Mayor Eric Adams speaks to the press during the weekly briefing at the City Hall about the ongoing programs in New York City.
Lev Radin | Lightrocket | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that he would “certainly look at” issuing a pardon for New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“I think that he was treated pretty unfairly,” the incoming Republican president said of the Democratic mayor, who has pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges.
Speaking to reporters in Florida at his resort home Mar-a-Lago, Trump cautioned that he has not seen “the gravity of it all,” suggesting he had not closely studied the evidence against Adams.
But he went on to downplay the charges against the mayor, suggesting Adams was being accused of things as anodyne as accepting an upgrade on an international flight.
Adams, 64, was accused in September of accepting gifts, including luxury travel, from wealthy foreign businesspeople over nearly a decade. He was also charged with conspiracy related to potentially illegal campaign contributions for his 2021 mayoral bid.
Trump also seemed to suggest politics could be involved in the prosecution.
Adams “essentially went against what was happening with the migrants coming in” and “made some pretty strong statements,” Trump said.
“I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted soon,'” Trump recounted, adding that he had made the comment “light heartedly.”
“And a few months later, he got indicted,” Trump said. “So yeah, I would certainly look at” a pardon.
Adams has also claimed that he has been targeted over his criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
As recently as Sunday, Adams said he is “not communicating with the president about a pardon.”
The remarks at the Monday morning press conference came after Trump and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son announced a commitment to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.