President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Eric Adams had an appointment in the hallowed halls of the White House this past Friday. A day, mind you, exactly when the Justice Department was poised to unveil the long-kept documents of Mayor Adams’ dismissed case of corruption.
Way back in early April, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho gave the gavel’s final say, tossing the corruption accusations against Adams into the bin, an act as irreversible as the setting sun.
The question that keeps bouncing around my mind is, what will these about-to-be-unveiled court papers reveal? There’s a brewing anticipation that they might cast a beam of clarity on the allegations that the Mayor accepted under-the-table gifts from Turkish officials — a not-so-pleasant chapter reported by The New York Times.
Mayor Adams has always seen this case as a political backlash, a sharp-edged boomerang for his critiques of the migrant crisis under former President Joe Biden’s watch. A case that was brought to the forefront last September.
It was a surprise when Adams found an unlikely ally in the Trump administration, advocating for the case’s dismissal. More so, Adams permitted Immigration and Customs Enforcement to set up shop at Rikers Island, New York’s largest prison, aligning with Trump’s focus on detaining and deporting illegal migrants with criminal records.
Consider this perspective for a moment. Friday’s meeting marked the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Adams since their January rendezvous at Mar-a-Lago, reported by Politico. As the clock struck 3 p.m., Adams was to step into Trump’s office to deliberate on “New York City priorities,” as per the Times.
From where I sit, the landscape looks like this. After the dismissal of corruption charges, Adams announced his decision not to run as a Democrat for reelection, rather choosing to stand as an independent, leading a new party with a keen focus on public safety.
In a twist of fate, it was revealed last month that Adams’ transportation department is partnering with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to challenge the Trump administration’s move to block congestion pricing. Steadier than a cypress in a storm, Mayor Adams continues to navigate the choppy waters of American politics.