“we went to some, like, underground dance party … underneath a bank on wall street …,” he detailed in the video.
“we were all rolling, we’re all taking molly [mdma] and everybody’s high,” varma continued. “and i was so happy because i hadn’t done that in like a year and a half.”
he added: “but i was looking around being like, ‘f—, i wonder if anybody sees me, they’re gonna be pissed.’ because this was not covid-friendly.”
varma said in the footage: “the only way i could do this job for the city was if i had some way to blow off steam every now and then.”
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varma also boasted about his job and the power he appeared to wield over the city.
“i did all this deviant, like, sexual stuff while i was like, you know, like on tv and stuff,” he said in another recording. “people were like, ‘aren’t you afraid? aren’t you embarrassed?’ and i was like, ‘no, actually, i’m like, i love being my authentic self.’”
varma said in a statement, “i take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time.”
but the former official also blasted the recordings, saying he was “targeted by an operative for an extremist right-wing organization determined to malign public health officials and take down the public health system in america,” noting the “private conversations” were “secretly recorded, spliced, diced, and taken out of context.”