Adrienne Adams deletes post critical of Zohran Mamdani, but declares ‘no regrets'
But Adams also told reporters at City Hall she didn't regret anything, sending a mixed message on the thorny issue.
'I have no regrets, and I didn't criticize [Mamdani],' she insisted when pressed by the Daily News on why she scrubbed the post from her personal X handle.
The post, put out Tuesday, featured a clip of Mamdani saying in a TV appearance he agrees the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency should be 'abolished' in light of President Trump's use of it as part of his hardline 'mass deportation' efforts.
'A lawless president does not mean we abolish entire agencies and our laws,' the speaker wrote in the since-deleted post. 'I've taken on Donald Trump and ICE — and won. People elect us as leaders to solve problems, not pledge allegiance to rigid ideologies.'
Asked in her Wednesday afternoon press conference why she deleted it, the speaker said it 'did not say what I wanted to say in the way that I wanted to say it' before adding she wished it would've been more 'Trump-focused.'
'And it was misinterpreted, leave it at that,' said the speaker, who's often seen as a moderate Democrat.
The speaker's jab at Mamdani, a democratic socialist, comes as he has consistently polled as the runner-up to Andrew Cuomo, the favorite to win the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary.
Amid that dynamic, many other mayoral candidates have refrained from criticizing each other, opting instead to focus their ire on Cuomo and urging voters to put anyone but the ex-governor on their ranked-choice ballots.
Mamdani and Speaker Adams, in fact, were both endorsed by the Working Families Party and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as part of their slates of anti-Cuomo candidates. Mamdani even helped the speaker fundraise for her campaign last month.
Asked about the speaker's post, Andrew Esptein, Mamdani's spokesman, said, 'Zohran has said it over and over again since launching this campaign: He will only criticize disgraced New York executives past and present.'
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