On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump expressed his willingness to consider it Pardon of New York Mayor Eric Adamswho is facing federal corruption charges. The mayor, who was indicted in September, is accused of receiving travel benefits, including flight upgrades, from Turkish officials.
During a press conference in Florida, when asked whether a pardon for Adams would be considered, Trump responded “yes” and added that the mayor had been treated “pretty unfairly” by the Justice Department.
Trump said:
Upgraded on an airplane many years ago – I know everyone here has probably been upgraded.
Trump says he will consider pardoning Eric Adams pic.twitter.com/wXtDNugsoT
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 16, 2024
While Trump expressed support for Adams, he made it clear that he would need to review the details of the case before making a final decision.
The two men agree on their mutual criticism of the Biden administration, both over the political weaponization of the Justice Department and the federal response to the border crisis. Adams, a Democrat, has been vocal about the immigration crisis in New York City, which has led to an influx of more than 200,000 illegal immigrants. Adams has vowed to support the Trump administration’s efforts to carry out deportations, while Trump has repeatedly suggested that the charges against Adams may be politically motivated because the mayor has been vocal in his criticism of the Biden administration on immigration.
In October, at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation DinnerAt a Catholic charity event in Manhattan that has become almost mandatory for presidential candidates, Trump said:
I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the Justice Department for speaking out against open borders. We were followed, Eric. I was followed, and so were you, Eric.
Adams, a former police officer who once registered as a Republican in the 1990s, did so recently indicated at the possibility of returning to the GOP. Behind the scenes, some of him Advisors work to secure a ticket that he will be able to attend Trump’s upcoming inauguration, a sign of possible changes in his political loyalties and future ambitions.
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Adams could join a growing list of defendants whose pardon is a top priority for the modern POTUS. In Trump’s most recent Interview with TIME Magazinewhere he was declared Person of the Year, the President-elect declared that he would begin pardoning the January 6 defendants within his first hour in office, saying:
Well, we’re going to look at each individual case, and we’re going to do it very quickly, and it’s going to start in the first hour that I’m in office. And the expansive majority of them shouldn’t be in prison. The expansive majority should not be in prison, and they have suffered greatly.
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Later in the interview, Trump clarified the schedule and indicated that it would be one of his first acts in office:
I’ll watch J6 at the beginning, maybe the first nine minutes.
Adams is expected to go to trial in April.
