NEW YORK – President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he is open to pardoning New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Adams faces a federal criminal bribery case in New York involving the Turkish government, luxury travel benefits and an expedited security inspection of a downtown skyscraper. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and will appear in court in April as he runs for re-election.
“I think he has been treated quite unfairly,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago. “Now I haven’t realized the severity of it yet, but it seems like I was upgraded on a plane years ago – I know probably everyone here has been upgraded.”
Trump – like the Democratic mayor himself – suggested without evidence that Adams’ criminal case was the result of his criticism of President Joe Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis.
The Republican president-elect has long said the charges against him were also motivated by political retaliation.
More than 225,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since spring 2022, a wave that has strained the municipal social safety net. Adams set aside $6.65 billion for related services.
“I didn’t say it as a prediction, a bit flippantly, but I said it. I said charges would be filed against him,” Trump said, echoing accusations of a politicized Justice Department that Biden echoed when he pardoned his son, Hunter Biden. “And a few months later he was indicted. So I would definitely look at (a pardon).”
