Transcript: Mayor Adams Creates New Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism and Holds In-Person Media Availability

May 13, 2025

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. So many friends and luminaries here. Friends from UJA, ADL, clergy, Devorah, always great to see you. This is a momentous occasion, and I could not be more proud of our mayor and our administration for taking this important step at this critical time. So it is my great honor to introduce our mayor, Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, first deputy mayor. When you look to the left of me and right of me, you're seeing people who I've known for many years in general, but specifically, I think about Devorah, who I've known since the death of her son, Ari, on the Brooklyn Bridge, right across the bridge with, at the time, the Grand Rebbe, whose grave site I visit often. And while I'm there, I move a few feet away and stop at Ari's site and put a stone on top. 

And this long fight to end hate in our city, hate in our city. And we zero in when something just really jumps off the charts and the graphs that we analyze how severe a problem is. Jewish Americans play a major role in this country, like so many other ethnic groups. But here in New York, we have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. 

Ten percent of our population, ten percent of the population are Jewish New Yorkers. Yet over 51 percent of the hate crimes are Jewish New Yorkers. We would not tolerate that for any group. We would not tolerate that. And we can't move as business as usual when you have a population in your city that is overwhelmingly being targeted merely because of their religious or way of life. And I was extremely proud years ago when we saw what happened with the Floyd case. 

When people of color and goodwill Americans stood up, and the term BLM was born, and there was an immediate response. And proud throughout my time, not only as an elected, but law enforcement, to stand by side, side by side, to march and walk and speak with people of the AAPI community when there was hate and attacks and assaults, particularly during the COVID-19. And proud to stand with LGBTQ+ communities as we fought for important issues like marriage and gender. The long record of saying in this city, hate has no place and you cannot allow specific groups to be targeted and go on as business as usual. 

That is why, today, we're opening an office of ending antisemitism in this city. And I'm proud of, first deputy mayor, when we sat down and talked about what can we do? How do we both have a symbolic gesture, but most importantly, a substantive gesture? That's the role of mayor. 

There must be substance behind what we are accomplishing and what we are doing. And this office is extremely important. When you look at the first quarter of 2025, hate crime numbers among antisemitism rose to 62 percent of those who are dealing with any form of hate in this city. In 2024, the ADL reported a record number of antisemitic incidents across the country, including the highest number in New York State. 

The numbers are clear, and the moment calls on clarity, and it calls on strong, decisive leadership. And when you look at this office, the mayor's office to combat antisemitism that we're announcing today in establishing this office to have a head on approach and make sure that we send a very clear message that in this city antisemitism cannot live and most importantly it cannot grow. It cannot grow in our college campuses. It cannot grow in our schools. It cannot grow in our work environment and this office dedicated to fighting antisemitism is for New Yorkers and is dealing with all forms of antisemitism. 

This is the first office of its kind established in a major city in America. And let's be honest with ourselves, it's not a Jewish issue. It is all of our issue, as in any hate on a group is an issue that we all should address. It's a tack on the very idea of New York City and what we stand for and a place where people can live side by side in harmony regardless of race, religion, or personal beliefs. 

And I want to be clear. This administration will not remain silent while our Jewish brothers and sisters are targeted with hate. They will not have to hesitate to enter the subway system should they take off their yarmulke. They should not worry about wearing a Star of David. They should not be worried that someone is lurking at a synagogue, hoping to harm them in any way. 

They should not have to worry about entering the campus of their schools where their children are educated and worry about being harassed or harmed. That's not the New York that I want to be the mayor over, and that's not the New York that we want to live in. The Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism will establish an interagency task force to coordinate across city agencies, contractors, and funding recipients. It will monitor court cases and outcomes of all levels of the justice system, having liaisons with New York City Law Department on appropriate cases to bring or join. And the office will have the authority to ensure city-funded entities do not promote antisemitism. 

It will be led by Moshe Davis as an inaugural director who currently serves as senior liaison for Jewish Affairs in our Community Affairs Unit. His dedicated, tireless effort of building bridges of all groups in general, but specifically weeding out antisemitism, makes him the right man for the right time to do the right job to put us on the right course. 

He's a tireless advocate on behalf of Jewish New Yorkers, and this is the moment where he can lead this effort. And I'm proud to be the mayor of 960,000 Jewish residents who call New York City home, and as I've stated over and over again, the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. Not only that, we are a city where the greatest number of Holocaust survivors live in New York City. 

In 2023, when I visited Yad Vashem, you saw the devastation, the impact, and how families will always hold that pain that came from it. And when I went to [Oświęcim] in Poland and visited the camps and saw the mounds of shoes and hairs and different household items, that was a signal of how a countless number of people were impacted generation after generation. 

And the pain was no different when I stood outside of Gorée Island in Africa, watching the road of the slave ships that ripped apart families and took them to die either on the crossing or on plantations. Pain is pain. And when you ignore the pains of others, you're ignoring your pain. And so we're here today to make this announcement, to be clear in who we stand for as a city. 

Today's announcement builds on the work we have done to keep New Yorkers safe and support our Jewish brothers and sisters. And since coming into office, we've directed the NYPD to take actions against all forms of hate crimes and violence that threatens New Yorkers. 

We have established the first Breaking Bread, Building Bond initiative to bring people to the room and sit down and cross-pollinate ideas and culture and understanding. We established the city's first Jewish Advisory Council to ensure our brothers and sisters' voices are heard and have a seat at the table. 

All our communities must feel at home, they must feel safe and feel free to practice their faith in New York City. And each of us may not share the same faith, but we share the same fate. We are in this together. We are all New Yorkers, and we're going to continue to protect our communities. 

So I want to thank all our partners who are here. Many of you I've known for many years. We've stood side by side to make this a better and safer city. And I want to let you know, as the mayor of this city, I'm here to stand side by side with you and all of the residents, all of the culture. I don't think there has been a mayor that has shown the level of receptivity from flag raisings to opening Gracie Mansion to having roundtables with all groups. 

I know what hate can do as a 22-year veteran of the Police Department responding to what hate has done. And I know how imperative it is that we address the increase that we're seeing in this city of almost a global and national antisemitic energy that's in this city. It must stop and it starts with our city. I want to turn it over to the incoming director, Moshe.

Moshe Davis, Incoming Director, Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. When I joined this administration, I came to celebrate Jewish life in New York City and make sure that our community's voices are heard in the halls of government. 

Yet, since October 7th, I never imagined that part of uplifting Jewish life compels me to expand that vision. I never thought that I would have to be stamping out fires of Jew hatred in our schools and in our streets. And we needed more tools. 

By establishing the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, our administration is taking immediate and concrete steps to address antisemitism at every level of city life. Under the leadership of Mayor Adams, our modern-day Maccabee, this office will be a sledgehammer, deliberate, coordinated, and unapologetic. 

Later this week, the Jewish community will be celebrating the legacy of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. And he teaches a very relevant parable. The parable goes that there are a few people sitting on a boat, one of them takes out a drill and starts to drill beneath his seat. The others look at him and say, what are you doing? He says, this is my seat. And they turn to him and say, yes, but when the water comes up, it's going to drown all of us. 

As New Yorkers, we cannot let the loud voices of Jew hatred drill a hole in our city. We're all in the same boat. This isn't a Jewish issue, this is a New York issue. For my great-grandmother who immigrated here, for my grandmother and mother who grew up here, and for my own kids over here, I'm raising in New York City. 

This has always been a place we can live as proud Jews. A place where I can walk in the street with a yarmulke on my head. It's our job to keep it that way. Thank you, my wonderful wife, Shana, for being the greatest support. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for trusting me with this role. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Why don't we open up a few questions on this.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how you doing?

Mayor Adams: Good, how are you?

Question: I'm good. So, former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes in 2019, and that was specifically targeted to end the combat incidents of antisemitism. Can you talk about what happened to that office? Does it still exist? Is this replacing it? Is there overlap? Can you sort of give us an overview of that?

Mayor Adams: First deputy mayor will dig into the weeds of it, but we still have that office, and that office is providing an important role. Some of the Breaking Bread, Building Bonds initiatives, almost 1,000 dinners we have held. It still has a focus of dealing with all of our groups that are experiencing hate crimes, but the numbers are clear. You can't be 10 percent of a population and have 51 percent of the incidents. That is an imbalance, and we have to zero in on that.

First Deputy Mayor Mastro: Yes, to be clear, that office still exists and it does important work about hate crimes. Hate crimes against any group. But understand what has happened here in our city, in our country, and in our world. Here in our city, with the largest Jewish population of any city in the world, we had last year, over 50 percent of all hate crimes committed against Jews. 

In the first quarter of this year, we had 62 percent of all hate crimes committed against Jews. But it is so much more than just crimes. Look what happened on our college campuses, Columbia, Brooklyn College, just last week. We are a city that embraces. We are a city that takes on challenges. We are a city that will not tolerate antisemitism. 

The time is now for such an office. Just today, in the last 24 hours, the release of the last American Jewish hostage on October 7th. And as the mayor said, we have more Holocaust survivors living in our city today than any city in the world. We will never forget. We will never tolerate antisemitism in any way, shape, or form. It's not just about crimes. It's about culture. And in our city, we embrace and we reject antisemitism.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you? Two-fold question.

Mayor Adams: Yes, sir.

Question: Brad Lander, the comptroller who is running the mayoral election, said that this is a cynical move that is designed to match with your independent ballot line and says Jews are not bones for Eric Adams or anybody else. I wanted to ask for your response. And second, how different is this from the Jewish Advisory Council, the NYPD Task Force on Antisemitism, the New York City Mayor's Office for Prevention of Hate Crimes?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think the political move is when Brad Lander refuses to invest pension funds into Israel because he is going to those that have anti-Jewish philosophies. That's the political move. The silliness of his political observation when in reality I did not wake up today and state that I want to fight against hate. 

The men and women you see to the left and right of me, they would tell you the long history from the days of a police officer, to state senator, to borough president, to the mayor. I was not a candidate when I watched a bullet take the life of Ari. 

I stood up then, and I will stand up now, and I will stand up with no matter what position I have. And that's the consistency. They will tell you I'm not a new friend. I'm an old friend. What was the second part?

Question: How does this differ from any other action that the city has already taken as a New York City Mayor's Office Prevention of Hate Crimes, there's a task force, what have you?

Mayor Adams: And I think that the first deputy mayor was clear. This is not about just crimes. It's about every aspect that feeds the, as you heard me use the analogy all the time, feed the river of. There are many rivers that feed the sea of antisemitism. 

One of those rivers we know is dealing with the crimes. Police Department is doing that. We have a unit in the Police Department to deal with hate crime. But the rivers of information that we saw put out in some of our school system was playing out on our college campuses with organizations that are receiving taxpayers' dollars that are promoting antisemitism. 

We need to look at what cases we should be joining that are civil cases. So we're looking at every aspect to bring back the number of 51 percent of a city that has only 10 percent of the population is having an overwhelming amount of hate in the city. Not only crimes, but civil as well as that.

Question: Hi. Thank you for… all of you. Thank you for putting this together. Thank you and congratulations. My question is how will this office, what will change coming out of this office? You mentioned the police involvement. That's more of a reactive response. Is this going to have an educational component, like what will come out of this office that's different than the existing infrastructure that we have?

Mayor Adams: And I hear that oftentimes, particularly when I attend organizations and groups, there are those who have asked us to stop all the protests, the 3,000 protests we've had in the city. We can't. That's against our Constitution. We can stop people from using violence. The Police Department has done an amazing job when those who take the right to protest and turn it into a right to harm, we've done that over and over again. 

This is a country where free speech exists. We may not like the speech that's said, but this is the country we're in. But government cannot be the supporter and feeder of hate. That is why we've done the Breaking Bread, Building Bonds under Assistant Commissioner Lamona, that have been organizing these meetings, putting together proactively looking at areas in our school system. We just saw a newsletter go out the other day that was despicable what they were promoting. And so we have to proactively monitor what is leaving our agencies. We cannot be the feeder of hate. 

And then we put the right person in charge to use his creativity on bringing in other groups and other organizations on how we can be extremely proactive to stop of the hate that we're seeing. But it's not only going to be government. These partners that are up here, Rabbi Potasnik and I, have stood side by side when other groups have been attacked. 

We have been one of the loudest voices around Islamophobia, around anti-Sikhism and other groups. And so it's not about government is going to solve the problem. We must become the conduit to ensure we bring others together to eradicate antisemitism. It's not going to be done just under this administration. It's going to be done by the partnerships. 

Question: I guess just more practical questions. Will this office be housed within the mayor's office to prevent hate crimes, and also, you know, if 63 percent unfortunately of hate crimes in the last, in the first quarter of the year were antisemitic, will this take away some of the work from that office, and then additionally, Will Rabbi Davis have a staff? I guess just it wasn't in the press release, so I'm just curious, the office structure and I guess then bouncing off of Sky's question, will he work with the DOE in particular on educational?

First Deputy Mayor Mastro: Just to answer your question, Kate, this office will be it's the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism. It will be housed in the Mayor's Office, run as an executive director by a trusted aide and reporting directly to me. And you will see concrete action in the coming weeks. You will see executive order, legislation. You will see education. You will see monitoring. You will see us considering working with the law department, whether there are litigations where we as a city should be bringing litigation or joining litigation to support those litigating against antisemitism. 

So stay tuned, because we are an administration that gets things done, and we will be very proactive in this regard, and the staff will be built out according to the needs under the executive director and the first deputy mayor. We are entirely committed to this cause. There's no foot off the pedal anywhere else. 

Hate crimes? Go after hate crimes. Work with the NYPD encourage prosecutors to bring those cases because those acts are vile and disgusting and criminal. But we will be giving even more resources to focusing on the larger problem of antisemitism in our city. And you will see that manifested in all of the ways that I have just described. 

Question: [Inaudible] broaden the administration's view of the hate crimes, which I know obviously, it was a council bill in 2019 that mandated the current office to prevent hate crimes. Are you also looking, like you mentioned, the newsletter that went out with the DOE, or I know last week it was a story about the [cancelling] of the summer stage. You alluded to it when you said taxpayer money. Are you broadening what you view as a hate crime or antisemitic hate crime to include things that some people might say is a free speech issue?

Mayor Adams: No, it's not what we view. It is what these numbers are showing. Just on the hate crimes, the numbers are clear. 10 percent of the population, 51 percent of the hate crimes. I mean, I don't know, I'm surprised we even have in this conversation, those numbers are clear. 

And if those numbers were any group, I don't care what the group was, we will respond. We're not going to sit back and watch 10 percent of the population receive 51 percent of the problem. And so I would be standing here if it was any group. And it's not my definition. I didn't give those definitions. I didn't do the analysis. 

That's the information that we sat down, we looked at these numbers, and when the first deputy mayor and I sat down, we said there's no way we could continue to allow this trajectory of hate that we're seeing across the globe. This is a global problem that we're facing. And New York is saying we're the largest Jewish population outside the country of Israel. There must be a strong response here, and that's what we're doing. Let's get to the rest of the off topics. Yes. Thank you. 

Thank you. Hold on one moment. No one here is going anywhere. My staff is here. They can finish this. Now, if you want me to talk about this for an hour, I'll do that. But don't ask me any other questions. So you tell me by show of hands, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to stand here and just talk about this one hour? I'll do that, but I know you guys have you guys have a lot of other things you want to ask me So we're going to do that. Thank you all for coming up

Question: Mr. Mayor, I actually have two questions, on has to do with the office you just opened. I just wonder what specific things you can do. If you take a look at the history of the Jewish people, there have been waves of antisemitism since the beginning of time, and the hatred people feel towards Jews has surfaced time and again, century after century. So what do you think you can accomplish with this office that's going to change the innate hatred that people feel for people who are Jewish?

Mayor Adams: That's a great question. You know, there was an old commercial back when I was a child. man would walk out of the hospital with his baby, newborn baby, and say, what can one man do? What can one man do, my friend? And those type of commercials reminded us that we have an obligation and responsibility. 

So I'm not going to eradicate hate in this city of any group, but I tried my best as the mayor to lift up groups and to be there for them as they were going through any form of hate. And I've been mocked about that. People mock me for doing the flag raisings. They don't go down there and see how much pride a group will have when I acknowledge them as the mayor. [Inaudible] for people to open up Gracie Mansion to host these events. 

And so as one person, I can use the platform as being the mayor of the most important city on the globe to raise this conversation. And then, as the first deputy mayor stated, to do substantive things. This is not just some symbolic office that we're opening. We're going to do day-to-day symbolic things. And the director we appointed is extremely aggressive around that. And we're going to do the best we can. One thing we're not going to do is remain silent. That's what I'm not going to do. You had a second question? Yes, yes.

Question: I want to talk to you about the meeting we had with President Trump last Friday. You about the meeting you had with President Trump last Friday. You said in the various posts that you were concerned about infrastructure and the wind farm, the president said you went there to say thank you to him. I wonder which version is the truth.

Mayor Adams: Well, you could have a multifaceted conversation. That was the first time I sat down with the president face-to-face after his election. The president was the only presidential candidate that acknowledged what was being done to me that was wrong. He stood up. President Biden talked about the weaponization of the Justice Department for his family. President Trump talked about what was being done to me. 

I didn't know him, I did not meet him on the trail, and we both lived in the city, both grew up in Queens, but we had no interaction. There was no reason other than he acknowledged that what happened to me was wrong. 

Now, I find that odd that people don't see that why wouldn't I say thank you? That while I was going through the most devastating experience I had as a human being, this person that I didn't know, said it's wrong what they're doing to the mayor of the City of New York. And the first thing I did when I walked in his office is say thank you, because the other candidates should have said the same thing. I did nothing wrong. I was targeted for humiliation. And think about this for a moment, Marcia. 

I went to the marathon. I was there to hold the tape. They were plotting at the marathon where the globe was watching who crossed the end. They were plotting to take my phones there. They knew where I lived. They knew where my office was. They could have coordinated with my attorney. They were hoping to take my phones on the international scale. We're going to humiliate you. I mean, that doesn't bother you guys? That doesn't bother you that I'm the mayor of the City of New York and the entire globe, for the most part, was watching a marathon, and they were plotting, let's get him there. Let's see how we can embarrass him and humiliate this city.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor Adams: What's going on?

Question: So, asking about this new office, so could you point to any organizations or groups currently that city funds flow that promote antisemitism, or are you looking at funding to maybe city universities that have anti-Israel protests. And I guess the second part of that is why, I guess why now? 

I mean, we've reported extensively over in your administration that antisemitism has been on the rise even before October 7th. And then separately, if you can just respond to, I know you might, you probably haven't had time to read it. It came down the pike when we were walking in here, but a judge, a federal judge has ordered a federal receivership of Rikers Island and other city jails. Do you have any response to that? I know you've been adamant that you, your administration can fix it, but they've ruled that your DOC has not fixed the issues that they hold you in contempt over.

Mayor Adams: First of all, you'll see the evolution of what I have been doing to address hate. You'll see an evolution. Started from my days in the Police Department. Went on in the State Senate. Went on in Borough Hall. So the mere fact I continue to evolve and come with newer and better ways to address hate, we can't say why now, because I've been doing this for my entire career. 

It's almost 30 years of fighting against hate in this city. I see it as a real problem. And when you see in your pursuit of fighting hate that there's a group that far out seats the far moves far further than the others, you have to respond. So this is not new. You know, I stood up against hate of all groups from almost the last 30 years. 

So this is an evolution and this evolution may need another evolution. We're going to continue to evolve as we move forward. And that's what I've dedicated my life to. And those of you who've followed me or been around me know this is what I have done throughout my life, my entire life. Your second question?

Question: Well, the first part of this point to a city agency or city–

Mayor Adams: No, that's the job of the director. He's going to have to zero in. I was not happy what I saw last week with that newsletter. That was the second newsletter that went out like that. That was the second one. So we have to put safeguards in place to monitor ourselves internally in our agencies to make sure that this doesn't happen. And so when you look at the... I'm just really surprised if any group would have experienced in the first three months of 2025 to have 62 percent of the hate crimes reports. I wouldn't sit back silently and ignore that.

Question: And the second question was Rikers being ordered into federal receivership.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, the... we talked about Rikers over and over again. Listen, under this, first I think we need to acknowledge that Rikers, the problems on Rikers are decades in the making. They didn't start January 1st, 2025. Decades. You can go back and look at some of the newsreels when I was 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care that I was not a Rikers, I was not a correction officer, and I stood with Rikers officers to talk about the conditions on Rikers Island. 

That's how long I've been talking about what was happening on Rikers Island. It was a law enforcement entity that was being ignored historically, treated unfairly. The inmates are predominantly Black and brown. The correction officers are predominantly Black and brown. I think almost 44 percent are women. They were always treated unfairly. Then we passed this law that stated Rikers must close in 2027. You know what that law also did? It stated you can't make any capital improvements on Rikers Island. 

We can't spend money on Rikers Island to improve the conditions because it takes capital funding and capital funding must go through a certain number of years. Then when you add to that, there was no real stability on Rikers Island. We finally got stability. You witness, when I took office, a large number of sick outs were taking place, no one was coming in. That decreased. 

Slashing decreased, stabbings decreased, use of force decreased, assaults on staff decreased. All of these things have decreased. In the two years, it was almost two years and nine months, we have witnessed the turning around of Rikers. We already have a special monitor. We have this oversight, that oversight, that oversight. How much oversight are you going to do before you realize that there's some systemic problems that we have turned around? 

So if the federal judge made a determination that they want to do something else and they don't like what we're doing, it's the federal judge. We're going to follow the rules. But I'm hoping that with this announcement, that the federal judge would look at some of these laws. The laws that state that we can't handcuff dangerous inmates when we're transporting them. 

She has yet to respond on that, by the way. That's been on her desk for some time. I'm hoping she look at the funding plan that we have, free us up, that we should be able to spend capital dollars to improve the facility. So if this person that she's appointing, I don't know if she used the term, she used the term independent remediation manager at Rikers, I don't know the definition of that. Well, then if she's doing that, then she should say that, you know. 

So we're just going to follow the rules to improve the conditions of Rikers. I've been on Rikers Island more than any man in the history of this city, speaking to correction officers and inmates. And we've done more to stop the river that feeds Rikers Island. We've done that. And so it's up to the– that's outside my span of control. I'm going to follow whatever rules she puts in place because she has the authority to do so. 

Question: After October 7th, the horrific series of crimes, in Gaza, tens of thousands of civilians have died. And it is a major humanitarian crisis [inaudible] Israel is continuing. Is it possible to have a moral stance against what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza and not be considered antisemitic? Do you conflate the two? Or is it possible because there's many Jewish people that oppose what the Israeli military is doing?

Mayor Adams: Free speech is free speech, and this has always been a country of free speech. And so one is not antisemitic because they raise their observation of what is playing out in the Middle East. And so we want to be very clear on that. You have a right to have free speech, and you have a right to have your opinion. You have the right to do so. But we want to make sure that free speech does not cross the line into hate speech.

Question: I had a follow-up. So, on Friday, Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, in an attempt to get CO inspection and fire inspection, was arrested and seized by ICE agents on a public street and was shielded by three members of Congress who tried to prevent him being taken in custody. I've seen the videotape. Do you have any reaction to that?

Mayor Adams: Ras, I reached out to Ras. We communicated. Ras is a friend and a colleague. I've known him for many years. And in fact, I knew his dad who went by the same name. And you know, I'm very sensitive while people are going through any criminal proceedings, allowing their counsel to handle it. We communicated and I'm not going to go into our private conversations, but I wish him well. And as I stated, he's a friend.

Question: Mr. Mayor, in regard to the Friday meeting with President Trump,, he came out of the meeting saying that you talked about almost nothing. And you know, I just wanted to get your reaction to that. It seemed like, kind of belittling the meeting in general. 

And then also separately, the documents that were released in your federal case, there were numerous instances where the agents investigating you and the prosecutors talked about efforts that you may have made to try to conceal things. You know, you've said you had a phone, or you didn't have a phone on you, and it turned out you did according to GPS data. I wanted to get your reaction to that as well.

Mayor Adams: First, the president communicates the way he communicates and how he wants to communicate. I don't speak for the president. I can only speak for myself. When I came out of the meeting, I shared what I talked about. And so, if you have a question on what the president's thoughts are, that's the president. He said, “Eric, thanked me.” And I just shared with Marcia, yes. I thanked him. 

I wish I could have thanked President Biden when he was talking about the weaponization of the Justice Department against his family. I would have hoped he would have said “And they weaponize it against Eric” also, but he didn't. So I couldn't thank him. And I'm clear that he answered that when he spoke. 

When you talk about the document, one of the biggest things they said about the past version, I remember others asked. Hey folks, I'm dyslexic, I forget numbers. That's a byproduct of it. I always give my numbers to my staffers, that's what I always do. And if someone stated that I had a phone on me based on the GPS data, they're liars. They're liars. And the GPS data clearly pings and shows you [where] phones are. They had the evidence. I did not have the phone. And if they said that, they're liars. 

The goal was to humiliate me, to embarrass me, to display me. That was their goal. And when you look at the information, I don't see why no one is factoring in that they wanted to take my phones at the [] marathon, folks. 

Question: But they didn’t.

Mayor Adams: Right. And I don't know why. At the marathon. They could have come to my house. And so if they said I had it, I'm telling you, they're lying.

Question: Mr. Mayor, two FDNY unions endorsed Andrew Cuomo and I wanted to ask you, does this matter to you that you're not getting those endorsements? Are you reflecting on why you're not getting them? And is there any endorsement that you would, or you're working on, or you would say it's important for you to get before the election?

Mayor Adams: I'm not in the primary and the endorsements, if you go back and do an analysis of the election where Andrew Yang was beating me by double digits, there were a whole lot of unions that were not with me. The endorsement I need, everyday working class people. That's the endorsement that I need. And we're looking forward to continuing what we do around campaigning.

Question: Hi, Mr Mayor. I want to go back to something we just recently said about the law that orders you to close Rikers by 2027 was part of the problem. Are you then blaming that law on the City Council for why Rikers went into receivership today? 

And then I also wanted to ask you, yesterday, you railed against Cuomo not being able to get campaign finance dollars for his campaign because he can't manage his campaign that well, but you yourself, your campaign hasn't been able to get funding from the Campaign Finance Board because of also some issues with turning in documentation. 

You mentioned if he can't manage that, he can't manage the city, so then if you can't manage this campaign the right way, does that mean that you're not capable of getting a second term in office?

Mayor Adams: Two terms you guys use a lot that I notice, rant and rail. Why when I express myself, I'm railing and I'm ranting. Why can't I just express myself? Do I need to reserve myself? Do I need to speak the way others speak? Do I need to act the way others? He rants, and he rails. No, I'm expressing myself. I'm a passionate speaker. I came out, I was raised in a Baptist church, that's how we communicate. 

Rant and rail. That's like when somebody's Italian speaks with their hands or someone speaks in another way. You all of a sudden want to accuse them of something. People have ways of communicating. So I don't rant, and I don't rail. I express myself. So if you want to say, “Eric expressed himself” over something, I'm good with that. But if you're going to tell me I'm ranting and I'm railing just because I'm expressing myself, I'm a passionate person like other groups are passionate. 

And so what I was expressing, he went around stating how great of a manager he is and how he can manage everything and what a great job he did. He ignored what happened in the nursing homes. He ignored the fact he used ChatGPT to come up with a housing plan that said Eric’s plan is the plan to use. 

He sent out– people donated and they didn't put down their basic information on the donates. The CFB stated that he coordinated with the independent PAC. He's the one that said he's the greatest manager. He's running from his record. I'm running on my record. I said that over and over again.

Question: And then on the question about, you mentioned the law that closes Rikers by 2027. You kind of, it seemed like you blamed that for not being able to improve conditions.

Mayor Adams: Right, and you use the term of receivership. Is that what the judge said?

Question: A remediation manager, but in a sense, it is going to somebody else that is going to be overseeing it.

Mayor Adams: Okay, so why don't you say the remediation manager? Why are you putting words in the judge's mouth? The judge knows what a receivership is, and the judge knows how to say the word receivership. The judge didn't say that. The judge gave you the terminology that she wanted to use. 

Now, if she comes back in court and says, “Hey, this is a receivership,” then I could respect that. But that's not what the judge said. I just want to be clear on that because you're going to report out that Rikers is in a receivership when that's not what the judge said. She knows the term receivership because she used that term while in court, that is if she's going to determination. So she could have easily said that if that's what she did. But that's not what she said. 

And so what I said about the 2027 law is that, many people don't know, because of the 2027 law that was passed, we cannot put money into capital improvements on Rikers. That's what I'm trying to share with you. So when you look at the women's locker room, it's disgusting. When you look at some of the major improvements you need with the doors and the facilities, we can't do that. And so does that mean that because of that 2027 law, that the historical and generational problems Rikers was having is based on that? No, I didn't say that. 

I'm saying that there are some improvements that we would like to make that we can't make because of the 2027 law. It hasn't gotten in the way of bringing down inmate slashings, guard slashings, the sick issue. That has not gotten in our way. I'm talking about just the physical structure of the jail. We cannot make those capital improvements because of the 2027 law. And I want to be clear on that, so it's not interpreted that I said something differently.

Question: She did use the word receivership.

[Inaudible.]

Question: Yes, sir. Back to the White House meeting on Friday, if you would. Your social media seemed to raise some expectations about that meeting. You're on the plane. You're in the SUV. You're outside the White House. You're going to deliver for the people of New York. And then the president says you spoke about next to nothing. And what I'm wondering is, you know, shouldn't you have gotten something tangible out of that meeting?

Mayor Adams: How many times did Governor Hochul [go] up there? Did she get anything tangible out of it? No. You go to meetings to give your thoughts and how you want to resolve stuff. And it takes time. How many times have I gone to Albany to get the involuntary removal? I walked out of Albany year after year getting nothing. How many times have I gone to Albany around that issue, involuntary removal? How many times have I gone to Albany to speak with the leaders about reform and our criminal justice form? I would leave there with nothing, had to go back again, go back again. This is how this process is, folks. 

And so my conversation was to deal with the Empire Wind issue, the chip plant I would like to see up in the Bronx, and advocating for New Yorkers. And do you get it in your first meeting sometimes? No, you don't. You have to sometimes do phone calls, you have to sometimes meet at events and shake hands and chat. This is how this is done. 

And I'm sure if you were to talk to Governor Hochul, I'm sure if you would talk to the leaders up in Albany, how many times I went up there and walked out and said “No Eric we're not going to do this” and then I'll come back again and eventually they'll say “Yes we can.” What I must do is try and I'm going to continue to try and that's what I have done on behalf of New Yorkers. 

Question: I speak softly, so I'm going to stand. I have an education question for you. So on behalf of the Bed Stuy community in District 16, people are still really pissed that Superintendent Brendan Mims was fired. They feel like it was unjust and it lacked transparency. From what I understand, you already had a community call of sorts. They don't feel like that really answered too many questions. 

So my question for you is, are you aware of any just reason as to why he was fired? It seems like he had a very exemplary record in the community. And secondly, would you consider maybe you and Chancellor Ramos maybe coming down to the community, holding a town hall to address why this C-37 process was skipped? I think it might go a long way into helping the community.

Mayor Adams: Yes, and I met with community leaders. I think we met for a little over an hour and we shared, we engaged, they shared their thoughts and I think you should have a conversation with the chancellor on why he was eventually terminated because that was not the decision. Termination was not what was on the plan. He made some decisions that led to that, and the chancellor can share it with you, and they'll put their part– hold on, let me finish, and I'll go back and let you interact, but I just want to finish my train of thought. 

And there were some personnel issues that I shared with the group that counsel told me we could not go into, and I did not, or I am not going to go against the advice of the counsel. But we gave them, and we told them, we're going to have it, you could pick someone you can pick the group, can pick someone as an interim. Then you do the C-30 process to do the permanent. But you can pick someone as an interim. 

We're not going to dictate to you who the interim is going to be. We want to hear from you. Give us an interim person. And then we're going to do the normal process to have the permanent. That was the agreement that I left with on the phone. And I was very clear. I didn't mislead them. I said he cannot come back. There's some issues that are not going to allow him to come back and I can't go into personnel issues. 

If I would have done that, unfairly going into that while something was under review, someone would have leaked it to the press that Eric gave personnel issues, information on someone. And I was not going to do that.

Question: I'm going to respond that DOE said this morning that he was an at-will hire. I don't know that that's a sufficient answer

Mayor Adams: Yes, and again, he was– termination, when I met with the group, termination was not on the menu. He made some determinations that made termination to be placed on the menu and that was a menu item that was chosen. 

Question: [Inaudible.]

I do town halls all over the city, we’ll do one in Bed Stuy, I’ll make sure we do one in Bed Stuy, but there are many issues going on in Bed Stuy outside of just what is happening with him. I gave over an hour sitting down with those who came to me to go over this topic. I took an hour out of my day and said, “Let me sit down. Let me hear from you and let me tell you how we got where we ended up on this issue.” 

Question: I wanted to go back to that issue of antisemitism and what exactly antisemitism means. You know, Brad Lander gave a major speech, what he described as a major speech on antisemitism last week. And he says that it's factually inaccurate to equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. I'm interested in what you think on this issue. If you're an anti-Zionist, does that mean you're an anti-semite?

Mayor Adams: Well, it depends on if you're talking about the eradication of Israel, who lives in Israel?

Question: What about the definition of Zionism as the right for Israel to be a Jewish state?

Mayor Adams: Again, if someone is arguing that they believe that, and I'm giving my opinion, you know, if someone is arguing that they don't believe that Israel should be a Jewish state, They have a right to their belief. But if you're saying eradicate Israel, destroy Israel, I mean, who lives in Israel? I mean, you know, I don't know who said it, it could have been my mother, but if it looks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it's quack like a duck, call it a duck.

Question: They’re our citizens. There are our citizens in Israel.

Mayor Adams: They're also Christian citizens. And in fact, Hamas killed Americans, Christians, Arabs, women, children. Hamas is a terrorist organization. And I was never unclear. We need to be clear on that. I was never unclear. I wasn't philosophical. I wasn't theoretical. I was clear. 

Hamas had to be destroyed and every hostage should come home. I was very clear on that and never wavered on that. And Brad needs to say that also. Hamas needs to be destroyed. Hamas kills people in Palestine. It's a terrorist organization. 

And so if you are on college campuses saying, I am Hamas, then you're saying you're against LGBTQ+. I met a group that said they're Gays for Hamas. I said what? Some of this stuff has to start making sense, folks.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: I haven’t seen that one.

Mayor Adams: There are a lot of things that I’ve seen. I saw people with signs in many protests saying Gays for Hamas. Just go ahead, go to the next question.

Question: So, I just want to get your take. So, advocates right now on the closing of Rikers, advocates right now are saying, you know, that this is an overdue acknowledgment that city leadership has been unable to protect the safety and constitutional rights of incarcerated individuals. Do you agree with that? And do you think this is reflective upon city leadership? 

And just in terms, I know this just happened, but just in terms of next steps, I mean, what does this look like to have a federal receivership on Rikers? Does this mean you guys have to make another office space? Just kind of wondering.

Mayor Adams: Okay, so let me say it. Let me say this. Who's city leadership? Is the City Council city leadership? Is the comptroller city leadership? Is Jumaane city leadership? Like, who is city leadership? That's what we need to really understand. People think city leadership when something is not what they want is the mayor, but they think it's city leadership when it's time to make decisions, it's the entire city. 

So if someone is saying that city leadership is not leading up, I agree. It was a terrible decision under the City Council to put restrictions on police officers for handcuffing those who are there, transporting, because that's how you keep down violence. It was a terrible decision to pass a law that said we can't now use capital dollars to do improvements inside Rikers. That was a terrible decision. 

And the city leadership is not then starting on January 1st, 2022. City leadership has been decades. I've just shared with many of you, I have been fighting to improve the lives of inmates as a police officer and the lives of correction officers as a police officer. And so we have decades of city leadership that they have ignored Rikers Island. 

And yet in the three years that we've been in office, slashings have reduced, stabbings have reduced, use of force have reduced, assault on staff have reduced, staff calling out sick, that has reduced. So you're seeing, incrementally, our ability to improve the conditions. You know, as one of the city leaders, because there's one city leader that's here that has done things on Rikers. Others have just talked about what we should have been doing, but they have not done. And many of them haven't even visited Rikers outside of doing a photo op, you know. So, I agree. Decades that city leaders, they have denied the conditions on Rikers Island.

Question: What logistics are you guys doing?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: What kind of logistics are there, like in terms of having now a receivership?

Mayor Adams: You keep using the term receivership, unless my staff didn't brief me correctly.

Question: The judge has receivership in there.

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: The judge does have receivership in the ruling.

Mayor Adams: The judge has?

Question: The word receiver in the ruling.

Mayor Adams: Okay, I didn't see that. She gave a definition of what this person was going to be. If the federal judge determines we have to have a receivership, we're going to respect that. Just as the judge made the determination that we were going to have a special monitor. 

So we have a special monitor that we have been cooperating with. With that special monitor, if they didn't believe things were right on the special monitor, which we had to get approvals for, I'm not quite sure what the next step is going to be. But whatever the federal judge tells us we must do, we are going to do. 

You know, we need to acknowledge the historical problems on Rikers. This is an administration where you have seen improvements on Rikers Island. And no one is arguing that the correction, the commissioner of DOC, has not been moving us in the right direction. You know, if we have a problem for decades, and in three years, I made improvements with the obstacles that I'm getting from the other city leaders, we should be allowed to continue the work that we're doing. 

We have made a great deal of inroads on Rikers Island. We want to continue to do so, but if the federal judge decides that someone else– we're going to pay millions of dollars of taxpayers' dollars to go through, I don't have control of that. I'm going to follow whatever the federal judge states we must do.

Question: I have two questions for you. You talked to Trump yesterday, well you talked to Trump last week, and then you said yesterday that the Empire Wind Farm you discussed. Do you have a specific timeline for it? Because the developers recently stated that if it doesn't come, start reworking again in a few first months of summer, they might have to abandon the project as a whole. So I wanted to know if you had a timeline for that?

And then my second question, multiple colleges, Brooklyn College and Columbia University have student protests, and you've stated before that you don't appreciate and you don't tolerate antisemitism. Can you give us a definitive answer if you believe being pro-Palestine is the same as being antisemitic?

Mayor Adams: First, let me answer that, no. You know, you could be pro-something without being anti-something, This is a country of free speech. People make many comments. And you don't have to like the comments that people make, but that's what makes this country great. 

I've been in countries where you make comments and you can find yourself treated in a harsh way. So no, being pro-something, being pro-Palestine doesn't make you anti-something. People have their opinions. And I don't agree with opinions, but I respect the fact that we all have different opinions. 

The wind farm, the Equinor project, is important to us. And we're going to do everything we can to advocate for it. But the ultimate decision and agreement is going to come down to the federal authorities. But we're going to fight like heck to show why this is an important project. 1,000 jobs, 500,000 homes would be impacted, billions of dollars are being invested, and it's part of our Port of the Future analysis that we're doing. So we're hoping we can get it over the finish line, and we're going to push to try to do the best we can.

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