Mayor Adams is traveling to Florida for a Friday meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at his private residence amid concern the incoming president’s immigration and fiscal policies could have a major impact on New Yorkers.
The meeting also comes as Trump, who’s set to be inaugurated Monday, is openly entertaining pardoning Adams as he faces federal corruption charges.
In a statement late Thursday, Fabien Levy, Adams’ spokesman, said the mayor has “made quite clear his willingness to work with President-elect Trump” and that they plan to discuss “New Yorkers’ priorities” during their sit-down.
Adams met privately last month with Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming “border czar” who has vowed to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants across the country. After that meeting, Adams said he shares Homan’s “desire” to expel immigrants who commit serious crimes from the country.
The mayor’s Friday meeting also comes as New York is bracing for Trump’s incoming administration to potentially strip the city of federal funds, as he has threatened to do should it not cooperate in his planned immigration crackdown.
“The mayor looks forward to having a productive conversation with the incoming president on how we can move our city and country forward,” Levy said in a statement.
Levy wouldn’t disclose the location of the meet.
But a source briefed on the mayor’s plans confirmed to the Daily News that the meeting’s expected to take place at Mar-a-Lago, the soon-to-be president’s private club and residence in Palm Beach. The New York Times first reported the meeting would take place at Mar-a-Lago.
Adams was already set to depart for Florida Thursday night, and a City Hall official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed taxpayer funds will be used to pay for the trip. An exact price-tag wasn’t immediately available.
The mayor is expected to be the only Adams administration official in the meeting with Trump, the official said. He’s expected to return to New York on Friday evening.
It was not immediately clear if anyone from Trump’s team will join the meeting.
The sit-down, set to take place just 72 hours before Trump’s inauguration, comes as Adams is in a politically perilous position, under indictment, reeling from historically low approval ratings and facing a sprawling field of challengers in June’s Democratic mayoral primary. Several of Adams’ challengers seized on the Trump meeting news to assail the mayor.
Manhattan federal prosecutors indicted Adams in September on criminal charges alleging he took illegal campaign cash and bribes from Turkish government operatives in exchange for doing political favors. Adams has pleaded not guilty and is expected to stand trial in Manhattan Federal Court in April, just weeks before June’s mayoral primary.
Trump, the first convicted felon to become president, has sympathized with Adams over his indictment, claiming without evidence that his legal troubles are political payback by the Justice Department due to the mayor’s criticism of President Biden’s handling of the national migrant crisis.
Last month, Trump also said he would consider pardoning Adams of his alleged crimes once he’s back in the Oval Office. “I think he was treated pretty unfairly,” Trump told reporters at a Mar-a-Lago press conference on Dec. 16.
Asked whether he would accept a pardon from Trump, Adams has said his legal team is looking at “every avenue to ensure I get justice.”
Meantime, Adams has also generally steered clear of criticizing the incoming president, angering a number of fellow Democrats.
Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer, a Democrat who chairs the City Council’s Oversight Committee, questioned the mayor’s decision to meet with Trump.
“New Yorkers know there is no such thing as a ‘productive conversation with the incoming president,’” Brewer wrote in a post on Bluesky.
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