The 4 massive metropolis mayors who testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill knew they have been invited by Home Republicans to be punching baggage. For New York’s Eric Adams, nevertheless, the blows have been thrown by fellow Democrats.
GOP lawmakers not solely spared Adams from the brunt of their often-theatrical assaults on sanctuary cities, they defended him in opposition to the Democratic onslaught — together with from fellow New Yorker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) at one level referred to as Adams “an impressive mayor.”
It was the newest show of simply how far via the looking-glass issues have gone for Adams, who in 4 years has gone from the “Biden of Brooklyn” and “new face of the Democratic Social gathering” to an unlikely ally of President Donald Trump.
That about-face — with the Trump Justice Division’s choice final month to drop a corruption case in opposition to Adams as its pivot level — fueled the Democratic assaults Wednesday on the made-for-TV listening to.
It opened with Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the panel’s prime Democrat, referencing Adams’ federal case and alleged indebtedness to Trump. It deepened when different Democrats pressed Adams in more and more aggressive phrases about whether or not he had traded his cooperation with federal immigration officers for leniency from prosecutors.
“We have now a proper to know if the Trump administration has really coerced you into agreeing to him,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California requested him. “Are you promoting out New Yorkers to save lots of your self from prosecution?”
Ocasio-Cortez — who, like Adams, represents New York Metropolis — later rained questions on the mayor about whether or not he agreed to municipal coverage modifications that may appease Trump. Adams regarded straight at her as she described the Trump administration’s choice to drop his prosecution as a “four-alarm hearth” for the rule of regulation in the USA.
“There’s no deal, no quid professional quo, and I did nothing unsuitable,” Adams stated in what has turn into his customary response to the allegation that he struck a bootleg cope with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan to permit federal immigration brokers into metropolis jails in change for the tip of his authorized peril.
The dynamic set Adams far other than the three different Democratic mayors — Denver’s Mike Johnston, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson and Boston’s Michelle Wu — who sat alongside him in a subterranean listening to room and confronted feverish questioning from Home Republicans in search of a viral second.
Adams had braced for the likelihood he would function prominently within the GOP’s scrutiny of cities that had rebuffed federal immigration enforcement. As an alternative, Republicans largely gave the previous New York Metropolis police captain a move, typically skipping over him with their rapid-fire questions.
The place the opposite three mayors put up a defiant and generally argumentative entrance, Adams as an alternative adopted a method of giving succinct, unprovocative solutions. He was rewarded with loads of Republican reward.
“Mayor Adams is being attacked as a result of he’s agreed to cooperate with federal officers to uphold the legal guidelines of the USA,” stated Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.).
Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) related Adams’ prosecution to his criticism of former President Joe Biden: “The one one in all you who stood as much as the earlier administration was below investigation shortly thereafter. Bizarre how that occurs.”
And Comer praised Adams for being “keen to work with [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] on detaining probably the most legal illegals — and I need to publicly thanks for that.”
That reward alternated with combative exchanges between Democrats and the New York mayor. In a single testy change, freshman Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia requested Adams if he had ever mentioned his legal case with Trump.
Adams paused as an lawyer whispered into his ear then repeated the road: “This case is in entrance of Choose Ho, and out of deference to Choose Ho, I am not going to debate this case,” he stated, referring to U.S. District Choose Dale Ho, who’s now contemplating whether or not to drop the costs because the Justice Division has requested.
Subramanyam finally dropped the road of inquiry, concluding that “Mayor Adams will not be answering the query as a result of he in all probability has” mentioned his case with the White Home.
Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) — whose Lengthy Island district was beforehand represented by Anthony D’Esposito, a Republican and former New York police officer — focused the New York mayor with the identical zeal as her extra progressive colleagues, calling on him at one level to resign.
Her assaults provoked Adams to retort, “Thank God you don’t reside in New York Metropolis.”
The bear hug from congressional Republicans, in the meantime, does Adams no favors in terms of his political future. He faces a narrowing path to reelection this 12 months with the legal case and Trump’s mass deportation agenda looming over the nation’s largest sanctuary metropolis.
Democrats weren’t within the temper to do him any favors. Garcia got here with posters of former U.S. Legal professional Danielle Sassoon’s resignation letter condemning the choice to drop fees in opposition to him and of Homan praising Adams in a joint Fox Information interview.
Weighing in from afar was Homan himself, who wrote on X that “Mayor Adams is making an attempt to guard New Yorkers from violent unlawful aliens” as he watched the listening to.
Adams appeared disengaged at occasions. When Connolly laid into him on the prime of the listening to, he regarded off to the aspect, then wanting ahead once more and sipping his tea after the Virginia Democrat moved on. As different Democrats pressed him for solutions, he flipped via a briefing e-book as he mounted his protection.
In his personal opening assertion, Adams leaned closely on his expertise as a regulation enforcement official and sought to push again on the notion that his strategy to immigration and crime has modified since Trump received a second time period.
“You realize me, I’m the identical mayor,” he informed reporters earlier than the listening to. “Three issues keep on my thoughts on a regular basis: public security, public security, public security. We have now to have a secure metropolis.”
