When Mayor Eric Adams descended arriving in Palm Beach Thursday evening to meet with President-elect Donald J. Trump, he said he simply wanted to advance the interests of New York City.
But the context was impossible to ignore: Mr. Adams, facing a federal corruption trial in April and a prison sentence, was going to visit the only person in the United States who could pardon him and who had indicated a potential risk. . interest in doing so.
The taxpayer-funded trip to Florida was accompanied by significant political intrigue. For Mr. Trump, a Republican, the meeting could give him leverage in New York, a place that is generally hostile to him and his party. For the mayor, a Democrat, the visit carried even more perils.
Mr. Adams’ poll numbers are in the tank. He faces several credible primary challengers. And his overtures toward Mr. Trump risk harming the mayor’s remaining hopes of winning a second term as mayor this year.
“Politics is clearly unnecessary,” said Howard Wolfson, political strategist for Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor. “But it’s not politics that leads the journey. Politics is clearly subsidiary to the desire not to go to prison.”
Indeed, Mr. Adams is hamstrung by an apparent conflict of interest that voters have no easy way to sort out.
In September, Mr. Adams was indicted on five federal corruption charges, including bribery, wire fraud and soliciting contributions from foreign nationals. He has pleaded not guilty and has always maintained, without evidence, that he was the victim of a plot by the Biden administration to punish him for criticizing the outgoing president’s immigration policies.
In last weeksA federal grand jury has heard additional evidence against him, which could indicate more charges are coming.
His trial is scheduled for April, just weeks before the Democratic mayoral primary. If a jury finds Mr. Adams guilty, he could face prison time. In 2021, the city council overwhelmingly passed a law that bars anyone convicted of public corruption from holding office. The law is being challenged in court.
This fall, Mr. Trump, who was convicted of 34 crimes in May, indicated that he felt a kinship with Mr. Adams: “We were persecuted, Eric,” Mr. Trump said. at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.
Starting Monday, after being sworn in, Mr. Trump will have the power to pardon the mayor. Mr. Adams said he might even attend the inaugural festivities in Washington, although his team has not confirmed any travel plans.
New York City and its 8.3 million residents also have many challenges. The federal government sends billion dollars to New York City each year for education, housing, child care and hospitals. More than 400,000 undocumented immigrants live in cities. As mayor of America’s largest metropolis, Mr. Adams has a natural interest in developing a working relationship with the man ready to govern the nation.
In a statement Friday evening, Mr. Adams said he and the president-elect discussed issues important to New Yorkers, including manufacturing jobs in the Bronx and the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
“To be clear, we have not discussed my legal brief, and those who suggest that the mayor of the nation’s largest city should not meet with the new president to discuss our city’s priorities due to inaccurate speculation or because we come from different countries the parties clearly care more about politics than people,” Mr Adams said.
The political problem for the mayor is that voters have no way of knowing whether he is in Palm Beach to defend the city or for himself, said Basil Smikle, a professor in the University’s School of Professional Studies. from Columbia and Democratic political strategist.
No city officials traveled with Mr. Adams. Voters, Mr. Smikle continued, might reasonably ask: “What did Donald Trump promise to get his pardon?” Did he sell out the city politically or politically?
There was little political risk for Mr. Trump at this meeting. After an election in which he made some of his biggest gains among black and Latino voters, a prominent black ally like Mr. Adams could help shore up the president-elect’s support in communities where he still largely remains unpopular.
There may, however, be some risks in granting Mr. Adams a pardon. The mayor’s political fortunes appear troubled whether Mr. Trump intervenes or not, and his popularity in New York may not be strong enough for Mr. Trump to benefit from his help.
Some of Mr. Trump’s Republican supporters are upset by the nature of the corruption charges against Mr. Adams and as the president-elect prepares to pardon countless of his supporters who participated in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. , giving one to Mr. Adams might be a bridge too far.
A spokesperson for Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the president-elect’s advisers have previously said they view Mr. Adams’ situation as reinforcing Mr. Trump’s own narrative that he was a victim of the so-called deep state.
Mr. Trump also never stopped being obsessed with his hometown. And he hasn’t always made conventional political choices.
Some New York City voters are unlikely to look favorably on a trip to visit Mr. Trump in Florida, which was only added to the mayor’s public agenda after The New York Times reported that this was happening. The mayor’s opponents quickly cast it as an obvious act of obedience that could damage Mr. Adams’s political image.
When he was elected, Mr. Adams frequently referred to his own “swagger,” a characteristic he said would help lift New York out of the pandemic doldrums. With his taste for nightlife, he sought to send the message that his city was back because he was in charge.
A short flight to Florida could jeopardize that.
“No New Yorker wants to see their mayor kiss the ring,” Mr. Smikle said. “We’re not that kind of town. We are the largest city in the world. People come to us. We are not going to them. If you go down to Mar a Lago to kiss the ring, what happened to that swagger you were talking about?
Even with record poll numbers, Mr. Adams still enjoys support from his base of black voters, some of whom question whether he is being treated fairly by federal prosecutors. A New York Times/Siena College Poll in late October, it was found that while only 26 percent of New York City voters approved of the mayor’s job, that figure rose to 41 percent among black voters.
An adviser to the mayor argued that a pardon would not necessarily spell Mr. Adams’ political death knell, provided it happened relatively quickly, and that Mr. Adams could spend the months leading up to the primaries reminding voters why they elected him the first time.
Even if Mr. Adams lost voters because of their distaste for Mr. Trump, the adviser said, he would stand ready to pick up votes from the Latino, Asian and Orthodox Jewish communities, where Mr. Trump enjoys some support .
If Mr. Adams jeopardizes his status as New York’s Democratic mayor, he has other options.
For a time in the 1990s, Mr. Adams was a registered Republican. He could theoretically run as a Republican again. But there’s no guarantee he would win in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans six to one. Some New York Republicans threw cold water on the idea that they would welcome Mr. Adams into their fold, and he maintained that he would run for re-election as a Democrat.
Yet, as with most things in modern Republican politics, Mr. Trump could single-handedly blur these positions.
Mr. Adams could also abandon the mayoralty altogether and carve out a new political destiny as a black MAGA Republican.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a prominent ally of the mayor who has supported him despite his indictment and a wave of resignations within his administration, recently warned Mr. Adams, in an interview with Policythat a pardon could seriously harm his political career.
Before Mr. Adams met Mr. Trump, he had a text exchange with Mr. Sharpton, the reverend said. Mr. Sharpton said he warned the mayor that Mr. Trump would try to manipulate him for his own purposes.
“I told him I was concerned he might be misusing you to cover up some of his biased policies,” Mr Sharpton said.
“With his base, he could explain a lot of things,” Mr. Sharpton continued, referring to Mr. Adams. “What he can’t control is what Trump will do. And if he identifies with that, how can he dissociate himself from it?
Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.