New York City Mayor Eric Adams responded to claims he was buttering up President-elect Donald Trump in an attempt to get “a pardon” for his recent criminal indictment on ABC’s “The View” Friday.
The Democratic mayor faces a five-count indictment on fraud, bribery and corruption charges, stemming from a campaign corruption investigation. Adams pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges in a federal court appearance in September.
Co-host Sunny Hostin asked Adams about allegations he had recently “embraced” Trump in an attempt to get the charges dropped, referring to comments Adams made ahead of the election, scolding the media for calling Trump a “fascist” and even comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
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“Critics are suggesting that you have recently embraced Trump, perhaps because you want either the charges dropped or perhaps a pardon from President-elect Trump. What’s your response?” she asked.
Adams first said he could not comment on the case, since it was still in litigation.
“I think nothing is more challenging than being — not being able to defend yourself in public,” he answered, avoiding the Trump part of the question.
“You can talk about whether or not you believe that your recent embracing of Trump, your critics are saying, is because you hope for a pardon, or you hope to get some sort of charges perhaps dropped,” Hostin shot back.
“Listen, I said it over and over again. I did nothing wrong,” Adams said, continuing to avoid the question.
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“I’ve spent 40 years of my life, 22 of them as a police officer, protecting the children and families of this city. I’m consistent on that. I live my life the way I expect everyday New Yorkers are supposed to live their life. I have a legal team. They’re going to manage that case,” he continued.
“My job is to do what I’ve done since January 1st, 2022. Make sure crime goes down in the city, record number of housing built through the city, turn around our economy and make sure as you leave this place that you could enjoy the safety of the city. That’s my job,” he said.
While on “The View,” Adams doubled down on his defense of Trump and criticism over the media’s extreme rhetoric calling him a “fascist.”
“We reached a point in this country where we no longer want to engage in conversation. They were even calling him Hitler,” Adams told the liberal hosts after they pressed him to “explain” his comment from last month.
“That was an insult to the millions of Jews and others who died — we know what Hitler did and what I said to our country when I’m on the streets talking to my young people who are protesting on college campuses [with] Hamas signs and calling for the destruction of groups, I said we have to bring down this rhetoric,” he said.
“We have to start engaging in conversation. You know, [President] Obama said it right and I agreed. This is not the divided states, this is the United States. We are the greatest country on the globe and people are watching us name-calling.”
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