation.
Adams' request came on September 5, 2021. Just one month earlier, the consulate's fire protection plan had been disapproved. Emails obtained by NBC New York and confirmed by several people on the chain show the Turkish government had contractors, city officials and real estate industry representatives from the Real Estate Board of NY (REBNY) scrambling to get FDNY approval, with Turkish officials headed to town in the near future. Inspectors were not planning to return to the site until November, but Turkish diplomats were on a tight schedule.
"Guys, we will have an international incident if we don't get FDNY there next week," said one of the contractors. "UN General Assembly is in 3 weeks and Turkish President wants his building. Can you help?"
The emails show that then Borough President Eric Adams was hardly the only person asking about an expedited approval process for the consulate.
On Aug. 31, several days before Eric Adams texted Nigro, Mayor Bill de Blasio's Buildings Commissioner Melanie Larocca emailed Adams' future FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, who was serving as first deputy commissioner at the time. Larocca wrote: "Hey Laura, Hope you are well! FYI -- you might want to intervene here -- this is a property owned by the government of Turkey and is their future embassy. Looks like then [sic] need FD action."
Kavanagh responded two hours later "we will look into it," looping in her intergovernmental aide Jason Shelly.
In a subsequent email, Shelly messaged Jardin and Assistant Chief Kevin Brennan to say "Laura asked me to see if you are able to help with this request that she received from the DOB commissioner." Shelly asked "Is it possible to get inspectors on site sooner? They are asking for next week... Please tell us what is realistic and we'll update Laura."
Walden says FDNY insiders believed there was no way the system could have been brought to code in the short month since it had failed inspection.
Fire officials acknowledge the sprinkler and fire alarm systems were not yet ready and that this was why no temporary certificate of occupancy had been issued.
"It seems, based on what I know, they weren't really looking for an actual inspection, they were looking for a rubber stamp," Walden said. "That if they pulled the right strings, a new set of inspections would occur and there would magically be a determination that the [fire] system worked."
Walden suggested that Kavanagh and her team were involved in the alleged pressure campaign, but one city official briefed on the matter said they could not immediately say whether other high ranking fire officials might have applied pressure.
The emails obtained by NBC New York do not reflect the type of pressure Walden is describing. One source familiar with the text exchange said Nigro replied to Adams at one point indicating there were conflicting opinions internally about whether the Turkish consulate could be expedited.
In a statement, the FDNY's chief spokesman Jim Long said "Internal emails make clear that commissioner Kavanagh had no meaningful involvement in how the FDNY handled this request and there is nothing to suggest the FDNY was pressured to do anything improper."
Chief Jardin is currently one of several plaintiffs in an ongoing age discrimination lawsuit against Commissioner Kavanagh. Jim Walden is also the lawyer on that case.
An amended copy of the complaint challenges Kavanagh on several other issues, claiming she opposed Jardin's desire to publicly support a ban on lithium ion batteries in NYCHA housing in the past and sidelined experts by putting her civilian staff largely in charge of replacing firefighter breathing gear.
After Kavanaugh demoted several senior FDNY chiefs earlier this year, others asked to be demoted in protest of Kavanagh's leadership. Walden says the allegations of pressure over the Turkish consulate would have been included in their suit, but for the fact that the FBI wished for the matter to remain confidential while under investigation.
But Long dismissed the criticism from Walden and Jardin as being from critics with an axe to grind.
"This simply seems like an attempt by someone who is unsuccessfully suing the FDNY and Commissioner Kavanagh, and who has a financial interest in undermining the fire commissioner and smearing her good name," said Long.
Adams told NBC New York Tuesday that Nigro was the only FDNY employee he contacted about the consulate. Fire officials said Adams did not contact Kavanagh at the time, but they say someone in de Blasio's administration did check in on the status of the building.
Even so, fire officials said they field dozens of similar requests every week.
Calls to former DOB Commissioner LaRocca, former Mayor de Blasio and the contractors on the consulate were not returned.
REBNY, which assisted with the consulate issue, noted that during 2021 COVID had contributed to a slower FDNY inspection process.
"At that time it was widely understood that the FDNY had a very lengthy response time for processing plans and inspecting buildings which made such requests especially common at various buildings throughout the city," said REBNY spokesman Sam Spokony.
Ultimately, Turkey got what it wanted. On September, 10 2021, five days after Adams' initial text message, Jardin signed a conditional letter of no objection which essentially punted the power to approve the temporary occupancy to the Buildings Department, but only if DOB conducted a successful test of the fire alarm and suppression systems.
Walden says that conditional letter was Jardin's way of expressing his displeasure with the situation. But one insider questioned: If Jardin was so concerned about safety, why did he sign it?
NBC New York's Courtney Copenhagen, Chris Glorioso and Hilary Weissman contributed to this report.
