Mayor Eric Adams’ Democratic primary challengers slammed him on Monday over a report that he instructed top city officials not to criticize Republican President Donald Trump and not to interfere with federal immigration enforcement actions at city facilities.
One of those challengers, city Comptroller Brad Lander, went so far as to suggest that Hizzoner had effectively instructed city workers to assist in a push to win Trump’s help in dismissing his federal corruption charges.
The comptroller’s Feb. 10 comments came in rapid response to a report from the news site THE CITY that Adams ordered his top deputies and commissioners to lay off Trump, including on social media platforms, in an hour-long meeting on Monday morning. He reportedly warned that crossing the president could endanger the city’s access to vital federal funding.
“Today Eric Adams instructed New York City employees from top to bottom to aid and abet his efforts to win a pardon from Donald Trump,” Lander told reporters during a Feb. 10 afternoon news conference outside the city’s Municipal Building.
“This morning in this very building, he reportedly gathered together his senior officials, commissioners, deputy mayors, to instruct them not to criticize Donald Trump, even though Trump is making efforts to cut off the funding that the agencies those commissioners supervise rely on every single day,” he added, referring to Trump’s recent moves to freeze vast amounts of federal funding.
Another mayoral candidate, Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, took things a step further. He called for an “immediate investigation” into whether Adams has “cut any kind of deal” with Trump’s administration that involves breaking city law in exchange for help with his legal troubles.
“Eric Adams has narrowed the focus of city government to a singular goal: keeping himself out of prison,” Mamdani said in a statement. “He appears willing to sacrifice anyone to achieve it.”
‘Tweets do not solve problems’
In response, Mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus reiterated that Adams is looking to work and “not war” with the Trump administration.
“Mayor Adams often speaks to his top leaders to discuss what they’re seeing on the ground in their respective departments and ways we can continue working together to provide for the people of New York City,” Mamelak Altus said.
“Tweets do not solve problems, which is why addressing issues on the streets is what this administration is going to do,” she added, appearing to refer to city officials and agencies publicly criticizing Trump’s administration.
Lander also took aim at clarified guidance that the city sent out to all of its agencies — besides the NYPD, Department of Correction, and Department of Education — that tells city employees “do not interfere” with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “in all instances.”
The city issued the new directive after a previous version, instructing municipal workers to comply with ICE if they “reasonably feel threatened” by the agents’ presence, last week led many pols to accuse Adams of violating the city’s sanctuary laws.
The guidance, a copy of which was obtained by amNewYork Metro, was laid out in a flow chart that also instructed city workers to ask the agents for identification and for them to present a judicial warrant. If agents do not show ID or a warrant, the chart instructs city employees not to let them in and to call the NYPD and their general counsels if they enter anyway.
But Lander said the clause instructing city employees not to interfere is an “invitation to ICE to come into city facilities.”
The comptroller charged that the chart does not include a name or phone number for the specific agency’s general counsel, a description of a judicial warrant, or pictures of what a warrant looks like—all of which he said is vital information for city employees to have.
“It looks to me like a way of saying to ICE and other non-local law enforcement that you can come into New York City institutions, you are going to be able to waltz past our security and receptionists, more than it seems to be actually helpful guidance,” he said.
