New York City mayor Eric Adams fielded questions from reporters on Tuesday, in his first “off-topic” press conference since being indicted last week on federal corruption charges. As expected, many questions revolved around the case against him, though some other topics were addressed as well. Most notably, Adams reiterated his intent to not only remain in office while facing trial, but to run for office again next year.
The mayor took opportunities to play up his accomplishments, stating that he was ready for the elections next year, for which he has “an impressive record to stand on” and considers “80 percent” of his agenda “accomplished.” Asked what he considers his greatest accomplishment, he took credit for falling crime stats: “we inherited a city with a 40 percent increase in crime, and look where we are now.” New York has indeed experienced a drop in crime under Adams, however, the whole country experienced a spike in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic shortly before he took office, followed by a marked decrease since then on a national scale back to pre-COVID levels, with few exceptions. When a reporter shifted the attention to the rumors that Andrew Cuomo is interested in running for mayor, Adams welcomed the competition: “people should be in the race, that’s what this city is about.”
Some reporters gifted the mayor the opportunity to spin yarns with less serious questions, such as why he likes to travel. Adams went back to the well of his humble beginnings, stating that when he was young, “it was a distant thought of even owning a passport.” He explained how he had written down a list of places he wanted to visit on the back of his high school graduation photo, and that “it means a lot” to him to have overcome a “personal hurdle” by being able to cross many of the countries off of that list.
Asked whether being charged with a crime changed his perspective on people held at Rikers Island jail, Adams reminded reporters that he was “rebaptized” there alongside inmates with Reverend Al Sharpton last spring, and declared that he has “a long history of being there for those who are incarcerated.”
Rikers Island has been plagued by high rates of violence and inmate deaths since before Adams’ tenure, with the jail complex going under federal oversight nearly a decade ago as part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by the Legal Aid society and prisoners. Federal judges and attorneys general have agreed that changes have not been made despite court orders, and the complex should go under federal receivership to implement reforms. The mayor did not answer as to whether his perspective had changed since being charged.
