Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on Bloomberg TV’s 'The Close'

December 16, 2024

Romaine Bostick: I'm Romaine Bostick.

Alix Steel: And I'm Alix Steel. And thank you for joining us for this special cross-platform coverage as we take a deeper dive into the city that Wall Street calls home, New York City. Joining us now to discuss everything impacting New York from crypto to immigration to a potential pardon from President-elect Donald Trump is Eric Adams, mayor of New York City. Mayor, we have a ton to get through. Thank you so much for taking the time. We know you're quite busy.

I want to start on the topic of immigration in particular. New York City is a sanctuary city. Does that get reversed anytime soon so that [the] NYPD can help deport immigrants?

Mayor Eric Adams: And it is so important. That term has been thrown around without any real understanding of the meaning of it. The sanctuary part of it is to state to immigrants, undocumented, and whomever, that utilize our services. Have your children educated in schools, call law enforcement if you're a victim of a crime, if you have a right for medical care. That is what we believe in.

What the problem was is that this was in place since Mayor Koch, Mayor Bloomberg, but the changes that were made under the previous administration, that prevent law enforcement and any city agency from collaborating with ICE for deportation reasons, I just don't believe that. Those who commit serious violent crimes, we should collaborate with ICE to make sure they are not on our streets committing threats and dangers to migrants, asylum seekers, and everyday New Yorkers.

Steel: Okay, so mayor, that's a yes to revamp the sanctuary laws, if I'm hearing that correctly. Now, you met with Trump's border czar last week, if I'm also remembering correctly. What have you both discussed? What is the roadmap going forward?

Mayor Adams: To collaborat[e]. I've stated it from the beginning. I was talking about this even prior to the election. It's about public safety to me, and we're going to sit down with our team and his team and work out the plan of dealing with those who are dangerous and should not be in our city or country.

Bostick: When we talk about, though, the methods that will be used, there was a lot of hay, of course, made about your meeting last week with Tom Homan, the cooperation that you will have to have one way or another with the Trump administration.

As you know, mayor, a lot of the issues with the first Trump administration and the way that they dealt with undocumented immigrants wasn't so much the kicking them out, but it was a lot of the methods used to round them up here. Will you be cooperating on the roundup part of that?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think that the border czar would articulate exactly what their methodologies are and how they're going to operationalize what they want to do. In the city, we're clear. I want to take all the anxiety away from our migrants, asylum seekers, and undocumented individuals. Continue to use the service that your tax dollars are paying for.

I am zeroing in on those who are committing repeated violent crimes. I've said this over and over again, and let's be clear. The American public have communicated loudly and clearly, we have to fix our border, we have to keep dangerous people out of the country, and that is why they voted for this president to do so.

Bostick: They certainly did, but according to a Siena poll, a lot of those people also voted, not just to deal with the violent immigrants, but pretty much all, and some of that has to do with the budget pressures on this city as a result of all those folks coming in. Almost $7 billion spent just since mid-2022 on shelters. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of migrants still in this city using city services. Can New York City afford that?

Mayor Adams: No, they cannot. Like you indicated, $6.5 billion. You know what I could have done with $200 million of that? I could have gone after those chronically absent young people, hundreds of millions of dollars we could put into our older adults. These were taxpayers' dollars that were used for a national problem. White House only gave us roughly a little over $200 million of the $6.5 billion, and we can't. Look at what's happening to Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, all of these big cities that had to take on this crisis. It was wrong, and we need to make sure that it doesn't continue to happen.

Bostick: Did you have to take in all those migrants, Mr. Mayor? There was a lot of questions, particularly on some of those migrants being either bussed here or shipped here, rather than them coming here voluntarily. I mean, there were some mechanisms in place where you could have turned those folks around. Why didn't you?

Mayor Adams: No, and I'm so glad you said that, because that was one of the most misunderstood. People would stop me every day on the streets and say, wait a minute, what are you doing to us, Eric? I had no authorization to stop the buses from coming in, that would violate federal law. I had no authorization not to give them a place to sleep, three meals, and the other amenities. That's against local laws. And I had no authorization to allow them to work, that would violate federal law. I couldn't even allow them to volunteer and give them a stipend to clean streets, remove graffiti and other services. The federal government said, no, you cannot, Eric. So no, we did not have any other choice.

We were successful, though. So out of those 220,000, 170,000, we were able to allow them to go on the next step of their journey. They're no longer in our care. They're no longer being paid for [by] taxpayers' dollars because we took the right steps.

Steel: So let me just clarify for a second. So when we were talking about the New York City sanctuary laws, that would be for undocumented criminals, right? But then what about these people that we're talking about, who were bused in, who are still on a New York City payroll? What happens to them?

Mayor Adams: I didn't quite understand your question. You said the sanctuary law is for anyone that's in the city that's not documented, stating you have the right to use taxpayer services. When an undocumented person walks into a store and buys a loaf of bread, those taxes, he's paying if he's documented or not. So you should have the right to use the services that your tax dollars are paying for.

What I am saying [is] those who are committing repeated violent acts, they should not be in our city to be released on our streets to continue to carry out those violent acts against longstanding New Yorkers and migrants and asylum seekers.

Steel: Yeah, I guess my question was distinguishing that versus like the families that I see in the subway who are undocumented, but clearly not a harm to society. What are you going to do about them?

Mayor Adams: We want to give them the services they need-

Steel: But we can't afford it, right? But you just said we can't afford those things.

Mayor Adams: No, we want to give them the services they need and show them the next step on the American journey like other immigrants. Immigrants have come to this city for hundreds and hundreds of years. I don't care if it's the early Irish that built our subway system, the early Italians, the early Caribbeans. Immigrants have always come to this city, but they found their way. And that's what we did to 170,000 migrants and asylum seekers. The city cannot pick up that tab. We need to put them on a pathway to find their way to pursue the American dream.

Bostick: All right. Mr. Mayor, I do have to ask you about the federal investigations and the indictment against you. First and foremost, do you plan to follow through on running for re-election?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I am. I made that clear over and over again. People stated, you know, Eric step down, those small numbers of people. I stepped up.

Look at the numbers and what we've accomplished in this city, particularly for someone like Bloomberg Station. We have more jobs in the city's history. We brought down crime. Our office employees are back to work. We continue to break records after records. I can do my job. My legal team is going to handle the case.

Bostick: Well, they'll handle the case. But is that not a distraction? And what if you lose the case?

Mayor Adams: You said it's not a distraction. Look at the number[s]. People said it was going to be a distraction. I'm moving forward and I'm going to continue to deliver for the people of the City of New York.

We just passed the most comprehensive housing reform in the history of the city. And I'm not going to speculate because I'm not going to lose because I did nothing wrong. I got a great legal team and they're going to handle the legal proceedings.

Bostick: What does the team around you know, I'm not talking about your legal team. What does your administrative team look like right now? You've lost a lot of folks. You had another top advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, resign today with her lawyer saying that they think that she will be indicted as well. You've had to dig deep into the bench to find a new police commissioner. I mean, who's left around you that is competent, that is capable, that can see out your vision if you are reelected?

Mayor Adams: Well let's first look at what we have done that shows our level of competency. As I indicated from our employment to our housing, our success to bringing down crime, we didn't have to reach deep into our bench. We had a large number of people who wanted the coveted job of being a police commissioner and I picked the right person based on all that we have. All of my deputy mayors, [just two] left. So when you talk about large number of people, we have over 300,000 city employees that are getting up every day doing their job.

There's some sensationalism, but those who decided that they wanted to move on with their lives. But when you look at my Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Meera Joshi, my chief of staff, they're still in place doing the job that we asked them to do. Difficult times come, but what could you do to overcome them and continue to move the city forward? And let's face it, we have been doing just that.

Steel: Mayor, we heard today from President-Elect Donald Trump at a Mar-a-Lago press conference that he would consider potentially giving you a pardon. Can you confirm that your lawyer has been in contact with the Trump administration on that?

Mayor Adams: No, I cannot confirm that. My lawyer is handling the case. You know, the president also stated that he felt I was unfairly treated. President Biden stated that his Justice Department has been politicized.

President Trump said that. I said that. We have a large number of Americans who have been a victim of this politicizing of the Justice Department. We have adults in this country that were placed on the FBI watch list because they were advocating for their children and families.

So I'm just reiterating what President Biden stated about his Justice Department. So my lawyer is handling that. So my lawyers will look at every avenue to ensure that we get justice. I should not have been charged. I did nothing wrong, and I'm going to continue to lead the city.

Steel: So just inferring here, if you are offered a pardon, you will take it?

Mayor Adams: There's no inference. I was very clear in my response to you. I have an attorney that's managing, ensuring that I [get] the justice that I deserve, and he will handle that. And if you have any questions, you should give those questions to him.

Bostick: Alright, Mr. Mayor, one final question for you. And this is really just about the health of the city. Of course, we all remember just how hard this city was hit by the pandemic. Anyone walking around, particularly in Manhattan, you can see it's come back in a big way, but it's not quite there.

We've been having a lot of conversations with economists, with business leaders, with Wall Street, with real estate developers, all saying that there still is a lot more work that needs to be done to get this New York City economy back to where it was pre-pandemic. What types of assurances or promises can you give to some of those folks here that we are on that path?

Mayor Adams: And that's a great question. You know, it's difficult for people to believe. We're probably just two years out of COVID, where the city was shut down completely. Two years. More jobs in the city's history. Those who determine how well the city is being managed, we call them bond raters. They raise my bond, and then they doubled down on the fact that it should remain raised.

You're seeing business leaders across this city talk about the relationship they have with City Hall and the collaboration we have together and we're going to continue to do so. So within two years of coming over, the city being shut down, we have returned to the greatness that we looked at. Fourth largest tourism in the history of the city, continued decrease in crime. What our business leaders have told me, Eric, we need to have jobs up, crime down. That's what we've done. Case closed. We're moving in the right direction.

Bostick: All right, Eric, we have to leave it there. We're going to catch up with you next year and see if some of that still stands. Of course. Eric Adams, he is the mayor of the financial capital of the world right here in New York City.

###

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.