Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears on PIX11’S “PIX11 News at 5 With Kaity Tong”

June 15, 2025

Kaity Tong: Our John Muller had a one-on-one with Mayor Adams earlier today. He touched on a range of topics, including yesterday's protests, immigration, and this week's mayoral race. Let's hear more of what he had to say.

John Muller: Mayor, we just got through a busy week and weekend of protests. How do you feel we did?

Mayor Eric Adams: Extremely well. I think when you do an analysis of what took place across the country, and you look here, 50,000 plus people, several different marches converging on one location, and 14 arrests. No serious injuries to any member of service or those who participated. And that is what we expect here in the City of New York.

Muller: Any tactics learned this week and weekend? Any changes going forward?

Mayor Adams: There's a series of things. Number one, when you are dealing with several streams of protests. There were a great deal of mini-protests in and out of boroughs, and many of them converged on Manhattan. And so, we looked at our tactical use, and really the use of drones was extremely helpful.

And just a zero tolerance. Once you cross the line from peaceful to violence, or peaceful to destruction of property, we immediately deployed personnel in that and took proper actions.

Muller: Going forward, if these ICE efforts continue aggressively, how do you support the community and/or ICE?

Mayor Adams: Well, we've been doing it for generations. This is a city where immigrants are allowed to thrive and grow in prosperity here. And we're not going to move away from that.

But we're very clear, when it comes to collaborating, dealing with violence, or those who participate in any violent acts, we're going to do that. But we're not going to collaborate for any form of civil enforcement. We're going to live up to that. That's the law. We're going to follow the law of the land.

Muller: What do you say to New Yorkers who are frightened at this moment?

Mayor Adams: I can understand there's a level of uncertainty that lingers in the air. But I will continue to tell New Yorkers what I've stated. Allow your children to go to school. Make sure that you call the police if you're a victim of a crime. We're not turning you over to ICE if that takes place.

And to go to your jobs and houses of worship and hospital. We've been clear on that. And I think that those who have sent the opposite message should tone that down. And you will also tone down the fear that people are experiencing.

Muller: Last question on this. If protests were to get worse, if they were to escalate, what would you think about the National Guard coming to New York? And have you discussed it with the president?

Mayor Adams: I spoke with the governor. Our first line of defense and protection of dealing with any paramilitary starts right here in the state. We had a conversation, the governor and I. I told her, as we told the White House, the federal authorities, that New York, we can handle this.

We have over 30,000 men and women in the law enforcement community. We understand how to handle large gatherings and protests. If we have to escalate, we can escalate and get our former colleagues, our colleagues in other municipalities. And if need be, we will communicate with the governor on what other level of escalation of support we need.

Muller: Let's talk about the election. You have Brad Lander and Mamdani now supporting each other, sort of getting together and giving each other an endorsement, the idea to freeze out Andrew Cuomo. What do you think of that as a strategy?

Mayor Adams: I'm in the general election. Whatever strategies they need to get past the primaries is up to them. I look forward to a nice, healthy campaign season to the general election.

I've said it over and over again, this is going to be one of the most interesting elections in our city's history. We have a sitting mayor that's running on the independent line. Many people say an independent candidate can't win. I'm a sitting mayor, and we're looking forward to selling the product that we've delivered for this city.

Muller: Mr. Cuomo says regardless, he's going to run too. It could be a very crowded ticket in November. How do you feel about that?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think it's healthy democracy. Historically, when a primary was over, people believed that was the end of the election. This is a good, healthy democracy. This is the values that we call for, the ability to allow the voters to make the decision. And I'm excited about that.

I always believed that the election should be decided in November, not in June. And so, I look forward to whomever is going to be in the race.

Muller: Last question. Do you watch all the things that are going on with the jockeying and the positioning for the election? Do you miss not being in there?

Mayor Adams: No, I'm in it every day. Every day, I'm moving through the city, delivering for New Yorkers, so I don't miss it at all. I like to equate it to basketball. Right now, they're in the season. After June 24th, we're in the playoffs. And it takes a different level of skill and talent. And being a veteran player, I played in the playoffs before. I won, and I can win again.

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