Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday refused to say much of anything about President Donald Trump. Adams was asked for his thoughts on a slew of executive orders the 47th president signed Monday night.
“There are a host of EOs [executive orders] that were done. And I do EO’s and people sometimes don’t agree with my EOs and there’s one thing I want to be very clear on is the balance of power in this country,” Adams said. “He has the balance of power of use his EOs.”
Trump’s executive orders included an order pardoning Capitol rioters and an attempt at ending birthright citizenship. Adams had little to say.
“If I do disagree, I will communicate directly with him on them. I don’t want to be part of what feeds the anxiety of going back-and-forth in this public discourse that we’re seeing,” he said.
Adams’ continued non-aggression pact with Trump comes one day after he attended the president’s inauguration and as his federal corruption trial looms in April.
One president the mayor has been critical of in the past is Joe Biden. Adams called out Biden repeatedly for a lack of help on the migrant crisis.
Adams defended his previous comments, saying in part that he initially supported Biden. The mayor had called himself the “Biden of Brooklyn” before their relationship broke down.
“You shouldn’t start out the gate criticizing. You should start out starting to collaborate, starting to cooperate. So the same thing I did for President Biden, I’m doing for this president," he said.
Unlike the mayor, Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t pull punches on Trump’s birthright citizenship order.
“These are literally people born in the state of New York. They’re born here, they don’t know any other place. So this is an attack on our values and we are working closely with our attorney general’s office," she said.
On Tuesday, state Attorney General Letitia James announced that New York joined a multi-state lawsuit to try to stop the executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, which is covered by the 14th Amendment.
Meanwhile, Adams provided little details on how the city plans to protect immigrants other than to insist he wants immigration authorities to target those committing crimes. Trump has said he wants to deport all immigrants who are not here legally.
“We’re there, focused. People who commit these violent crimes must be addressed and that’s our conversation with ICE,” Adams said.
In a taped interview with conservative journalist Tucker Carlson, the mayor had tough words for his own party.
“People often say, well, you know you don’t sound like a Democrat. And you seem to have left the party. No, the party left me and left working-class people,” Adams said.
The mayor faces a crowded group of challengers in the Democratic mayoral primary in June.