Mayor Adams on Saturday doubled down on defending his assembly with soon-to-be president Donald Trump, claiming he was “fighting for” New Yorkers, as fellow Democrats accused him of cozying as much as Trump in efforts to get a presidential pardon for his federal corruption case.
“I don’t care if it’s a Democrat, Republican, Socialist. I don’t care who’s the president,” Adams informed a crowd gathered at Nationwide Motion Community’s Martin Luther King Day at their Harlem headquarters.
The mayor implied he mentioned the $6.9 billion spent on the town’s migrant disaster with Trump at their Friday assembly in Florida.
“I’m [going to] defend this city because those are your dollars that we took out of this city that we should have been spending to deal with the issues in our city. That’s what I was fighting for,” Adams informed NAN attendees, together with Gov. Kathy Hochul, Legal professional Common Letitia James, and Scott Stringer, one in every of Adams’ challengers within the 2025 election cycle.
President-elect Donald Trump. (AP Photograph/Evan Vucci)
After a roughly hour-long lunch assembly with Trump at his namesake golf membership in Palm Seaside, Adams issued a press release Friday night wherein he mentioned they “briefly touched on a number of issues” however that his corruption case wasn’t one in every of them.
“To be clear, we did not discuss my legal case, and those who suggest the mayor of the largest city in the nation shouldn’t meet with the incoming president to discuss our city’s priorities because of inaccurate speculation or because we’re from different parties clearly care more about politics than people,” Adams’ assertion learn.
Reverend Al Sharpton, who hosted the occasion, backed the mayor up.
“Y’all didn’t get concerned when [Trump] called the governor. He can talk to Hochul, he can talk to Eric,” Sharpton mentioned.
“Our elected officials got to talk to the president,” he added.
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, left, greets Rev. Al Sharpton on the Nationwide Motion Community’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Public Coverage Discussion board 2025 in Harlem on Saturday, January 18, 2025. (Michael Appleton / Mayoral Pictures Workplace)
Adams addressed his federal case Saturday morning, noting he has leaned into his religion amid his authorized woes.
“There’s nothing enjoyable about what I’m going through right now,” Adams mentioned. “When you have a clear mission as guided by God, you don’t worry about what is happening, because God is in charge.”
Adams used metropolis taxpayer {dollars} to pay for his Florida go to as his workplace mentioned there was a “city purpose” within the journey.
Adams, who has pleaded not responsible, is predicted to face trial in Manhattan Federal Courtroom in April — simply weeks earlier than June’s Democratic mayoral main — on legal expenses alleging he took unlawful marketing campaign money and bribes from Turkish authorities operatives in trade for political favors.
Trump, the primary convicted felon to change into president, has sympathized with Adams over his indictment, claiming, with out proof, that they’re each victims of politically motivated prosecutions launched by President Biden’s Justice Division. Final month, Trump said outright that he would take into account pardoning Adams as soon as he’s again within the Oval Workplace, and the mayor hasn’t dominated out accepting it.
Initially Printed: January 18, 2025 at 4:04 PM EST
