President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday he won’t rule out pardoning New York City mayor Eric Adams, saying the Democratic politician was “treated pretty unfairly” while acknowledging he’s not completely aware of the charges.
“Yeah I would,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked whether he would consider pardoning Adams, though he stipulated that he wasn’t familiar with all of the details of Adams’s case.
In late September, the Department of Justice indicted Adams for accepting bribes and illegal contributions from foreign sources to benefit his political career. The mayor was also accused of accepting free airline flights and staying in luxurious hotels on behalf of Turkish business and government officials who sought to influence him. Adams maintains his innocence.
The incoming president appeared skeptical of the indictment, suggesting that accepting an airplane upgrade meaning “you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison” doesn’t check out in his mind. Trump noted it happens all the time.
“I’d have to see it because I don’t know the facts,” he added.
One of the mayor’s top aides, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, abruptly resigned from City Hall on Sunday amid a federal investigation in which agents seized her phones and searched her home. Lewis-Martin’s departure comes as a grand jury in Manhattan is hearing evidence against her in that particular probe. The indictment is expected to drop as soon as this week.
Trump said Adams’s indictment may have been prompted by his recent opposition to letting illegal immigrants enter New York City en masse. Earlier this year, Adams blamed the Biden administration’s lenient border policies for the city’s migrant crisis and took legal action to limit the number of migrant arrivals.
“It’s very interesting when he essentially went against what was happening with the migrants coming in,” Trump said. “He made some pretty strong statements, like this is not sustainable.”
Ahead of the election, Trump said that he had predicted that Adams would be indicted by the Justice Department for criticizing Biden’s handling of the border.
“I watched about a year ago when [Adams] talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us,” Trump said at the time. “I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted within a year.’ And I was exactly right because that’s what we have.”
During the press conference on Monday, Trump referenced his prediction.
“I said it not as a prediction, a little bit lightheartedly, but I said it. I said he’s going to be indicted, and a few months later he got indicted. So, I would certainly look at” pardoning Adams, Trump said.
Over 210,000 migrants have arrived to New York City since spring 2022, after Adams took office. The migrant influx overwhelmed the city’s shelter system, but as the numbers are declining, at least 25 migrant shelters will be closed by March. By then, Trump will already be in office.
Earlier this month, Adams said he’ll work with Trump’s administration to deport illegal immigrants who have committed crimes. The mayor met with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, last week and expressed a willingness to place public safety over partisan politics. Both men described the meeting positively.
On Sunday, Adams said he will not be “warring” with Trump.
“I am not going to be warring with this president, I’m going to be working with this president,” he told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart over the weekend. “This is not about me, this is about we, the people of New York City, and I’m looking forward to getting some real things done.”
Speculation around who Trump will pardon mounted in recent weeks after President Biden granted a sweeping pardon to his son, shielding Hunter from prosecution for any federal crimes he may have committed over a ten year period. Reports have also emerged that Biden is considering issuing preemptive pardons for some allies who may be in the Trump administration’s crosshairs, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and former congresswoman Liz Cheney.