NEW YORK (AP) — With days to go until the presidential election, the top Democratic official in one of the most liberal cities in America might be expected to spend his time heaping criticism on the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.
But that’s not the approach being taken by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is facing a federal corruption indictment. At a news conference Tuesday, Adams deflected more than a dozen questions about Trump and his policies.
He declined to say whether he would oppose Trump’s plan to launch the largest mass deportation operation in American history, dismissing the removal plan as “hypothetical.”
He also passed up an opportunity to criticize Trump over recent false statements the Republican had made about a group of wrongfully convicted New Yorkers known as the Central Park Five, deferring questions to their lawyers. And he declined to say when he had last spoken to Trump.
Instead, Adams directed ire toward his own party, arguing that it was insulting to ask whether Trump was a fascist and urging leaders to “turn down the rhetoric” ahead of the election.
“With all that’s going on to everyday New Yorkers, we’re asking questions, ‘Is someone a fascist?’ or ‘Is someone a Hitler?’” Adams said. “That’s insulting to me.”
The comments marked the latest defenses of Trump by Adams, a centrist Democrat whose longstanding grievances with his own party have ramped up since he was indicted last month on federal corruption charges. He has since suggested, without providing evidence, that he was targeted by U.S. prosecutors over his criticism of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
If he were to win the White House, Trump could potentially halt the corruption case against Adams or grant the mayor a pardon.
At Tuesday’s press briefing, Adams would not comment on whether he was angling for a possible pardon in the event of a conviction.
Asked who he planned to vote for in the presidential election, Adams referred obliquely to a past endorsement and said he hadn’t changed his mind. But he never said Kamala Harris’s name.
“I’m not going to do an annual endorsement refresher,” Adams said.
But it was his refusal to denounce Trump’s deportation plans that stirred the most anger on Tuesday. Asked directly if he would support or oppose the plan — which Trump has said will be a “bloody story” — Adams said he would not be “entertaining any hypotheticals.”
Some of Adams’ likely opponents in June’s Democratic mayoral primary quickly seized on the comments as proof of an alliance with the Trump administration.
“It’s now clear the mayor believes his political future is tied to the former president’s and he is willing to betray the fundamental values of our city to cozy up to a fascist,” said Zohran Mamdani, a Queens assembly member who is running against Adams in next year’s mayoral primary. “It’s reckless, unacceptable, and wrong.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who would become mayor if Adams were to resign or be removed, called the comments “disgraceful,” adding that Adams “believes in what Trump is saying to the point that he can’t denounce anything the man has said.”
Trump, meanwhile, has praised Adams, thanking him at his rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. “Mayor Adams has been treated very badly,” Trump said, adding, “I have to tell you he’s been really great.”
The rally also featured crude and racist insults, including a joke from a comedian likening Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.”
On Tuesday, Adams said that some of the speakers at the rally had made “inappropriate” comments, but added: “You can’t demonize an entire population based on the actions of those who attend.”
Asked whether he disagreed with any of Trump’s statements, Adams responded tersely: “Next question.”
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