Tag: Carlson

In an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that aired on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams doubled down on his claims that federal prosecutors targeted him because of his criticism of President Joe Biden’s handling of what he considered a crisis at the U.S. southern border.

In his most detailed revelations to date about his conversations with former White House officials, Adams claimed that Biden and his aides told him to tone down his comments and deal with an influx of migrants to help the party in the upcoming national election.

“Basically, be a good Democrat, Eric,” Adams said. “That was the basic overall theme.”

He said that one of Biden’s aides told him, “Listen, this is like a gallstone. It’ll pass.”

The roughly 50-minute interview with Carlson, a former Fox News host and well-known ally of President Donald Trump, aired on the first full day of the second Trump administration. The previous day, the mayor canceled his appearances at Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in New York City to accept a last-minute invitation to Trump’s inauguration.

The mayor said he spoke to Julie Chávez Rodríguez, formerly Biden’s campaign manager, and Tom Perez, then director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He also cited two meetings with Biden himself.

“It appeared to me there was a bigger focus on the national election and not on what it was doing to the cities,” Adams told Carlson, referring to the Biden administration’s response to the migrant influx that city officials estimate as costing $7 billion.

A former White House spokesperson said he would review the mayor’s claims.

Adams also further distanced himself from the Democratic Party, saying he was “demonized” for promoting the interests of working class New Yorkers.

“People often say, ‘Well, you know, you don’t sound like a Democrat and you know, you seemed to have left the party,” Adams said. “No, the party left me and it left working-class people.”

After the inauguration on Monday, Adams had lunch with four New York Republicans: state Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, Assemblymember William Barclay and former Reps. Mark Molinaro and Anthony D’Esposito, Ortt said. The event was not on the mayor’s schedule.

“My takeaway is that he’s running,” Ortt told reporters at the state Capitol. “Obviously he needs to take care of some things.”

Ortt said that Adams did not discuss switching parties.

In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, the mayor appeared to lean closer to Trump’s orbit while facing federal corruption charges. He met with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan in a meeting brokered by another conservative TV celebrity, Dr. Phil; approached Trump at a Madison Square Garden UFC fight; flew to Florida to have lunch with Trump at his golf course near Mar-a-Lago and has generally avoided criticizing the president.

Meanwhile, the mayor has framed his federal corruption case as political retribution for his past criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant influx. Trump has said he would consider pardoning Adams.

During a press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, Adams declined to opine on a raft of orders Trump signed on his first day in office. Those included withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, pardoning nearly 1,600 people prosecuted for attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, stripping federal funding from so-called “sanctuary” cities that include New York City and revoking birthright citizenship.

“We’re not going to agree on everything,” Adams said, but he noted that the president had the power to use executive orders.

Kayla Mamelak, Adams’ press secretary, declined to comment on the mayor’s remarks before the full interview aired.

But the mayor’s words immediately drew criticism from Democrats seeking to unseat him and intensified speculation that Adams, a former registered Republican, might seek to return to the GOP.

​​“It is becoming abundantly clear that Eric Adams has neither the interest nor a path to being the Democratic nominee for mayor in 2025,” said Zohran Mamdani, a Queens state assemblymember who is challenging the mayor in the Democratic primary. “He will either return to his former status as a Republican and seek employment in the Trump administration or its affiliated media, or run outside of the Democratic primary for a second term and play spoiler in the November general election.”

“It’s time for him to make his intentions plain,” Mamdani added.

Adams has previously said he plans to run as a Democrat, although he has at times been coy about his allegiance to the party. He has until Feb. 14 to switch parties. Alternatively, he can seek permission from the city’s five county party leaders to run as a Democrat on the Republican party line. The deadline for petitioning to get on the ballot is April.

Another Democratic primary challenger, city Comptroller Brad Lander, sought to paint Adams as disloyal to his party. He compared Adams to Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who has long been rumored to be a potential mayoral candidate.

“A New York Democrat hasn’t sold out his party this bad since Andrew Cuomo formed the IDC,” Lander said, referring to a group of Democrats in the state Legislature who collaborated with Republicans during Cuomo’s tenure.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a Brooklyn Democrat and another competitor in the mayoral race, took a jab at the mayor’s circle of MAGA acquaintances.

“If you’re busy tonight, you can catch him on the Steve Bannon podcast tomorrow,” he said on X.

At the inauguration, Adams was seen with celebrity fighters Jake and Logan Paul; Charles Herbster, a Republican candidate for governor in Nebraska; and Brock Pierce, a cryptocurrency investor who previously flew the mayor to Puerto Rico on his private jet.

The mayor’s decision to attend Trump’s inauguration drew scrutiny from Democrats, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the mayor’s staunchest allies.

“​​To say you’re not going to raise your eyebrows would be being dishonest,” Sharpton said on MSNBC. “I think this is going to cause a lot of us to say, ‘What is this all about?’”

Adams played down the critique when asked about Sharpton’s comments on Tuesday.

“He will tell you Eric and I disagree on some things and we agree on others,” Adams said. “But we have a long, rich history.”

Jon Campbell contributed reporting.