Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears on "Piers Morgan Uncensored"

May 8, 2025

Piers Morgan : New York City Mayor Eric Adams was a rising star of the Democratic Party, a clear thinking, straight talking former police officer who was touted for national acclaim. Now he's fighting [the] next election as an Independent after a remarkable saga, which saw him indicted on corruption charges and effectively cleared without trial under orders from the Trump administration. Well, Mayor Adams joins me now. Mr. Mayor, welcome to Uncensored. 
 

Mayor Eric Adams: You know, I feel as though I have arrived. I'm on the Piers Morgan show. 
 

Morgan: I would completely concur with that sentiment, Mr. Mayor. Congratulations. It's been quite a ride for you in the last year. As you sit here now, did you ever imagine when you first became mayor, as a democratically elected mayor, that you would actually be running again as an Independent? 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, you know, it has been quite a ride for me for 64 years. A young man growing up in poverty in South Jamaica, Queens, I announced my budget from my old high school, and I looked around the auditorium. It was unimaginable. Here I was sitting in that classroom called the dumb student because of my undiagnosed dyslexia.  
 

You know, when you go from being dyslexic, rejected and now elected to be the mayor, you're prepared for whatever ride comes in front of you. And I'm still a Democrat, but I'm running on an Independent line, which our process allows you to do. 
 

Morgan: If you were still a Democrat, then you would presumably right now be very scathing about Donald Trump's first hundred days because all the other Democrats are being very scathing about it.  
But you seem to have been notable, if I may say so, by your deafening silence when it comes to being overly critical of him. Why is that? 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, think about it for a moment, Piers. Look at what I've stated before the president took office and then look at what I stated after. I challenge anyone to find anything different. Same comments.  
 

I believe in public safety is the prerequisite to our prosperity and I believe in fighting for working class people and being caught up and just yelling at each other is not going to solve the problems of working-class people in New York and across America.  
 

So there's nothing that has changed about me. I'm the same person when I wore that uniform as a police officer and as the mayor of the City of New York fighting for working class people.  
 

Morgan: Mr. Mayor, you know the reason I'm asking you the questions and the way I'm framing them is that your critics say, “Well, he's completely sold out.” This was a guy who was a Democratic mayor. He was facing these corruption charges, these indictments of accepting gifts from Turkish citizens in return for favors. You denied them. The trial was scheduled for April.  
 

Then all charges are dropped, and you appear to have performed one of the great political U-turns to effectively almost become a pro-Trump Republican in your rhetoric and in your positions. And what they all want to know is, as some legal minds have expressed on the record, was this the quid pro quo? Have you saved your own political career by jumping into bed with the enemy? 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, again, what's beautiful about today's time, unlike years ago, is that one is able to capture the comment, the posture and the positions of a person and then do a comparative unbiased analysis.  
 

I was talking about going after dangerous gang members that were part of the migrants and asylum seekers in our city pre-election. I was talking about protecting broken class immigrants that come here pre-election. That has not changed.  
 

So I need to better understand, unless you could pull up something that I'm doing differently or those who critique me and say that, “Eric, the position you took pre-election is different from what you take in post-election.” I was talking about securing our borders, protecting New Yorkers and Americans.  
 

I flew down pre-election to the Darien Gap in South and Central America and to our borders. I was talking about these same things. It has not changed. I talked about them under President Biden and under President Trump.  
 

So those who want to attempt to distort the reality of my consistency, they could do so. Where I believe this administration went wrong, like the clawback of $80 million from FEMA, we took actions against that.  
 

I'm consistent in fighting on behalf of New Yorkers. And I'm just not going to allow those who are just angry because the election didn't turn out the way they want to try to distort what I have been doing for almost 40 years for working class people of this city. 
 

Morgan: I mean, you're on record as previously having called Donald Trump an idiot. You clearly have changed your mind about that. 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, during campaign season, we hurl insults at each other. I mean, that's part of the campaign season. And [I] also said last year, pre-election, “Listen, we all need to tone down the way we're talking.” This was pre-election.  
 

It's so important to talk about pre-election. I said we all need to tone down how we are talking to each other. We reached a point in this country where we started hurling insults at each other. And working-class people just didn't want to hear that. And that was pre-election. I cannot emphasize that enough. And so when I'm saying the same thing post-election, why are people surprised about that? 
 

Morgan: Okay, but how would you criticize Donald Trump for his first hundred days? 
 

Mayor Adams: I would do an analysis, an analysis that I think some of the money that was clawed back from New York City that the previous administration gave us, we earned that money and we need to make sure that we get that money. I would do an analysis of that.  
 

And I would do an analysis on how we could continue to grow the economy here in New York City and across the entire country. And this is a business of how [you] work with the national government.  
Piers, think about this for a moment. I'm the mayor of the economic engine of this country and state. It is unimaginable for me not to communicate with the president of the United States. I did this with President Biden. I called myself the Biden of Brooklyn.  
 

I traveled to Washington ten times to talk about border issues. I brought the president here to the city and he assisted us in dealing with getting the ATF head and bringing down dealing with gun violence.  
 

There's nothing inconsistent about the mayor of the largest city in America communicating with the president of the country. And those who said I shouldn't be doing that, or I should be just having hurling verbal insults, it's just immature.  
 

Morgan: But actually, to be fair, I haven't asked you to do either of those things. I'm simply curious that given your pronouncement that you believe you're still a Democrat, even though you're going to be running as an Independent, and we'll come to the reason why.  
 

But given that you say, look, I'm still a Democrat, almost every other Democrat in American politics right now is howling with rage about a lot of stuff that Trump is doing.  
 

Now, this is not my personal opinion I'm expressing here about any of it. I'm just curious what of all the things he's doing. Take the tariffs, right? Donald Trump has launched, whether you agree with it or not, has launched one of the most or the most unprecedented global tariff war in the history of the United States. Do you think it's a good thing? 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, I want to be clear, I never said that you did that. And so I want to be clear, I'm not accusing you of doing that. I'm responding to others who do that. And every Democrat is not doing that.  
 

[Governor] Hochul went to Washington several times to sit down with the president. You have other governors and other mayors who have stated, we need to work with the administration. I just was at a conference of Black mayors in Washington, D.C., and many of my colleagues there stated the same thing.  
 

We have to produce and deliver for our cities. This is what mayors do. Mayors cannot get caught up in the rhetoric. And so when you talk specifically about the tariffs, I've always made it clear, I'm not an expert on tariffs. That is not the legalese of tariffs and what they do. I'm not an expert on [it].  
 

I'm an expert on delivering for New Yorkers, $30 billion back in the pockets of New Yorkers. And one thing no one can disagree on is that the tariff system we had in place was unfair to Americans. When you are taxed at a high level, it has really impacted my manufacturing industry here in New York City.  
 

We have been decimated in manufacturing. And so if the president and his team, if they have produced a plan to equalize the tariffs, yes, it's going to impact us. But I must be focused on, how does it impact New York City residents. And that's my focus.  
 

Morgan: But that sounds to me like you think it might work. It might be a good idea.  
 

Mayor Adams: No, let's see. We know, this is what we know for sure. What has been working before, it has not been working. We know that we pay more in tariffs than our counterparts. We know we've been held hostage by China. Just about every product we have is made in China.  
 

We know that we can't continue to go down that road. We saw that during COVID, during the COVID issue. During COVID, our mere face mask, our PPEs, our supply chain was all dependent outside our country.  
 

We were not producing the products that we needed. And so experts must make the determination on how to fix a real problem that I saw firsthand as a county executive in Brooklyn and when I became the mayor of the City of New York. And so if the president and his team that the American public voted for, mind you, not only the popular vote, but also the electoral vote, if they're making a determination on how to fix a long problem, we need to see the results of that. I must fix the problems in New York City. 
 

Morgan: I want to play a clip. This was you on Fox & Friends, which is the one that, you know, has got a lot of attention, calling you a lot of aggravation, because it seems to go to the heart of this allegation that there was some kind of quid pro quo between you and the Trump administration. 
 

[Video plays.] 
 

Morgan: Now, he went on to say that if you didn't do what you'd agreed, he was going to come back and basically kick your butt or whatever he said in New York. But the clear implication from what he said was a joke but clearly played to the narrative that medieval critics have, which is, well, he wasn't joking. There was an agreement.  
 

And the agreement was the charges would get dropped against you if you toe the line on immigration. And sure enough. Very quickly, ICE was given access to Rikers Island jail, which many on the progressive left think is outrageous because so many people at Rikers, as you know, are awaiting trial.  
 

They haven't been through full due process. And allowing ICE to rampage around Rikers and potentially throw them out of the country before they've been through due process is anathema to the progressive left. What do you say to that? And in particular, what that exchange was really about on Fox and Friends? 
 

Mayor Adams: Listen, prior to us coming on stage and sitting down and talking, as you saw, we were both joking and we were both laughing. There was nothing contentious about our conversation and we were ribbing each other off camera. And we sat down and we were talking about how we were going to hold each other accountable.  
 

If you went on in an interview, you heard me state, “I'm going to be holding you accountable also.” It was something that we were saying off stage and it was just that. We were joking around with each other, two ex law enforcement people. You do that in law enforcement. You rib each other often.  
 

But let's go specifically to the case, Tom and I had no conversations about my case at all. At all. I raised my hand in federal court when I was asked if anything was promised to me under federal court and under oath, I said, “No.”  
 

I'm not going to continue to say the same things over and over again because it became a talking point for the far left. I'm very clear on this. People who commit crimes and hurt innocent people, I'm going to collaborate with all of my federal partners to bring them to justice. And after they serve their time and after conviction, they need to be deported if they're undocumented.  
 

I've said that pre-election and I'm going to say it post-election. And so when people say that [he] and I had an agreement, he is not part of DOJ. He didn't do an analysis of the case. I was wrongly charged.  
 

I've said it from the [beginning]. I should have never been charged. And when you said taking gifts from Turkish, it was upgrades. It was airline upgrades. There [were] no bags of money. There was no cash. There was no diamonds. It was upgrades.  
 

And we need to be clear on that. It was ridiculous that I was charged with this crime in the first place. And Tom and I had no deal because he had nothing to do with the case at all. 
 

Morgan: And did you have any discussion with Donald Trump when you had dinner with him at Mar-a-Lago? Some people think you must have done. How could you have two-hour dinner with Donald Trump and not discuss this, given that he clearly had sympathy for what he believed was another example of the kind of lawfare that he'd gone through now being used against you? 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, it wasn't at Mar-a-Lago. It was at his Palm Beach club. Many people reported it was Mar-a-Lago, and it wasn't. Yeah, no, I just want to just clarify it so we can say it accurately. Our conversation, as I stated, it was about bringing jobs to New York.  
 

There's a place in the Bronx where we just put $100 million into an armory there. And I want to produce and develop chips there, so we don't continue to be dependent on sources outside the country. And that was what our conversation was on. We had a general conversation on how much he loves New York and how much I love New York. We made it clear the conversation was not rooted in the case at all.  
 

This independent Department of Justice did their observation, and I agree with them wholeheartedly. I've said this over and over again. I was wrongly accused, and I know I did nothing wrong. Now, were there people who I trusted that I should not have trusted and that did something that really went against what I believed? They were volunteers. They were not hired on our campaign, and I will continue to stand by that.  
 

But most importantly, I have a city to run, and I did just that. I turned the city around even while I was going through my own personal strife. I continued to produce housing. I brought back all the jobs that we lost in the city. I decreased crime in the city, decreased unemployment.  
 

This city recovered under this administration in spite of what I was going through, because you're not going to be judging life by what you have done, but also what you have overcome. I had the ability to stay focused like that good old-fashioned police officer I was. I wanted to deal with the quality of this city, and I did that. 
 

Morgan: What was it that people did, then, on your behalf that was wrong? 
 

Mayor Adams: No, no one did anything on my behalf. I want to be very clear on that. My orders were clear to all my volunteers, and my orders were clear to all my staffers. People who did anything that was outside of that, they have to be held accountable for it. No one that was hired by my campaign did anything. 
 

Morgan: Just to be clear, you intimated that volunteers had done things without your approval. What are we talking about? 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, I think when you read the indictment based on allegations by the Southern District Justice Department, based on the allegations, there appeared to have been volunteers that did things. I don't have all of their evidence on what they did, but that's what it appears to be based on what they're stating.  
 

There was no action on my part that did anything wrong. To be—Piers, think about this for a moment. To be indicted for calling the fire commissioner and asking to do an inspection, not to pass an inspection, Piers. Many people didn't read the indictment. Not to pass an inspection of a building, but to do an inspection. Something I had no power over, to be indicted on that, that's problematic.  
Then to see some of the private text messages of how even those who were in the Justice Department saying that they were unclear if the Southern District person had any political motivations, all of those things came out. When you think about the sitting mayor of the most important city in America to have undergone that, it's just problematic. And I'm happy that the Department of Justice did their own analysis and came to a conclusion. 
 

Morgan: If you are so supportive of so much of what Trump is doing, why not go the whole hog and just run as a Republican? I mean, it seems to me that running as an independent, you're going to be carving up the vote with Andrew Cuomo, who wants to be mayor. I could see your vote getting split. I think you've said this, that that's a concern.  
 

But given that you're so aligned to so much of what Trump is doing, why not just go with the flow, become a Republican? 
 

[Commercial Break.] 
 

Mayor Adams: You know, it's really interesting. I've watched many of your shows and I really have never seen you do this before. Why are you trying to interpret what my position is? I'm not in alignment with anyone 100 percent. I'm in alignment with protecting New Yorkers. And I don't think there was anything I said in this interview that gave you the impression that I'm completely in alignment with anyone.  
 

I was aligned with what President Biden did that was correct. And I'm aligned with whatever President Trump does that's correct. My job as a mayor of this city is to make sure I fight on behalf of mayors. If I was in complete alignment, we would not have been fighting to get our $80 million back that was clawed back. And so I want to be very clear on my position.  
 

My position as the mayor of the City of New York is to fight for New Yorkers and continue the recovery that I did in an administration that went through COVID and that went to 230 something thousand migrants and asylum seekers that cost us $7.5 billion with a B from the previous administration. I've been consistent and I cannot be more clear on that, on my consistency. 
 

Morgan: I don't doubt that for a moment. I'm just saying you obviously got elected as a democratic politician. You've now segued to Independent. Many people say that because you've had so many starts— 
 

Mayor Adams: But I'm still a Democrat.  
 

Morgan: Well you say you are, but you're not running as a Democrat. 
 

Mayor Adams: No, yes I am. Our system– I want to be clear on what our system is in this country. Our system in this country allows you to have independent lines. I'm still a Democrat. I'm running as a Democrat, but I have a line as an independent name. I'm not running in the Independent party. I'm a Democrat with my own line.  
 

And so you see others, there's a line called Working Families Party. They're still Democrats, but they have a line that's the Working Families Party. So I'm still a Democrat. And let's be clear on something that a lot of people don't understand, the Democratic party is not a monolithic party. It's not a party where everyone lines up or checks a box and says, “Okay, you have to align up to this.”  
 

No, it's extremely diverse with different beliefs and different philosophical approaches to things. And my moderate stance on pro public safety, pro development, pro business, pro education, pro working families. That is where I stand. I don't embrace the far-left philosophy of the Democratic party that constantly wants to defund Police Departments, that want to turn back the criminal justice actions we took to keep our city safe. So if you're part of the party and you don't think our federal partners should be part of our law enforcement apparatus, I have a problem with that.  
 

ICE is not a criminal organization. Let's be clear on that. ICE is a federal law enforcement agency. We don't collaborate because of the law here on civil enforcement, but I’m darn sure we'll collaborate with them to go after bad guys like we did this weekend who, a gang that attacked our police officers and had over 20 robberies in our city. So I'm going to collaborate with ICE. ICE is not a criminal organization. There are men and women who are fighting to keep our country safe and I will collaborate with them and other HSI, FBI and other law enforcement agencies to keep this city safe. 
 

Morgan: Before the whole scandal of the indictments and so on, many people were tipping you as a potential future president. The current incumbent of the White House is a New Yorker. He's won it twice by doing things his way. You have a good relationship with him. He's already said he won't run now for a third term. He made that clear at the weekend. Have you abandoned any aspiration to one day run for the highest office in the land or is that still a possibility? 
 

Mayor Adams: You know, you said, have I abandoned the desire to do so? In order to abandon something, you had to embrace it in the first place.  
 

Morgan: Oh, come on, Mr. Mayor. Don't look at me straight down the barrel of that camera and pretend it's never crossed your mind. 
 

Mayor Adams: Listen, think about this for a moment. You could run America from the mayor's seat of New York City. The way goes New York, goes America and the way goes America, if we like it or not, goes the globe, the mayor of this city, this is the greatest city on the globe. No one is going to argue with that. And being the greatest city on the globe, being a mayor, I'm able to put processes in place that can impact the entire country. And so there was never a desire on my part to do anything more than being a mayor of this great city.  
 

I love my job. I love serving the people of this city just as I served them as a police officer for 22 years. I enjoy the job I'm doing and it was not one time, not one quote that people can get from me that stated I am aspiring to go to anything beyond that. I love being a mayor and that's why I'm running for re-election to continue the work that I've done of making our city a safe place to raise children and families. 
 

Morgan: So if you ever announce that you're going to run for president, you'll give me a million dollars? 
 

Mayor Adams: If I ever announce I'm going to run for president, I'm going to call you up and I'm going to hire you as my campaign manager. 
 

Morgan: Well, you should be so lucky. You can't actually afford me. But just to be clear, you'll take my offer, will you? You will give me a million dollars if you ever announce you're running. 
 

Mayor Adams: Listen, I'm not going to live in hypotheticals. I'm going to live in reality. And the reality is I'm the mayor of the greatest city in the globe 
 

Morgan: Let the record show you didn't take my bet. Do you actually think you could win? Many people, you know, they think you don't really have a chance because of this pivot to Independent, albeit you say you're still a Democrat, a lot of your staff have left. You've got the whiff of the scandal still there, even though, you know, the charges weren't pursued in the end. Your polling is at a record low. There's not a lot of ticks in the right boxes for you. What makes you think you can win? 
 

Mayor Adams: Well, because I was that high school student that stood on the stage of Bayside High School last week, and I was told I was a dumb student. I was told I would never be anything in my community. Obstacles have always been there. I watched my mother raise six children, mostly on her own, doing three jobs a day. And she said, “Baby, never surrender.”  
 

And I watched the communities around me. People go through hard things, and they overcome that. As I stated, you should never be judged by only what you have done, but what you have overcome. And every day, people are overcoming challenges. And so looking at polls and looking at the obstacles that are in front of me, that doesn't bother me at all.  
 

Try walking into a classroom as a third grader and reading on the back of your chair that you're the dumb student and have the children mock you the entire day as you stumble over the roads because of your dyslexia, and you still are able to achieve where you are. I've never allowed obstacles to get in my way, and New Yorkers don't. We're resilient.  
 

When our center of trade was attacked during 2001, September 11, September 12, we got up, and we built, and we carried out our lives, and we showed the entire globe what we're made of. So this is a great opportunity so I can show people New Yorkers are resilient, and I'm resilient. I'm a working-class blue-collar mayor, probably one of the only union members blue-collar mayors in the history of this city. And I'm excited about the challenges that are in front of me, because I'll overcome them. 
 

Morgan: Well, Mr. Mayor, it's a fantastic city, second best city in the world, after London, obviously. But I come to New York a lot. I love New York. I love New Yorkers. I wish you all the best with your campaign, and I'm delighted that you finally achieved your career ambition of appearing on ‘Uncensored.’ Congratulations. 
 

Mayor Adams: Thank you, Piers. Look forward to coming on again one day. 
 

Morgan: Come back if you win. That would be great.  
 

Mayor Adams: Love it. Thank you. Take care.  

###