Why Eric Adams requested White House meeting with Trump as his reelection chances hang by a thread

Yahoo

10-05-2025

He went to kiss the ring.
Mayor Eric Adams trekked to Washington, DC Friday to butter up President Trump during a rare White House meeting in the hopes of scoring a win for the Big Apple.
Hizzoner posted a video on X after the 20-minute confab — one of several clips chronicling his journey to the nation's capital — telling New Yorkers he talked about the wind farm project and developing microchips in the city.
The pair also discussed the impending Amtrak East River tunnel closure and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, a source told The Post.
'At the heart of this, was to establish a real communication – that's our goal,' he said. 'As a city that's the largest city in America, we must have a dialogue with the White House.'
In a written statement, Adams also alluded to discussing the 'preservation of essential social services.' Trump has sought to freeze federal funds for food stamps, housing payments and more.
The president was more tight-lipped about his brief, first White House sit-down with the mayor of America's largest city.
'He just came in to say hello,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office afterward.
When asked what the meeting covered, Trump said, 'Almost nothing, he came in to say hello, he was very nice.'
'I think he came in to thank me, frankly, I would say the primary reason. But he was very nice, he's a nice man. But I think he actually came in to thank me.'
The mayor's campaign spokesman later said that he thanked Trump for his 'words of support' during the presidential race, calling out federal authorities for treating Adams 'unfairly.'
'That gesture was meaningful, and the Mayor appreciates the President's willingness to speak out when many remained silent,' he added.
Adams publicly juiced up expectations for his meeting with Trump in two X videos documenting his flight to Washington, DC, and arrival at the White House – teasing talks on 'major projects.'
The mayor hoped to bend the president's ear on the now-paused Empire Wind One project, Medicaid funding and state and local tax (SALT) deductions, a source briefed on the meeting told The Post.
The source said the embattled Adams, who faces a steep uphill reelection battle, is not only looking for a win, but also for his budding ally Trump to give him some credit.
The mayor wants to show that his strategy of cozying up to Trump and not joining most fellow city and state Democrats — and his opponents in the November mayoral race — in criticizing the president will bring about wins for the Big Apple, according to the source.
'It's a real substantive thing, he has to show he's getting something out of him for being nice,' the source said.
'The fact he can go sit down with the president is an amazing thing that no other mayor can do right now.'
Ultimately, however, Adams only managed to snag 20 minutes of facetime with Trump, as the meeting started late and he had to skedaddle to catch a flight back to the city, officials said.
His sit-down also nearly overlapped with the DOJ finally unsealing a cache of documents from his criminal case.
Adams dropped out of the Democratic mayoral primary and is running for reelection as an independent after his popularity cratered, in part because of his corruption case that the Trump administration successfully moved to scuttle.
The mayor's wooing of the New York City real estate mogul-turned-president started during the federal criminal case — a pivot that many critics, including his electoral challengers, cast as Adams putting himself in Trump's pocket.
Those close to the president have noticed Adams' overtures.
'Adams has been on a mission to make MAGA connections,' said a source close to White House.
The source speculated Adams could be trying to drum up favor with Trump, pointing out that the president loves Democrats-turned-Republicans, and that they could potentially be eyeing strategies on how to flip New York red.
The Empire Wind One project is one of the few issues that Adams has recently broken with Trump.
Adams put out a plea for the president to revive the wind farm off Long Island's coast after the Trump administration halted it.
The project would feed power into the underused South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, juice up to 500,000 homes and create 1,000 good-paying jobs, the mayor argued.
But convincing Trump, who is famously no fan of wind power, may be an uphill battle.
The president's nemesis state Attorney General Letitia James, along with 17 other attorney generals from Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia, filed a federal lawsuit this week to stop Trump from killing the project and other wind energy developments.
Adams' mention of discussing developing microchips in New York City with Trump could be a nod to turning the Bronx's Kingsbridge Armory into a semiconductor manufacturing plant, as first reported by the New York Daily News.
The mayor previously crossed paths with Trump at a UFC event in Madison Square Garden after the election and near Mar-a-Lago days before the inauguration.
Adams also attended Trump's inauguration, bolting to DC in the middle of the night and bailing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day events. He ended up being consigned to an overflow room and getting no facetime with the president.
Though now loath to publicly criticize Trump, Adams hasn't always been so shy.
He had called Trump an 'idiot' in 2018, likening the president to a 'crackhead' spouting nonsense on the street, The City reported.
But Adams has considerably changed his tune in recent months, though he bristled Thursday at British journalist and Post columnist Piers Morgan questioning why he doesn't just 'become a Republican.'
Adams said he's only aligned with protecting New Yorkers.
'I was aligned with what President [Joe] Biden did that was correct. I'm aligned with whatever President Trump do[es] that's correct,' an irritated Adams told Morgan.
Adams has been noticeably absent from the campaign trail as he has all-but-admitted he's relying on the profile of his office to garner attention.
Trump and his second White House administration have largely spared Adams from the fire they've thrown toward Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA amid an ongoing fight over congestion pricing.
White House sit-downs between New York City mayors and presidents are relatively rare.
Adams had met with former President Joe Biden at the White House in 2021 with a group of local officials, including mayors, though he was not yet elected into office.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio met with Barack Obama in 2015, as did his predecessor Michael Bloomberg three years earlier.
— Additional reporting by Steven Nelson