Trump Says He Would Consider Pardon for NYC Mayor Eric Adams

President-elect Donald Trump told reporters at a press conference on Monday at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, that he would consider pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted on federal corruption charges in September.

The indictment alleged that Adams exchanged favors for Turkey in return for campaign contributions that were then used to obtain matching campaign funds for the city. It also alleged that he obtained benefits such as hotel upgrades.

Adams has denied the charges — which some legal observers have described as flimsy, even suggesting that they may have been the result of an overly aggressive and politically motivated federal prosecutor’s office in New York.

Trump responded “Yeah, I would,” when asked if he would consider pardoning Adams. He described the charges against Adams as about having been “upgraded in an airplane many years ago,” adding: “I think everybody here has been upgraded.”

Trump noted that he believed Adams was treated unfairly once he “went against what was happening” with President Joe Biden’s border policy, which brought many illegal migrants to New York City.

Adams met last week with Tom Homan, who President-elect Trump has chosen to be the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He has shown a willingness to cooperate with Trump on addressing the ongoing migration crisis in the U.S.

President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, earlier this month, and added 39 more pardons and 1499 commutations last week — some of them to criminals who had committed very serious crimes.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.