Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

April 8, 2025

Watch video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3H8fjUz038

Mayor Eric Adams: Oh boy, it's good to see some of you. You know, throughout these last fifteen months, I relied on one thing, I relied on God. And I would say it, I would bless the Lord at all times. His words of praise would continuously be in my mouth. And I'm standing in front of you because of my faith in all those New Yorkers who are going through difficult times. Lean into your faith, because that is your answer.  

Good morning. We had another outstanding week of delivering a safer, more affordable city. As we continue to make New York City the best place to raise children and families. Public safety crime stats are clear. The first quarter of the year, which is a continuation, which a lot of people seem to be missing. This is a continuation. We had five straight quarters with decreasing crime. It didn't start in January, folks. Five straight quarters and decreasing crime.  

When you don't acknowledge that, you really miss the men and women who have been doing the job continuously. And we just really want to thank them. Public safety and justice. I say over and over again, they are the prerequisite to our prosperity. And last month, we achieved another historic milestone in delivering a safer city for New Yorkers. And did the thing our administration is best known for, keeping our city safe and breaking records. Record after record after record. You hear over and over in this administration, the first time ever is something that is continuously stated.  

And for the first three months of the year, we saw the lowest number of shootings [in] recorded history in a quarter. The lowest number of shootings in recorded history. That's a testament to the men and women. 21,000 guns removed off our streets, including 57 untraceable ghost guns. These are just amazing numbers when you look at it. And it ties into the public safety plan of having a gun unit in the beginning of the administration. All of those things that you heard people criticize this administration for.  

You're seeing the fruits of the labor, going after those with severe mental health illness, giving them the care they deserve, removing the encampments off our streets, having a gun unit such as CRT to go out, removing 80,000 illegal vehicles off our streets. Just all of these things are not finally materializing. And you're seeing the results of just a smart, strategic initiatives that ignored all the noise, now look at the numbers. This quarter, we reduced murders by 34 percent, 34 percent in murders, 23 percent in shootings and transit crime went down by 18 percent as well. And we see promising stats.  

When you look at retail theft, there was a real issue around retail theft. We came together and put together a Retail Theft Taskforce. And the numbers are showing an 8 percent decrease year-to-date. People who believe retail theft is a victimless crime, they are wrong. When stores close, we lose employees, those who need to get their prescription or any other items from the drugstore, they have to travel further to locations to do so. So it's a holistic approach of how we're going to address this.  

And in March alone, we saw decreases in six of the seven major crime categories. And while these numbers are incredible [and] impressive, six straight months of declining crime as part of five straight quarters of declining crime, that is what we promised and that's what we delivered on. Affordability, really proud of this. I want to hand off to the Deputy Commissioner of Worker Protection, Commissioner Mayuga, [on] what she has accomplished last week.  

We were proud to announce that we increased the minimum pay rate for app-based delivery workers, once again, this time up to $21.44 per hour. We previously set the first of this kind in the nation. Minimum pay rate for app-based delivery workers in June of ‘23. And we're seeing it continue to tick up. Now, what happened before we got into office? Before we got into office, the pay rate was $5.39 per hour. From $5.39 per hour to $21.44, that's a real accomplishment.  

In the last two years, $700 million in wages to these delivery workers. Strong bond rating, something that I like to talk about over and over again because all those outside the city, outside of the administration, they talk about how bad we are managing the city, but they're not the experts. They don't have a finance degree. They know nothing about the economy. They know nothing about the stability of cities. They're experts out there. They're called bond ratings. S&P and all of these international bond raters, they determine how well you're managing your city so that those who want to invest in your city can get real information, not political information. What did they do?  

For the 16th time during this administration, they kept us at a AA category rating for general obligation bonds. It says that throughout the crisis of COVID, throughout the crisis of the migrant asylum seekers, throughout the economic downturn, we have stabilized this city and managed this city, balancing each time we needed a budget, we accomplished that task. 

More jobs in the city history, second largest tourism in the city history. Small businesses are operating more in the city history. We are putting $30 billion back in the pockets of everyday New Yorkers. This is how you manage during the crisis, and we're going to continue to do so. So all of those Eric-like people who state what they would like to do, look at what we have done. And we're going to get that out and let people know that every day, the success of this administration.  

Question: Mr. Mayor, I actually have two questions. 

Mayor Adams: Yes, Marcia. 

Question: The first question is, during the migrant crisis, you criticized the Biden administration for not giving the city enough money and for not helping you out. Now the Trump administration is trying to claw back as much as $200 million.  

Do you feel betrayed? Do you feel that two presidents are not understanding the crisis that New York City went through with over 200,000 migrants coming here? And what are you going to do in terms of the Trump administration trying to take the money back? 

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, you fight for New York. I fight for New Yorkers. I made that clear. And one, let's be clear on our math. They're trying to claw back $200 million. And we are fighting for that $200 million. The corporation counsel has already taken actions for that $200 million. We were very clear. We believe that $200 million belongs to us.  

The previous administration gave us a price tag of handling a national crisis. We are going to fight and state that this $200 million belongs to us. But then let's look at $7 billion. $7 billion, we lost in the previous administration compared to $200 million. We're going to fight for every penny. No matter what it is, this should not be carried on the backs of taxpayers. Now, the consistent part of this, we are suing for that $200 million. We're raising our voice for that $200 million. We raised our voice for the $7 billion. Where was everyone else? Why didn't everyone else join us in that $7 billion? You can't critique an administration based on their party. You must critique it based on what the city needs. 

I did not hear one of my colleagues raise their voice and say it was wrong for the City of New York to have to spend $7 billion. And so that inconsistency is what you should all be asking about. If you're angry over $200 million, why won't you infuriate [over] $7 billion? I don't know why we're not asking these folks that. And so not only that, my ask of the Biden administration was to secure the borders. If you secure the borders, we can stop the flow from our city.  

This administration is securing the borders. My ask of the Biden administration is let's go after those dangerous gang members that are creating violent crimes among migrants and asylum seekers in everyday New York [that] are documented and undocumented. They didn't want to do that. This administration is doing that. Hats off to the Homeland Security Secretary and to Tom over at ICE, and others that want to collaborate with us on dealing with criminal behavior. We're clear that we don't deal with those who are dealing with civil enforcement. The city doesn't allow us to do that.  

But if we got partners on the federal level and all of these agencies that are willing to collaborate with us on criminal behaviors, we say hooray to that. And that's what the Homeland Security Secretary and what ICE borders are is doing. So, yes, corp counsel is taking legal action. We're going to fight for every penny and it's up to the courts to make that determination.  

Question: So, clearly you're in campaign mode with this outfit and with your attack on the fact that people have not been giving you the credit that you're due. But usually when you're in a campaign, you have a specific person that you want to go after who you think is your nearest competitor. 

So I'm wondering, you know. Who are you running against and who do you think has not lived up to the record that you claim that you have accomplished in the last three and a half years? 

Mayor Adams: Well, no, this outfit is not campaigning. This outfit is my life and God we trust. I went through hell for 15 months and all I had was God, you know, God and my family and those who understood that I did nothing wrong, regardless of the incoming that I received. And so I want to be very clear so people who misunderstand, my faith is real. Go back [to] the days when that indictment came out and I stood in front of you guys in the rotunda and I stated, my faith is real in God. As a matter of fact, the quote I stated was that I had more faith in God at the time I was in it than I ever did.  

And so as much as I can say, and not until you were in that type of circumstance, do you understand the impact and importance of your faith? And so when you say who, I'm a Democrat running on an Independent line. Let them fight it out. Let me see who I'm running against in November. I think all of them are running from their records. I'm running on my record. The housing crisis. Go back to the Advantage program that the former governor canceled. The inequities in COVID.  

Let's go back to some of the rules and blockage that the others have done. You know, the stuff in Albany, the Raise the Age, the bail reform. I mean, all these guys got to run. They are running from their record. They trying to change– Brad and, and defund the police. You know, I don't have to run from my record. I can run on a record and that's a great feeling. And so whoever comes out of that's cloud of individuals. I'll see them in November.. 

Question: Just to follow up on Marcia’s first question. When you say, where was everyone else? Who are you talking about? That's question number one– the $7 billion. And the second question is, what about the FEMA money that the Trump administration wants to take back?Commissioner Iscol says that's going to devastate his agency. 

Mayor Adams: And I think that comes to about $80 million, and I know people don't want me to continue to say it, but I have to say it until it penetrates. We want that $80 million. We believe we deserve it. We believe the previous administration did us wrong as well as the [inaudible] money, which is about $300 million. We believe we deserve that. And so when you do the math, that's a long way from $7 billion. And the same level of concern I had back then, I have now.  

New Yorkers deserve every penny. We were forced to handle a federal problem. And so when you say, well, who were they? It would be easy for me if I could say, well, there were only two or three people who are now running for mayor, it was only two or three people that I could say were just these two. None of them were there. Ask all of them. Where were your tweets? Where were your visits to Washington, D.C.? Where were your advocacy based on New Yorkers? Where were your what was your action? None of them can say we stood up to fight for New Yorkers for your action.  

What were their lawsuits? I mean. None of them. If you were to do an analysis and ask all those who are running for mayor right now, say New York was getting thousands of migrants and asylum seekers in the city, spending billions of dollars. What was your position back then? And they say, well, here was my position. Okay, where did you voice it? Where did you voice it? So I can't say, well, only one candidate or two candidates. All of them. They were all M.I.A. And you guys got to be asking them that question.  

If you're angry with the current president's administration taking $200 million dollars, then you should be furious about losing $7 billion dollars. But they weren't. Because they put politics in front of the people. And I refuse to do that. I fight on behalf of the people.  

And so Brad keeps threatening lawsuits every time something happens under this administration. Why wasn't he pushing for lawsuits under the previous administration? That's just, you know, come on. We have to have just basic, basic questions. It's not only, Eric, why are you doing such and such? What about all these guys? Make these guys stand up and answer questions. You know, they can't.  

Question: I have two questions. 

Mayor Adams: Yes. 

Question: The first was, since the charges have been dismissed, have you spoken to Tom Homan or anybody over at ICE? …Since the charges were dismissed, have you spoken to Tom Homan or any other high ranking official over at ICE? And the other question I had was on the executive order. Any updates on that? When that's coming or what strategies or what else is going to be in that order? 

Mayor Adams: First of all, I haven't spoken to anyone. I don't even know the connection between the charges and ICE. But, no, I have not spoken to them. Once the administration releases something with any type of EOs that we put out, we make it public. We don't keep our EOs secret. Once it's done, we release it. One is still coming. Once we release it, we release it.  

Question: You just said you don't know the connection between ICE and the charges. Judge Ho felt differently. He said everything here smacks of a bargain in Immigration Enforcement Cooperation for dropping the charges. What do you think about that statement?  

Also, separately, I think where we're all seeing a difference with the migrant funding is that Trump is taking back funding that we already have. The Biden administration allocated that funding. The $7 billion that you keep talking about, yes, they didn't allocate that. But, you know, it's different when it's being taken back. Do you see that difference? 

Mayor Adams: No. That's your logic. That's not my logic. Losing. [Crosstalk.] Okay. Alright. Well, I'm not that clear. Losing, not having $7 billion that should be going to the services of this city and then to rationalize it that, well, at least they never gave it to you, although they cost you $7 billion. That's just, I don't, that's a tricky math that we learned back on the street. So, no. And now your connection about the, about the two, Judge Ho, listen, many of you analyze everything that was in that 74 page item. 

I just don't hear you lifting up two things. Eric is innocent until proven guilty and that is dismissed with prejudice. Lift that up. Lift that up. And I think it's a level of hypocrisy when you have those who want to accuse me of something and yet they spend their entire lives talking about justice. I talked about justice reform and criminal justice reform as a cop, as a state senator, as the borough president. I visited state prisons and talked to inmates that were inside. I stood side by side with Ken Thompson, the former district attorney, as we went out to get those who were illegally convicted. My life has been criminal justice reform, and I'm always going to fight for criminal justice reform. And so there is no connection.  

Question: Mr. Mayor, I have two questions. You’re running as an independent, I would like to ask you how much of it is a strategy for campaign because you gain more time now, and how much of it is a will to also appeal to Republican voters in New York City?  

And my second question is about a proposed lithium ion battery storage facility in Middle Village. The community, [majority] is Polish community, is concerned that this facility is a part of a City of Yes, like a result of City of Yes. This facility, if created, will be very close to school and it's a residential district. So I just want to ask you about your opinion on that and if you could, if you would oppose that. 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, no. And the first of all, they were already allowed to do this prior to City of Yes. So people want to conflate the two. That's not true. Prior to City of Yes. They were able to do so. And FDNY and DOB and all of the teams, they make sure that what the rules are and where you can build these facilities. I know there's a lot of fear around lithium ion batteries because of the actions around them that we've witnessed. But this is zoned to be allowed to do so. We're going to make sure that the agencies do what they're supposed to do and they're going to make sure it's regulated correctly.  

Question: That it's going to be safe? 

Mayor Adams: It darn better be safe. We should not be approving any type of manufacturing or any type of storage that's not safe. That's the job of our agency to make sure that it is safe. 

Question: [Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: And I think that we need partisan politics don't understand when someone goes to find an affordable home. The agent doesn't ask, are you an Independent? Are you Conservative? Are you a Democrat or Republican? We need to deal with the affordability of New Yorkers and I just believe that working class people should afford to live in a city that they provide for every day.  

And so I'm going to appeal to my working class base with working class values. I'm consistent and you know, what's interesting. Those who have covered me throughout my life would tell you, this is the same guy. He's the same guy. The same things I was talking about as a rookie police officer, I'm talking about as a mayor. I'm the same person.  

Working class people should be allowed to be safe in this city. And I'm going to always stand on that. And I think that's going to cross all party lines because people want to be safe and raise their children and families.  

Question: Many people have told us while we're reporting that you are in a very, unique situation, a position, because in a way the Trump administration is hearing you. So they're hoping that maybe you might have had some dialogue with Mr. Homan as to what might happen with the Dreamers.  

I know that things have come down a little bit and because there's so much fear with people maybe perhaps being wrongly deported. Have you had a chance to discuss that, the opportunity of maybe what the Trump administration might be thinking? Or have you had any talks with him at all? 

Mayor Adams: Well, I think part of the hysteria and the fear that people are feeling is because of those who just feed on fear. I said from the beginning, after the election, our conversations with the administration, particularly through, HSI and ICE, of, you know, expected how are things going to be implemented in the city?  

You know, people running around saying that ICE was in our schools. That was just a lie. People running around saying ICE was in our churches. Lie. You know, that there were roundups and sweeps happening in our city. It's just a lie.  

I was very clear. I did not waver. I said, go to school. Have your children go to school. Go to your houses of worship. Go to the hospital if you need care. Call the police if you're a victim of a crime. We don't participate in civil enforcement. We are very clear. And so what we need to do is stop feeding into the uncertainty and the crisis. If something shifts, we'll come back to the New York people and public and say, here are new policies that are coming down. That's not what happened. And we need to allow people to go on with their lives. That's what's important and not feed into this hysteria.  

And that's why those national immigrant leaders that came to the city stated, “Eric, no one is doing what you are doing in the country for migrants and asylum seekers. And you should be the model that the country is using.” This local politics is creating the hysteria that people are seeing.  

And I have the first commissioner that's a Dreamer in Commissioner Castro. Traveled with me to the Darien Gap. Traveled with me to El Paso. Has been a clear advocate to put out what migrants and asylum seekers, documented and undocumented people should know about their rights. We've been consistent. We're not inconsistent in how we operate. And we were doing that pre-election. 

Question: So, are you hopeful about the Trump administration maybe giving the Dreamers a special status? The Trump administration might give dreamers a special status. Are you hopeful? 

Mayor Adams: Listen, yes, I am. I believe our Dreamers, like Commissioner Castro, contribute to our city. Immigrants contribute to our country. And we should do it right.  

I proposed under the previous administration, when someone comes into the country, secure your border, look at where Americans need populations. We're decreasing population across the entire country in certain municipalities. Allow people to go to those locations that we need people. Spend three years there. That's a symbiotic relationship. And then go wherever you want in the country.  

We have to have smarter immigration policies. We stated this over and over again. You cannot have an unsecure border. That is what the problem was. And we need to fix that problem.  

Question: Now that your charges have been dropped, are you planning to appeal the campaign finance board's decision not to grant you matching funds? That's my first question. And then my second question is on the Trump administration threatening to withhold funding from school districts that have DEI policies. You're the Black mayor of the biggest city in the country.Are you going to either talk directly to the president? Or are you going to join other mayors of color across the country to speak out about this? 

Mayor Adams: I'm a member of AAMA, African-American Mayors Association. And I was on the stage with NAN the other day and talking about this specific question about DEI. DEI is more than three letters. You know, anyone can have an entity or program. What are you doing with the program?  

We have the strongest discrimination laws in the country, right here in New York and our numbers are clear. I'm a symbol of DEI. When you look at the diversity of my administration, the first Korean commissioner of SBS, the first Indian to be a deputy mayor, first Trinidadian to be a deputy mayor, first Filipino to be a deputy mayor, first African-American woman to be first deputy mayor, second African-American to be chief of staff, first Hispanic male to be Corrections commissioner, first woman to be the commissioner of the Police Department, first African-American woman to be a police commissioner, first Hispanic male to be a police commissioner. I could go down a list.  

You know, it shouldn't be DEI. It should be ELA. I'm a representative of what DEI means. But you can't just have programs. We have these programs for all. What are your numbers? $19 billion in small business, on women and minority-owned businesses in this administration. You're seeing real results. So this is an opportunity for all of us that believe in diversity to go to all of these entities and say, don't just put three letters up and say what you're doing. Let's see your results. How well are you doing?  

And then you can get quality like I did because we broke records because of the diversity and quality. But you can also improve if you have the diversity within your administration. So I joined my mayors in saying we need to make sure we have diversity. And all of our administrations. We're on the same page with that. 

Question: You're at risk of losing federal funding. What do you do? 

Mayor Adams: Why are we at risk? You know, if the federal government lays down rules as any administration could do, let's be clear on that. If we think they're unfair, we're going to do what we have been doing. We have a corporation counsel just for that.  

We're going to do, if something we believe is unfair– This is a country where there are systems of fighting against something you believe is unfair. We're going to utilize those systems to do so. That's the system that we're under. That's the system that I respect. And that's why this is the greatest country on the globe.  

Question: [Inaudible] the first question about the matching funds? 

Mayor Adams: Matching funds. Yeah, we believe we should not have lost our matching funds. And we're going to do everything possible to fight for them. I maxed out. I was finished raising money. I was done. And we're going to do everything that's possible to fight for our matching funds. 

Question: A few weeks ago, you were asked about cooperation between NYPD and ICE as it relates to the arrest of student activists. You said that we follow the law. I want to make sure that I understand the law.  

If there's a situation where someone is issued a summons at a protest and that summons is sealed or dismissed, can the NYPD in any circumstances share that information with any of their federal partners, including HSI? 

Mayor Adams: We're clear. We cannot collaborate for immigrant deportation. Using your scenario, if someone is a known terrorist, like TDA, like some of these gangs have been classified for, if you're a known terrorist and you're doing criminal investigations, criminal and not deep civil enforcement, whatever we could do to seal that case or to bring that person to justice. We're allowed to do so.  

We're not allowed to collaborate for civil enforcement. Period. The law is very clear and it's very important to do so. So we have no record that this happened. There are no– when I inquired, they said we did not turn over anything and we don't collaborate for civil enforcement. They said that over and over again. 

Question: So that applies if, you know, in this situation we have the government using this terror statute to go after student protesters. And I mean, I think that in some of the gang cases you've mentioned, it's civil and that it's being led by federal immigration authorities. So it's still a little murky to me.  

If some federal partner comes to you and says we want information on someone who is suspected of advancing terrorism on campus and we believe that you have some of their former criminal arrest information. Can that be shared? 

Mayor Adams: We– wait. Listen, one thing, if you haven't figured out yet, you should by now, I'm not a lawyer. I have a corp counsel, you know, and if someone comes and we have been extremely, extremely meticulous when our federal partners come to us dealing with immigration. We sit down, find out what they would like and desire. And then the corp counsel determines if we could do it or not.  

We've been extremely meticulous and I allow them to do that. I have a lot of respect for Muriel, who's over at corp counsel, Mike over at NYPD. They've been extremely meticulous. And again, I said it earlier. I'm going to say it again. I look forward to collaborating with HSI, with ICE, with all of our partners of going after those who are committing crimes. And they determine based on the inquiry, they being corp counsel based on the inquiry. Can we move? We move forward on something and I respect that. 

Question: Back when the migrant crisis was really raging, you did criticize Republican Governor Abbott in Texas. And you were aggressive with suing the bus companies. But in the narrative since, it's been the focus on the Biden administration and their lack of attention and failure to address what was a gaping wound. And the city was still not recovered from the pandemic. 

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. 

Question: So I'm now wondering now, isn't this your independent run for mayor? Can't you speak to the, I think a lot of Americans feel that that gambit that went on with a Republican [governor] using this crisis, sending migrants in summer clothes to a New York winter and then the lack of response from the Biden administration. That shows the two party system is profoundly broken. And can you say that your independent candidacy understands that maybe more than most? 

Mayor Adams: You're hired. Yes and it is. And that's what I think people just really don't appreciate about me being their mayor. Now, I'm not going to say people because people do stop me all the time. The chattering classes. Consistency.  

We just don't. I expect people to be consistent and authentic. The unorthodox approach I have to just dealing with these issues because I'm connected to real New Yorkers and I know their pains. I know what they're going through because I've gone through that. And so when I speak to those issues, when I'm willing to criticize no matter who your party is. You know, I took a pledge to the flag. I didn't take a pledge to a party. And sometimes that gets in the way, it gets in a way, you know 

So I think you're dead on. You're right that, you know, when I said, Governor Abbott, it was wrong. Should not have been done in any municipalities. But go back then what I said also. I said El Paso should not be going through this. Brownsville, Texas should not be going through this. None of these cities should have gone through this. Chicago. You know what this did to Chicago, Denver.  

You know, I align myself with all of these cities because no city should have had gone through this. And it was not only Governor Abbott. Let's be clear what he did was wrong, but it was not only him and even the federal government was sending people here. The administration was sending people here. And so we need to be clear. It was wrong for cities to pick up the weight of a national problem. That was wrong. 

Question: To another international concern, Governor Newsom, who has an economy that's like the fifth largest in the world. With these tariffs is now asking his advisers to open up conversations with international trading partners. Would that be something?  

This is a trading city and was before it was American. Is that something that you'd entertain? I mean, you know, the world. Would you be willing to think creatively and maybe in a case of these tariffs keep going up, open up conversations with other parts of the world? 

Mayor Adams: You know, this conversation and I was listening to some tapes and doing some reading over the last few days. And some interviews and reading a few books on this, you know, and I must have spent a great part of the weekend reading up on tariffs and I still don't understand them. These are very complex conversations and people spend their lives understanding the balance of our economy.  

There’s one thing I know. Whatever we were doing. It was not working. Affordability is an issue for everyday New Yorkers. Wealth has been accumulated in the highest level of people in the country. And I'm seeing low income, working class people are struggling every day. And so whatever we were doing, we need to think differently. And I want to spend more time of understanding this tariff conversation.  

But there are greater minds than my mind that understand this more than I do. And I'm not even going to try to act like I'm an expert on the balance of tariffs and international trade. I'm trying to learn more. I'm trying to learn more about it. This has been dropped on all of our plates. And we need to learn more.  

And I think this is an excellent moment of civic understanding. I think our children need to be talking about this in schools. What does this mean? All this is playing out over our heads. So we need to dig into it. Say, what does this mean? What are both sides of this issue on? Is this the right thing to do? The wrong thing to do? But what I do know is that everyday people are watching their paychecks not provide for their families. So something was wrong, and we need to figure out the right solution. 

Question: Hi, Mayor, so would you criticize President Trump if the federal cuts reach $7 billion and if you'd wait until then, is that too late? 

Mayor Adams: I'm criticizing losing $200 million. I'm don’t understand what you're asking me. I'm criticizing losing $200 million, you know, so I'm not going to wait till $7 billion. I'm criticizing losing $200 million.  

You know, there is a and you guys have been trying this for a long time, particularly your outlet. You know, you want to see me fighting because of those who are just angry right now. I'm just not in that crew. 

Question: [Inaudible]  Biden by name. You haven't criticized Trump by name. 

Mayor Adams: Again, I'm going to criticize anything that takes away our money. So I know you would like to see me in a fight. I know that. I know you look forward to that.  
[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: Okay, I'm glad you're the rhetoric judge.  

Question: I'm glad that's not a fashion statement. You know, just to follow up on some of these questions. You know, you do keep coming back, and not just today, to the $7 billion. And I get that the city was in a bad place. 

But, you know, in fairness, that was then. This is now. You've sort of suggested that your reluctance to criticize the Trump administration publicly was going to be good for New York. But what do you say to people who are asking the question, what is New York getting from your relationship with the Trump administration? 

Mayor Adams: The same thing we got with my relationship in the Biden's administration. I got Joe Biden, the president, to come to New York when we were dealing with a real crime problem. We did not have an ATF head. We brought him here and we sat down and we met with NYPD personnel. We took him over to our crisis management team members and saw what we were doing on the ground. We were able to get additional funding because of that. That's what we get.  

Every administration, you want to have these conversations and relationships. We cannot ignore the fact that and we need to be honest with that fact that there are some people who are just angry because the election didn't turn out the way they want. And because of that, they just want this verbal war.  

I don't want a verbal war. I want to be able to. I want to be able to produce for our city. I want to bring in a transportation secretary to go down to the BQE to see why we have to get the BQE completed. I want to have real conversations about getting resources to working class people. And so it may be enjoyable to someone for me to get into a verbal confrontation and conversation.  

It took almost a year before I started publicly criticizing the president around the migrants in asylum seekers. Almost a year after 10 trips to Washington. After communicating with their staff. And so I'm not going to fall into “let's just get angry.” I have to produce for the City of New York. And I'm going to use my best abilities to do so the same way I did with the previous administration.  

Question: What specifically are New Yorkers–  

Mayor Adams: Secure border. We went from 230,000 migrants and asylum seekers. Bus loads coming in continuously. We have a secure border now. And the numbers have trickled down, you know, to a substantial state.  

Collaboration with Homeland Security secretary and ICE to go after dangerous people who burn women on the train, shoot at police officers, attack migrants in asylum seekers, and have been able to go in our criminal justice system and just come right back out and repeatedly do it over and over again.  

Someone that's finally listening to me saying that my city must be safe. And we cannot create problems on a national level that will create that. So we're getting things that I need. And we're going to fight if we believe that money is being re-clawed back from her in a real way. And so there's something, too.  

We don't see ICE in our schools. Did y'all realize that? There's something, too. We don't see ICE in our churches. We don't see enforcement, major sweeps going through employment. People call the police. You don't see the police officers turn in people who are undocumented to police officers. So what are we getting? We're getting cooperation. We're getting cooperation.  

Are there going to be places we're going to disagree? Yes. I keep saying I don't agree with myself all the time. So, yes, we are. That is what administrations are. You go back and forth with Albany. Now, everybody says, well, you know, you talk to the president. So did Hochul. Do y'all know Hochul met with the president? Right. So, I mean, do you know that? 

So if it's, tell me something, if it's all right for Governor Hochul to meet with the president, it's not all right for me to meet with the president? I mean, this stuff has to start making sense. I'm the mayor of the largest city in America. Imagine me not having a relationship with the president of the most important country on the globe. This doesn't make sense.  

Get over it. He's the president now, he's the president. Popular vote, electoral vote. We got to get over this. We got to. I got to deliver for our city. And that's and that's what I need to do. And all those who are saying, “Oh, just fight and resist, resist, resist.” I'm not part of resist movement. I'm part of the produce movement. That's why we broke records in the city. That's why we're getting it done. 

Question: Downtown Manhattan, the ferries to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, they're besieged by scammers and hucksters, like 40, 50 people. We've been down there reporting on it. There's only one ferry that's supposed to be going. It has all kinds of scammers, you know, approaching tourists, harassing tourists. What can the city do about it? Why did they let it get out of hand again? 

Mayor Adams: So I'm going to– DJ let's pop down. I'm going to go and have the precinct commander go down. I don't know if I could do it today or tomorrow. I don't know what I'm doing. But we're going to see what's going on down there. We used to have that problem before we cleaned it up. So I'm going. 

Question: That’s probably going to bring them out even more. 

Mayor Adams: So I'm going to go there and I'm going to be [Joe Torres], you know, and see if people approach me. You know, we got 65 million tourists that came to the city. Second largest in the city's history. And I want to make sure they're not scammed. I want to make sure that they are treated in respectful ways. So I'm going to go down with the precinct commander and find out exactly what he's doing about that, because that can't happen. We don't want people down there doing that.  

Question: Okay, thanks. Two questions. One, just about your legal case. Obviously, your case is done. But there were two other people who were charged. You know, directly in relation to your case, Mohamed Bahi and Erden Arkan, the businessman, their cases were not dropped. They, it looks like, are going to be convicted. Do you think that's fair that you are, you know, done and they are still going to face penalties for criminal liability for the alleged exact same scheme?  
And the second question, just a policy thing. The hotel industry is making a big push to lower the occupancy tax that's charged to tourists. Which they say would encourage more people to visit. Do you support that? It's a budget ask, I think. 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, they have attorneys. And I think that question should be presented to their attorneys. I think Judge Ho was clear. I was innocent until proven  guilty, and he made a determination to dismiss with prejudice.  

With the hotel occupancy tax, we need to do whatever we can to ensure our success around hotels. And our team is looking at the possibility of dropping the tax so that we continue to be competitive. The hotel industry has done well under this administration. I was at [] yesterday, last night. We want to continue to get people in our city. You know, as I stated, 65 million tourists, second largest in the city's history. And the way we did it is because of public safety.  
You know, people want to come to a safe city. We're the safest big city in America. And oftentimes a lot of people, when I go to Times Square, they say “One of the most important things that attracted us to the city is that, you know, we've always seen you, but we would like to come see you in real time as the mayor.” So I'm a big tourist draw for the city, you know.  

Question: Congratulations on your charges being dismissed. Good for you. So, Mr. Mayor, over the weekend, you and President Trump's transportation secretary rode the New York City subway. Could you share with New Yorkers what that trip is about?  

And secondly, composting in New York City, what are the fines for not composting in New York City? 

Mayor Adams: You know, I was just looking at some of the numbers. We'll give you the exact fine numbers or what they are. But, part of this is to encourage people to do composting, not only because we want to do citations as a way of taxation, but the people to be engaged.  
You know, we're having a real environmental issue. And we looked at, in a two year rollout, the amount of composting material diverted from landfill went up 60, 65 percent. And if we can get people to normalize that of, you know, composting their food straps, it is good for our environment and it is good, make good sense on how we use those. Items that won't fall into our landfills.  

And so it's imperative that, number one, the public understand the separations of composting, how to carry it out and to encourage people to do it. And we don't want to just hit people with fines to encourage them. We want people to buy into the program and make sure that's done correctly. So we will, I'll give you the exact number. But, you know, everybody talked about it, having a citywide composting program. We were able to accomplish it. You know, what other people talk about, we're able to do. That's why I keep saying I'm running on my record because this is what we're able to do. 

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