Donald Trump found common ground with a Democrat at a charity event in New York City on Thursday evening, where he commiserated with the city’s deeply unpopular mayor, Eric Adams, who is also facing a federal criminal charge, over what Trump said was their victimization by an armed Ministry of Justice. .
In his remarks at the Al Smith dinner, Trump said, “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,” referring to Adams, who was in attendance. ‘We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so were you, Eric.”
Trump wished Adams “good luck,” as the mayor, standing to the right of the stage, grinned.
“They came after you, Mayor. Oh boy, I knew that, nine and a half months ago I said… ‘He just said something about it, about the government, he could be indicted at any moment,'” Trump said, referring to Adams’ criticism of President How Joe Biden deals with the border. ‘And guess what happened? But you’re going to win, I think you’re going to win.”
Trump has often falsely claimed that the Biden administration has weaponized the Justice Department against him to damage his presidential campaign. (Trump is charged with 44 felonies in two separate federal cases related to the retention of classified documents and his role in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress; he has pleaded not guilty.) Adams has also suggested, without evidence, that he was indicted on federal bribery and campaign finance offenses for criticizing Biden’s immigration policies. (Adams has also pleaded not guilty to all charges.)
My colleague Ja’han Jones previously pointed out Adams’ strikingly Trumpian tendencies. With Adams becoming the city’s first sitting mayor to face a criminal charge and adopting one of Trump’s favorite lies in response, Trump is right to note that two men now have even more in common.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
