Trump Says He Would Consider Pardoning Eric Adams

Adams, new Press Secretary T Snitz Esq, announced that the Mayor will be hosting a Xmas party for ICE representatives this week at the Governor's Mansion. "Voldemort will be the guest of honor. I love his Lordship!".

BTW, Adams is considering joining the GOP.

Trump Says He Would Consider Pardoning Eric Adams

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s comment reflects an unusual relationship that Mr. Adams, the New York mayor, has encouraged as his federal corruption trial nears.

During a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump said that he would possibly pardon Mayor Eric Adams of New York City if he was convicted on federal corruption charges.

By Emma G. Fitzsimmons, NY Times

Dec. 16, 2024

The question has hung over New York City politics for months: If Mayor Eric Adams was convicted on federal corruption charges, would Donald J. Trump pardon him?

On Monday, Mr. Trump said he would consider it.

Mr. Trump was asked at a wide-ranging news conference in Florida whether he would consider pardoning Mr. Adams, and he replied yes. The president-elect said that the mayor of New York had been treated “pretty unfairly” by federal prosecutors.

“Being upgraded in an airplane many years ago — I know probably everybody here has been upgraded,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Adams, a Democrat, was indicted on federal corruption charges in September and is expected to go on trial in April.

The mayor is accused of receiving thousands of dollars’ worth of travel benefits from Turkish officials over several years, including flight upgrades on Turkish Airlines. Mr. Adams was also accused of soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and helping obtain approvals for a new Turkish Consulate despite fire safety concerns.

Mr. Adams has found a political ally in Mr. Trump, a Republican who has defended Mr. Adams and said that both men were “persecuted” by federal prosecutors.

The mayor said at a news conference on Monday held shortly after Mr. Trump’s comments that he should not have been charged.

“I have an attorney that is going to look at every avenue to ensure I get justice,” he said. “I did nothing wrong.”

The mayor’s defense lawyer, Alex Spiro, has also represented Elon Musk, a top adviser and donor to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Adams added that both Mr. Trump and President Biden agreed with him that the Justice Department has been politicized — an argument Mr. Adams has made in the past in reference to Mr. Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s remarks.

Mr. Adams has praised parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda and said that he hopes to work with him on a crackdown on immigrants who are accused of crimes, raising alarm among many Democratic elected officials in New York.

Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller who is running for mayor in the Democratic primary in June, criticized the mayor’s coziness with Mr. Trump.

“It looks like Mayor Adams’s campaign for a pardon is going a lot better than his campaign to be re-elected as mayor,” Mr. Stringer said.

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On Monday, Mr. Adams was denied more than $4 million in public matching funds for his re-election campaign amid the scrutiny of his fund-raising practices.

Mr. Adams, a former police officer who was once a registered Republican, recently opened the door to becoming a Republican again. Two of his advisers have been quietly trying to secure a ticket for him to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration in Washington next month.

Mr. Adams said on Monday that no one at City Hall had requested an invitation, but that people in his orbit might have raised the possibility. The mayor said that he had not spoken to Mr. Trump since greeting him at an event at Madison Square Garden last month, and that their discussions had focused solely on improving the city, and not on a potential pardon.

Mr. Trump said that he would review the details of the mayor’s case. But he repeated his claim that he had predicted that Mr. Adams would be indicted after the mayor criticized the Biden administration over an influx of more than 200,000 migrants into the city.

Mr. Adams has similarly argued that he was targeted by federal prosecutors because of his public statements about the migrant crisis.

In October, Mr. Trump and Mr. Adams attended a charity event in Manhattan where Mr. Trump expressed empathy for the mayor’s situation and attacked the Justice Department.

“I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the D.O.J. for speaking out against open borders,” Mr. Trump said. “We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric.”

Mr. Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that one of his first acts as president would be to pardon people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault.