A criminal defense attorney on Friday provided insight into the recent FBI raids on Mayor Eric Adams’ top aides, saying that they show a larger issue within the administration.

“When you're going that far up the proverbial food chain to deputy mayors and separately trying to get, or in fact, getting the cell phone of the police commissioner, it tells me that they very well could be the main targets,” said Jeremy Saland during an appearance on “Mornings On 1.” “But they're looking to build a bigger picture — meaning the federal government, the FBI — and that could mean something significant for the current mayor, Adams.”

The FBI on Thursday executed search warrants at the homes of two of Adams' closest aides, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks. The FBI has also subpoenaed the cell phones of at least seven people within the NYPD, including Police Commissioner Edward Caban.

Saland, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney, noted that while the subpoenas and search warrants can be contested, they have already been approved by a judge, making them difficult to challenge.

“You can challenge everything and anything in the criminal justice system within the four corners of the law. One of the problems that you may see in search warrants is you've already had that neutral judge,” he said. “And that judge made a determination that probable cause exists.”

As for the next steps, Saland said that the investigative process would be meticulous and likely slow.

“What they're going to do is catalog what they took from the home when they did the search warrants on the home. And then they're going to have someone, for lack of a better term, a forensic expert, someone who is familiar with computer science, is going to go into that search warrant and go into those phones to see what they can find. And they're going to add it to whatever they have already,” he said.

Saland cautioned that while the raids were serious, they do not indicate that charges or arrests are imminent.

“Just because this happened doesn't necessarily mean that charges or arrests are imminent. But when something like this happens, obviously, obviously, this is very, very serious,” he said.

He also said that there is no sign that Adams himself is a target of this investigation.