Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears on PIX 11's "PIX on Politics"

December 20, 2024

Dan Mannarino: Welcome to Pix on Politics everybody, I'm Dan Mannarino. A special episode for you today. Mayor Eric Adams sitting down with me exclusively for a look back at a very busy 2024. The interview happening the day that his former chief advisor was indicted on bribery charges. We discussed that, his own indictments, and the biggest headlines of the year. Mr. Mayor, thank you for once again sitting down for our annual year-end discussion.  

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you.  

Mannarino: 2024 coming to an end, quite the year for you both personally, professionally, right? So I guess I have to begin here and describe the year in one word and what would that word be?  

Mayor Adams: Wow, that's a great question. I would say the one word is probably New York. New York is unexpected. Anything could happen. You know, this is an unpredictable place and I would just say New York.  

Mannarino: Sounds familiar. Seems like an answer you've given before. I want to look back at the highs and lows and we're here at this urban upbound location because it's a big part of your Axe the Tax initiative, right? And it's looking to abolish the personal income tax for some. It's a fairly new proposal. It still has to get some approval from Albany. But talk about why you decided to want to tackle that as an issue.  

Mayor Adams: First, it was exciting when I sat down with the governor and the speaker and the majority leader. They all showed interest in getting this through. We have some great sponsors. Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte [Hermelyn] and also in the Senate we have Senator Leroy Comrie.  

What we did, we said, listen, we can't control the price of bread but we can put bread in your pocket. And so I asked all of my agencies, look at how we put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. Free high-speed broadband, decreasing the cost of child care, cutting the tax for a person of 150 percent of the poverty line or federal poverty line or lower. Looking at how we're doing things when you do spare metro cards. Silencing and retiring medical debt. So all of this is part of when you add it up, if you're a low-income New Yorker, we're putting money right back in your pocket. 

Mannarino: So you were just in Albany. You talked about some of those discussions, right? You do need to have the approval from both chambers. How did those conversations go? Do you feel that in 2025 this could be the year to get it done?  

Mayor Adams: Yes, without a doubt. The governor has also shown that she has initiatives to put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. She started with the $500 initiative but she says she wants to do more. We all know that affordability is at the top of the list for New Yorkers–  

Mannarino: First quarter?  

Mayor Adams: I think we're going to get it, you know, Albany is going to do Albany but we're hoping it's done in the first quarter. We have some great sponsors. Rodneyse is well respected. Leroy, he's well respected. That means a lot.  

Mannarino: Mr. Mayor, I want to talk about other big issues and the news of the day and that is what exactly played out in Lower Manhattan. Just for full disclosure for our audience, we're talking on the same day that your former chief advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin was in court facing bribery among other charges here.  

Prosecutors say that two men loaned her son $100,000 to buy a luxury car after she resolved, allegedly, a Buildings Department issue. So let me get your thoughts on the charges and the accusations that were made for somebody that you not only have called a sister but a confidant and was your chief advisor.  

Mayor Adams: And I love her. She's been with me for over 30 something years professionally, but even longer when you think about her husband and I were police officers together in the same academy class. There's a long relationship. I used to keep her son's picture in my locker when he was a little baby.  

She's one of the best detanglers I know of bureaucracy. Her passion and desire of fixing problems that government has always denied people access to. She has been a great public servant. I have never witnessed her doing anything wrong and her attorney, she has a great attorney. They're going to play this out through the court procedure.  

Mannarino: When you heard the charges or looked at the charges and looked at the indictment did you have initial thoughts?  

Mayor Adams: That Ingrid doesn't do quid pro quo. Ingrid, when you go in the streets and ask about Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin people would tell you she's a person that says government can't deny people over and over again.  

You know I ran on that and I ran on the fact that we have been betraying and denying New Yorkers from getting restaurants open to getting that street light fixed. We ran on we are not going to have New Yorkers denied and so I think that this is you know her attorneys going to do what's right and I just want to be real sensitive about doing anything that's going to impact her case.  

Mannarino: Do you think that the looming indictment and the charges were the reason why she resigned as your chief advisor or did you want her to step down?  

Mayor Adams: No I didn't. You know she was clear, Eric I've been doing this uninterrupted for over 30 something years. It's time for me to do something else like other people in the administration and she said she announced that I'm leaving at the end of the year. She was going to leave in January and then when everything started happening with me she said I'm not leaving my brother and I don't want to send the wrong message. 

Mannarino: There were reports that you two have not spoken since her phones were seized back in September and that the relationship was strained because of a comment she made on a radio show. Is that true? What is the status of your relationship? 

Mayor Adams: Let me tell you something. We're sisters and brothers. I don't know if you have sisters and brothers, you know you would dispute. First of all it had nothing to do with a comment on a radio show at all. Ingrid and I, anyone that knows them, they said listen, those are two brothers and sisters that go, we're both [inaudible] we're both stubborn but, at the end of the day we're family. She's gonna always be there for me and I'm going to always be there for her. 

Mannarino: And the last topic on Ingrid is that there's this conversation now brewing or these rumors that are out there. I know you don't believe in rumors that she could be used to flip against you.  

Mayor Adams: There's nothing to flip on. Even when you look at what I'm being charged with, no one is saying that Eric walked around with a bag full of money. No one is saying that Eric tried to take anything from anyone.  

When you do an analysis, a lot of people never really read my indictment, but when you do an analysis you're saying this guy is not walking around stealing from anyone. There's nothing to flip on me. I don't break the law. I should have never been charged. I did nothing wrong. So there's nothing to flip on me.  

Mannarino: Okay and I want to talk about the other big news of the day and that is Luigi Mangione arriving back here in New York. First and foremost, why did you feel the need to go to the heliport and actually greet him once he got off that helicopter? 

Mayor Adams: I was at a conference a few days ago with the top CEOs, IBM, Deloitte. It was a room full of CEOs and government officials and the shooting, the attempted shooting and the response after really traumatized the entire industry. Not only the CEOs, but the employees. People forget that and I wanted to send a strong message with the police commissioner that we're leading from the front. I'm not going to just allow him to come into our city. I wanted to look him in the eye and stated that you carried out this terrorist act in my city, the city that the people of New York love and I wanted to be there to show the symbolism of that.  

Mannarino: And shortly after that you addressed the media and you have, over the last couple months, talked about the radicalization of youth, specifically on college campuses, right? What do you see as the radicalization? What's taking place on these college campuses and how do you as mayor stop it? 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I'm glad you said that, Dan. You know, I started to see parts of it, but then when we went on Columbia University and started to look at the papers, the flyers, the courses that they were teaching in the encampments and seeing about hating America, hating Israel, just hate, hate, hate.  

Then when you add that on to the increase in mental health issues around our young people, a suicidal ideation, now you have a two incidents that took place. One, you had the shooting of an Ivy League student, affluent community. His manifesto is clearly spewing hate. Then you hit a girl, a girl that took a weapon and shot a teacher and another student. We have to wake up to what's happening to our young people. 41 percent of those under the age of 30 believe that the shooting was justified. That's just, it's unacceptable.  

Mannarino: Because this is a look back at the year, I do want to take a look at some of the big ticket items that were on the agenda. And your administration, no surprise here, we're going to look at this, lost a number of high-profile members, right? The police commissioner, the first deputy mayor, deputy mayor of public safety, the school's chancellor, the health commissioner, numerous top aides, just to name a few. So I guess when you look back at it, what did you as mayor learn from those departures? And if you did learn something, did that impact on who you picked to fill those positions?  

Mayor Adams: No, not at all– 

Mannarino: The new round.  

Mayor Adams: When you look at who departed, people have a running government service. Especially for me, I can't tell you, Dan. You know, you get those 2 a.m. calls from me saying, hey, why is this encampment on the corner? Or why is this garbage pail overfilling? You know, when you have two years and six, eight, nine months with me, you know what, that's eight years of any other administration. I'm a mayor on steroids, you know, because I'm just so committed and dogmatic at this city. And they've run their course. Chancellor Banks said, I ran out of gas. 

And so now I'm looking at the beauty is, not only did I have great talent in the department, I've got great talent in the city. Commissioner Tisch going to the police commissioner to take me to the next level of a deep into the century of policing. To be able to still have my deputy mayors that are all still in place. I was able to move Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer to be the first deputy mayor. She didn't miss one stride in getting City of Yes done, and that is the type of experience we have. When you do a real, honest, unbiased analysis of this administration, you have to be blown away at what we did in two years and nine months. 

Mannarino: And when we come back, the migrant crisis and the executive order that he wants to take regarding New York's sanctuary city status. Pix on Politics back in just two minutes. 

[Commercial Break.] 

Mannarino: In my annual year review with Mayor Eric Adams, we discussed the migrant crisis, which dominated headlines for more than a year, but looks to be turning a corner. Here's more.  

The other big issue when you're on the ground was the migrant crisis, and that dominated headlines all year. That affected crime. It affected the budget, right? This idea of sanctuary city. So I want to begin on the budget first because you were able to avoid some drastic cuts. Shelters are now closing. So looking ahead to 2025, can you avoid any threats or potential cuts to city agencies? Or are cuts still on the table, even with some closures? 

Mayor Adams: That's our goal. Our goal is to avoid the cuts, and this is why the bond rate has increased our bonds. Look at what I did when I became mayor with the team. We immediately put PEGs in place because I didn't know the inclement economic weather we were expecting. We put the PEGs in place to minimize the impact. No layoffs, no increase in taxes. We had the money, $7.1 billion we found to save us. If we didn't have that $7.1 billion with a [$6.65] billion migrant asylum seeker, we would have been in real trouble. But we made the smart decisions early that we were prepared, and we took those 225,000. We put in right policies, 225,000 of migrants and asylum seekers. We put in the right policy. We told people you got to do the way every other immigrant did in this city. You gotta find your way.  

Mannarino: And that brings me to this question. What actually needs to happen at the border? So the arrivals are decreasing, right? But should the border be completely shut down? No one crosses for now until there's a handle. And have you spoken to President Elect Trump about that? Does he want to do that?  

Mayor Adams: Great question that you had. First of all, we need to hit pause–  

Mannarino: So close the border?  

Mayor Adams: Close the border. We gotta get it. We gotta get this under control, and we have to have a real system. If you come in across the border and you are a known gang member from some of these dangerous gangs, this is not the place for you, buddy. You come in across the borders because they let you out of jail in Venezuela or Ecuador, Colombia, and you think that you're gonna come here and continue your habit. This is not the place for you. So we need to close and control the border. Then we need to come up with real to immigration reform that the American public stated.  

Mannarino: How long could that take? I mean, how long [are] you closing the border?  

Mayor Adams: Great question. And what I believe we need to do. First of all, think about how crazy this is. How do you parole someone into the country and tell them from six months to a year or maybe two years, you're not going to be able to work. Okay, then what do you do? I mean, this is so crazy when you think about it.  

So let's go and bring together all of our municipalities and say, who needs people? You need food service workers in New York. You need backstretch workers in the racing industry. Who needs people? Who are dealing with population? And then we tell people you come in here. We're paroling you in. We check your background. You're going to Kentucky so that you could help in the racing industry because they need employees. We need to control this crisis.  

Mannarino: And part of that control is you indicating that you want to take a look at using executive action to change sanctuary city laws, right? So what exactly does that look like? I've heard you say it, but on paper, is it a permanent pause on sanctuary city status or is it temporary? 

Mayor Adams: No, I'm very clear on what I wanted. I've been stating– everybody say, this is what you're saying after the campaign. I was saying this prior to the campaign. People who continue to commit violent acts in our city, shootings, rapes, robberies, grand larcenies. Those seven majors, you commit those crimes, you need to get out of our country after you serve your time.  

And we cannot currently coordinate with ICE [on] anything dealing with immigration. I think that's wrong. I think we should be able to coordinate with ICE for criminal investigations and when he's dealing with immigration.  

Mannarino: So it's a permanent pause in executive action.  

Mayor Adams: Yes, we would. I think that Mayor Koch had it right with sanctuary cities, allowing people to use city services. Mayor Bloomberg had it right. I think the previous administration went too far, particularly coming from the City Council, who was pushing a lot of this. 

Mannarino: And because this is a look back to the president and the Democratic Party, in your view, did they miss the memo on the issue of the migrant crisis? And do you see that as a driving force as to why the election went the way it did? 

Mayor Adams: They missed a couple of memos. They missed the Bitcoin memo that people are going to Bitcoin and cyber wallets and the technology. They missed the memo back in 2022 when I was talking about crime. Crime became the top issue when we lost seats. They missed the memo on migrant and asylum seekers. And I went to Washington 10 times and shared. This is what people are saying on the street. And they wrote off that, well, that's just a New York issue. Wasn't a New York issue. Major cities: Chicago, New York, Houston, Los Angeles. All of these major Democratic cities were feeling this crunch and they missed a memo. And it's a major impact on these cities. A long term impact on the city.  

Mannarino: So you mentioned crime and that's part of the issue. And also the idea of sanctuary city. It puts you at odds with the City Council, who said that you think you're, with the executive orders and actions, looking to kind of bypass the legislative process.  

Now I spoke to Speaker Adams, right? She says that with your Charter Review Commission, she felt that you were trying to weaponize the system. Quote, both cannons being pointed towards the council with the Charter Review Commission. She said she wouldn't classify your relationship as rosy. So how would you describe your relationship with Speaker Adams in particular? And are you trying to strip power from the council?  

Mayor Adams: And listen, it's alright, it's not rosy. It's alright that, you know, say, Eric, I'm not gonna invite you to my birthday party. That's all good. Are we getting it done? Yes, we are.  

To all of our budgets we pass by law. We've done some great things. We passed City of Yes, City of Carbon Neutrality, City of Economic Opportunity. So it's all right for families to dispute. But are you getting it done for the city? She should be proud of what we've done.  

The Charter Commission. Think about this, Dan. They overrode my vetoes. Did you ever hear me complain? They use the tools that the charter gave them to say we are going to balance your power, Eric. And you never heard me complain. I said she has that authority to do so.  

I'm not breaking the law. I wasn't the first mayor that used the Charter Commission to push initiatives like housing, which we both say we need. So if I was breaking the law then she could say you weaponized it. No, I'm using the tools that the charter that empowers her to override my veto, I'm using the tools to make sure the issues that are important to New Yorkers– I got Rich Buery chairing this committee. We put in the last Charter Commission Commission five out of six was passed. So who's speaking on behalf of New Yorkers? 

Mannarino: But do you see her point of you trying to take power from the council?  

Mayor Adams: But when she overrides my veto, is she taking power from me? When she gets a super majority and override my veto, is she taking power from me?  

I never complain. I can't pass a budget without it. I could propose a budget, but she has the power to say no, we're not passing that budget. 

Mannarino: And when we come back, the all important look ahead to 2025. 

[Commercial Break.] 

Mannarino: Mr. Mayor, we are almost out of time here, so I want to get you on crime and the involuntary removal of people from the streets. Mental illness is a big part of why New Yorkers have that perception that crime is unsafe. So you were just in Albany. How did those talks go in getting that done? 

Mayor Adams: They understand it. Both the speaker and the leader and the governor all know we have to do something about the severe mental health crisis we have. That is overshadowing our success. Random acts of violence, which often are those with severe mental health illness, and repeated offenders. Those are the two major issues that's overshadowing the success and people are not feeling as well as we have done.  
 

You know, we have the second largest tourism in our city in the history of the city because people feel safe coming here. We're the safest big city in America, 20,000 guns removed off our streets, our subway system continues to show improvement, to show success. So we have to deal with the mental health crisis. And I've been saying it for a while. The first time I talked about it, people said, look how inhumane he is, look how terrible he is. And now people realize that I was right when I was saying, I was Bitcoin right. 
 

Mannarino: I want to focus on you as well. We touched upon a little bit earlier with the federal indictment of charges. You're looking to push your first court date to January 20th. It just so happens [it’s] the same day as President-elect Trump's inauguration. Why that date? 
 

Mayor Adams: Look, my lawyer's handling all of that. He has all the strategies. He has all the things that I'm doing around the court case. I have full confidence in him. He is known to be one of the best trial lawyers in the country. Look at some of his clients from Jay-Z to Baldwin to Elon Musk. This guy is really the top attorney. And so just as only a fool will have himself as a doctor, only a fool would try to out-strategize his legal team. 
 

Mannarino: If you got an invitation to the inauguration, would you go? 
 

Mayor Adams: I don't know what I'm doing that weekend because that's Donald Trump's inauguration, but it's also Dr. King's weekend. So I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend. I'm excited about the future of this country and that we have to really heal the wounds. As I say, I'm looking forward to working with the president and not warring with his administration. 
 

Mannarino: I've heard you say that you didn't ask for a pardon, but if you were given one, would you want it? 
 

Mayor Adams: I should have never been charged in the first place. I did nothing wrong. I have a legal team that's handling all the pathways to make sure that I get justice. 
 

Mannarino: 2025, Mr. Mayor, obviously you're running for re-election and you said you're running as a Democrat.  
 

Mayor Adams: Yes, Dan. I'm running as a Democrat. 
 

Mannarino: Not a Republican, not in your future, probably not in your future. 
 

Mayor Adams: No, running as a Democrat. 
 

Mannarino: What is the top priority for you as mayor and also as what you'll be running on in 2025? 
 

Mayor Adams: Listen, I'm a true blue Democrat, but I'm also a true blue, blue collar. The American people and New Yorkers are afraid, they're scared, and they are really tired of our squabbling while they are hurting. And I want to do exactly what I did when I ran the first time, give a complete list of accomplishments. And people really need to go look at those accomplishments and things I wanted to obtain.  
 

We did. And I want to give the new list of accomplishments, uplifting working class people, going after learning disabilities so that people can be on the pathway to success, continue to bring down crime, and make sure that this city is a city for all, where we can all live out our dreams. 
 

Mannarino: Mr. Mayor, appreciate the time. Happy holidays.  
 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. 
 

###