Eric Adams leaves a major Democratic Party fundraiser just a day after congratulating Donald Trump on his victory.
Adams, the Democratic mayor of New York City who has previously denounced the party’s harsh rhetoric against Trump, will not attend “Somos,” a major party fundraiser held in Puerto Rico that he has attended twice in the past .
The mayor congratulated Trump on his victory and said he spoke privately with the newly elected president on Wednesday.
“I communicated with the president yesterday to say that there are many issues here in the city that we want to tackle together with the government. The city must move forward and that is our call.’
It prompted some liberals on social media to wonder if there were more nefarious reasons for the mayor’s call as he awaits a federal trial on corruption charges next April, while both Adams and Trump have had past dealings with each other’s legal problems sympathized with.
Eric Adams leaves a major Democratic Party fundraiser just a day after congratulating Donald Trump on his victory
Adams, the Democratic mayor of New York City who has previously condemned the party’s harsh rhetoric against Trump
One wrote: ‘He voted for Trump 1000,000% and now he’s trying to get a pardon for all his crazy things***.’
“Pardon comes in HOT,” one journalist added.
Another report added that Adams has looked at the pardons issued by Trump at the end of his last term and is jumping at the chance.
“Trump paid absolutely no price for the pardons he issued during his previous presidency — literally the most corrupt series of pardons ever possible in history,” they said.
The federal corruption trial against Adams will begin next April, a judge ruled last week, in the middle of his promised re-election campaign.
U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho set the trial date as Adams returned to Manhattan federal court for a hearing on his attempt to have a key charge in the indictment thrown out that threatens his political future.
Ho said he is confident the April 21, 2025 date will hold, “assuming nothing unexpected happens.”
At the same time, prosecutors said they have still not been able to crack a potentially crucial piece of evidence: Adams’ personal cell phone.
It prompted some liberals on social media to wonder if there were more nefarious reasons for the mayor’s call as he awaits a federal trial on corruption charges next April.
According to his criminal complaint, Adams changed his password just before giving the phone to authorities, then claimed he had forgotten it.
Adams’ attorneys are fighting to dismiss a bribery charge, one of five charges against the first-term Democrat.
They argued that the charges do not meet the U.S. Supreme Court’s recently lowered threshold for the crime and should not be applied to Adams because they involve allegations that date back to before he became mayor.
Trump has in the past pardoned Democratic politicians such as former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
However, Adams told the press on Thursday that he simply feels the city could be chaotic after Trump’s victory and that he should be in charge there instead of fundraising in the Caribbean.
“My flight was booked, my hotel was booked, but I wanted to make sure I’m here,” Adams said Thursday.
Adams attended the conference in 2021 and 2022 and still plans to have multiple allies on the ground, but is now worried about what will happen to the liberal city after Trump’s victory, where the newly elected president has made huge gains with voters.
“There’s a lot to do here, and I need to be here in the coming days as we move forward, as we make these transitions,” the mayor said. “There’s a lot of work I have to do.”
Trump defended Adams at the Al Smith Charity Dinner — which Harris skipped — when he mentioned the mayor’s federal indictment for bribery, fraud and soliciting foreign campaign donations
SOMOS is described as “a leading force in bringing Latino communities together to have positive and transformative impact, resulting in an improvement in the socioeconomic and marital status of all Latinos in New York State and beyond.”
The mayor’s quotes in recent weeks have made him friendlier to the president, to liberals New York Magazine asking, “Why are Trump and Eric Adams playing political football?”
Local outlet Gothamist has wondered more directly, saying: ‘Trump’s presidency offers Mayor Adams a path to a pardon, but it comes with political risks.’
Adams sharply criticized Kamala Harris for her anti-Trump rhetoric in the days leading up to the election.
The mayor was asked about the preparation for Trump’s blockbuster rally at Madison Square Garden.
He was asked if he agreed with Kamala Harris’ statement earlier this week that Trump is a “fascist.”
“I have had these comments thrown at me from a number of political leaders in the city; my answer is ‘No,'” he said of the statements, which were echoed by Joe Biden.
Trump defended Adams at the Al Smith Charity Dinner — which Harris skipped — when he mentioned the mayor’s federal indictment for bribery, fraud and soliciting foreign campaign donations.
The mayor was asked about preparing for Trump’s blockbuster rally at Madison Square Garden and called Trump a ‘fascist’
As in other public comments, Trump was sympathetic to New York Mayor Eric Adams and drew similarities to his own prosecution.
“Mayor Adams: good luck with everything. They went after you,” Trump said as he recognized notables.
“I’d like to make fun of Eric a little, but I’ll be nice. I just want to be nice because I know what it’s like to be prosecuted by the DOJ for speaking out against open borders. We were persecuted,” Trump said after Adams’ indictment on corruption charges and mounting scandals in his inner circle.
Then Trump allowed himself some fun. “But I have to say that I have never met anyone who is vegan and who liked Turkey so much,” referring to the influence spreading accusations around the country.
Adams appeared to return the favor to the former president on Saturday, blushing at comparisons of Trump to the likes of Adolf Hitler.
‘I know what Hitler did, and I know what a fascist regime looks like. “I think, as I have called for again and again, that at the level of conversation we can all lower the temperature,” he added.
He promised heavy security for the president’s meeting in Manhattan, while defending the event itself.
‘This is America. This is New York, and I think it’s important that we give individuals the opportunity to exercise their right to get their message across to New Yorkers,” he said.