Eric Adams moves closer toward Trump, alarming Democrats

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s (D) relationship with President Trump is alarming Democrats, who question the embattled mayor’s motives amid his ongoing legal challenges.

Adams sat down with Trump for a meeting days before the president was sworn in and caught attention for a last-minute cancellation of his schedule to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Adams has argued the importance of having a relationship with Trump as mayor of the country’s largest city for the benefit of his constituents.

But this also comes as Adams, who is up for reelection in November, faces the start of a bribery trial amid speculation that Trump could pardon him.

“With the mayor, his legal case sort of hangs over everything that he’s doing, whether fair or unfair,” said Democratic strategist Chris Coffey, who co-managed Andrew Yang’s 2021 mayoral campaign.

Adams has faced questions for months about whether he would seek a pardon. Trump stirred speculation last month when he said he would consider pardoning Adams, arguing that he has been “treated pretty unfairly.”

Adams has repeatedly avoided directly saying if he would accept one, though he told CNN in the fall that it’s “not on my agenda.”

But his hesitation to publicly criticize Trump as most other Democrats have and his public engagement with the president has added more fuel to the rumors.

The mayor has maintained that his interest in speaking to and working with Trump is for the best interests of his constituents.

Kayla Mamelak Altus, the press secretary for the mayor’s office, told The Hill that “partisan bickering” from officials leading the city and state with the president during Trump’s first term prevented progress to benefit New Yorkers.

“Mayor Adams has been clear that will not happen on his watch,” she said. “While the mayor and president will not always agree on everything, Mayor Adams is focused on how we can work together to do what it best for New York City.”

Adams has also pointed out that other Democratic officials, like D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have expressed willingness to work with Trump where possible.

But critics have raised questions about the extent of Adams’s rapprochement with Trump given his perilous legal situation. Adams’s trial on multiple criminal counts is set to begin in April, and he could face decades in prison if convicted.

Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces, including bribery and wire fraud, and denied all wrongdoing.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) told MSNBC on Thursday that he believes that being on Trump’s “good side” is personal because of his situation.

New York Democratic strategist Jake Dilemani said Adams’s argument that having a good working relationship with the White House is “very fair.”

“The federal government controls so much of what affects city policy on a daily basis that it is important for the mayor to have an open line of communication with the President, whether that's Biden or Trump,” he said, noting that policies like infrastructure and transportation funding, social welfare and environmental regulations affect people’s daily lives.

But Dilemani said this may not be the best political strategy for Adams as he’s facing a steep challenge in his reelection campaign this year. A half-dozen candidates have already entered the race to challenge him, and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) seems likely to enter soon.

“While it is in part good for the city to have a mayor who has a good working relationship with the president, it is also important for that mayor to be able to stand up to the president when they think the president is wrong,” Dilemani said. “And I don't know if voters are going to believe that this mayor, Mayor Adams, can do that if he attempts to buddy up to the president.”

Besides meeting with Trump and attending his inauguration, Adams has received questions over his unwillingness to criticize the president over certain policies. He said during a press conference on Tuesday that he shouldn’t “start out of the gate criticizing.”

He said he visited then-President Biden before he became mayor and took 10 trips to D.C. to work together on migrant situation with an influx of migrants being sent into the city. Adams eventually became an outspoken critic within his own party of Biden’s handling of immigration.

“You should start out trying to collaborate, trying to cooperate,” he said. “So the same thing I did for President Biden, I am doing for this president.”

Coffey said Adams is more moderate and closer to Trump on issues like immigration and public safety, making those policy stances not a “huge leap” for him. But Adams’s unwillingness to state publicly when he disagrees with the president is a break from his predecessors, Coffey argued.

Further adding to the speculation was Adams’s decision to sit for an interview with controversial commentator Tucker Carlson, an influential figure in right-wing politics who has regularly spread misinformation about various topics and has close ties to Trump.

“This is a strategy designed for one person, and he's working to get in front of that one person because, in his defense, he feels like he has an unfair indictment, feels like it was politically motivated,” Coffey said. “Now, there’s one person that can correct it.”

Adams avoided sharp criticism of Trump even before the election. And he avoided taking a position on Trump’s pardon of most people convicted over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a move that is anathema to Democrats.

“To state what’s blatantly obvious, the difference between what other Democrats and their posture towards Trump and the posture that’s Eric’s is that he’s the only one of those Democrats currently under federal indictment,” said one New York Democratic consultant.

Also aligning Trump and Adams has been how they have discussed the charges against them, accusing the Biden administration of political interference in pursuing them. Both have expressed empathy for each other’s situation using that rationale.

Adams told Carlson that he believes the indictment was punishment for complaining about immigration to the administration but declined to provide details about it.

During the press conference, when a reporter asked Adams his reaction to those who committed violence on Jan. 6 being pardoned, Adams mentioned Biden’s statement explaining his decision to pardon his family members.

“When you read that and you put it with what President Biden stated about his Justice Department was politicized, you look at how this system has been, and you have to really raise questions,” he said. “I raised it. President Trump raised it.

President Biden raised it. You know, that's something that we should all reflect on.”

Biden’s pardons of his family members on Monday seemed to allude to concern about Trump’s DOJ pursuing them for political purposes, though he defended his December pardon for his son, Hunter, by arguing that the charges were brought for political purposes.

The consultant said that if he were Adams, he would expect he’s done enough to earn a pardon.

“I would say that if [Trump] didn’t at this point, I want a refund,” they said.

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