Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live On Fox News' "Fox & Friends"

June 16, 2025

Brian Kilmeade: New York City Mayor Eric Adams joins us now. Mr. Mayor, 50,000 came out for the No Kings Day over the weekend. There were really no incidents. 34,000 NYPD officers out there. What was your approach? Did you learn anything from the way LA didn't handle it, the way you handled it?

Mayor Adams: And also, the– when you had marches in the past, and this was a very unique march where you had people coming from different parts of the city. 50,000, 14 arrests, no injuries to any member of service or to the protesters. 

And what's important, we used technology drones that allowed us to monitor the entire crowd and intel. We knew that there were outside agitators that wanted to disrupt. Some were wearing masks and coverings, and we zeroed in on them. We were very proactive in this entire–

Ainsley Earhardt: How do you even prepare for something that large? And tell us about the people that were arrested. Were they violent?

Mayor Adams: No, they committed disorderly conduct-type crimes. Several of them received summonses, others received desk appearances, tickets, and one actually went through the system. 

So, what we did differently is that, number one, the drones were amazing because they allowed us to police this not only from the ground, but in the air. If you see a crowd of people with gas masks on, face masks on, now we had our folks watching them and staying in contact with what they were doing. So, we were going after those numbers that were trying to break the law.

Lawrence Jones: Mr. Mayor, what do you make of the premise of the marches? Because they're saying, as a cop, they're saying until the ICE raids stop, then they're not going to stop. So, they're going to prevent the raids from happening, which is what started in LA. They have a lawful warrant signed by a judge to pick people up, and they're saying they're going to impede it, and they're going to continue to protest until those stop.

Mayor Adams: And watch what happened here in the city. I can't speak for other municipalities, but I was clear with the commissioner, and the commissioner was clear with her troops. You're not going to impede federal authorities from taking their actions, and that's what we were able to accomplish. 

So, if you were those who were sitting in the roadway, blocking trucks, blocking pedestrians, or blocking parents from wanting to go to the job, as we saw in one of those videos, it's not going to happen in this city. 

We took the right actions throughout this entire initiative, and I communicated with the governor and the administration to say, in New York City, we have the manpower to handle this problem.

Kilmeade: So, let's talk about the race. You're not going for the Democratic nomination because you got elected as a Democrat. You said, “I'm going to run as an independent,” and you might be open to Republicans, but there was a big debate over the last few days. 

Mamdani and Cuomo are one and two in this. Here's AOC, to show how divided the Democrats are, and here's AOC talking about how Cuomo is the problem.

[Interview Break.]

Kilmeade: He and Mamdani are what she supports, who's a socialist who wants to give away everything. 

Jones: Defund the police. 

Kilmeade: And defund the police. Your reaction to these New Yorkers?

Mayor Adams: You know, I equate this like basketball. This is the season. The playoff is going to happen after this primary. They're going to be a pair, three people in the playoffs. Andrew, Mamdani, Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa. 

The New York Times came out today and said, don't do Mamdani, don't do Cuomo. I turned the city around. They don't want to admit it, that's fine. But the voters are going to acknowledge that, and I want to be on the ground. 

You can't defund the police. You can't be anti-business. You can't just start raising taxes when you don't have the authority to do so. And so having a clear message, it’s going to be an interesting campaign season.

Jones: I think, Mr. Mayor, a lot of people are waiting for the moment you take off the gloves, because you've got a Democratic Party that tried to crush you, all because you wanted to cooperate with the president of the United States. 

All because they were trying to bankrupt this city, having illegals in this town. You had to do the hotels, provide food, and housing. It was out of control.  So, are you going to expose what they tried to do to you?

Mayor Adams: Over and over again, because you're right, what they tried to do is very clear. And then to hold up the dismissal until the day before the submission of my petition. I had 25,000 petitions. Judge Ho held up the dismissal that his independent person stated, until the day before. That's why we had to run on an independent line and raise more petitions in the street. 

And it cost us a lot of money. And so, it's about sharing what happened, why I fought for New Yorkers. I'll say over and over again, they weren't coming from me. They were coming for the people of this city, and I was in the way. And now I'm going to be able to get that message out. 

Kilmeade: It was your party. They turned on you. 

Earhardt: It was. 

Mayor Adams: Yes. And let's think about this for a moment. In all of our parties, you find that there are diverse levels of opinion. That party is not monolithic. The overwhelming number of Democrats in this city, they believe with me that, 79 percent stated that, if you commit a crime and you are undocumented, after you serve your time, you should be deported. 79 percent. 

They believe in me in supporting our police. They believe in pro-business. They believe in not having a revolving door criminal justice system. The numerical minority like AOC and others, they'd allow this, but they're not the majority. These are working class people in this city. They want a working class mayor.

Earhardt: Break down the numbers in New York. Where do we normally– who votes in which direction? Because you have all these Democrats that it's open polls right now for the Democratic primary. You're running as an independent. You're running against a few others. 

And then you have the Republican Party and Curtis is running. What separates you? If conservatives are watching that live in New York City and can vote for you, what separates you from Curtis?

Mayor Adams: Well, a lot. First of all, the ability to manage a city this complex. I navigated the city through COVID, through 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers. We have had more businesses in our city in the city's history. Broadway had the best 12 months in the recorded history of the city. 

More housing in individual years in the history of the city. Our children are outpacing the state in reading and math. Managing law enforcement. In the last five months, we had the lowest number of homicides and shootings in recorded history. 20,000 illegal guns off the streets. Managing this city, you need someone that understands the complexities of this city.

Kilmeade: By the way, Mamdani’s surging and in the ranked choice voting, he's got a real shot at beating Cuomo. You said that Cuomo is really at the nexus of all bad decisions. When you talk about defunding the police, he was part of that. When you talk about the no cash bail–

Earhardt: Nursing homes.

Kilmeade: And the no cash bail. That was him.

Mayor Adams: I can give you the list better than you can because you're right. I fixed his mess. 15,000 people died in nursing homes. Cuomo. Closing psychiatric beds and that's how we have many people on our streets right now. Cuomo. 

Putting in place the cannabis legislation where I had to close 1,400 illegal cannabis shops that he opened. Cuomo. Did a cash bail, revolving door criminal justice system. Cuomo. 

I can go down the list and then he comes now and says “I made a mistake. I would have done it differently.” That's not how this is done. Your era almost hurt this city.

Kilmeade: Do you believe what Joe Biden, just to switch, did Joe Biden abandon? Did you think he was in charge of the administration? You said, “I was a Biden disciple basically.” And then all of a sudden, he doesn't even take a meeting with you, won’t meet with you. The FBI takes your phone. 

Jones: They kick you off the presidential commission. 

Kilmeade: Do you believe that he was making those decisions? Did you ever get him on the phone? Because there's a sense that he was not running the country.

Mayor Adams: I met the president twice. And we all know when you're a chief executive, there are many decision makers that are in the midst. We all know that there were some cognitive issues that the president was dealing with. 

Kilmeade: You picked it up? 

Mayor Adams: I don't know how things were being actually carried out those last few months or last few years. I don't know that. When I sat down with the president, I told him, and I said, “Mr. President, whatever they're telling you about the migrants and asylum seekers issue is wrong.” 

We need to secure our borders. We need to make sure we stop the flow in cities like Chicago, Denver, New York, and Houston. His administration, what was in the middle for individuals, they, I believe, felt as though we need to have– “Eric is not a good Democrat.” I was a good New Yorker, and I was a good American, and I was fighting for this city. 

Kilmeade: So, you said it to him, but he had no response.

Earhardt: Mr. Mayor, what's your biggest challenge as mayor? Why do you want to have this job again?

Mayor Adams: Well, I have to continue with the success. There's a reason bond raters, who are the outside independent observers, there's a reason they looked at this city and said, “We're going to raise the bond for Eric Adams, and we're going to keep that raised bond in place.” 

They know I turned this city around. What I inherited in 2021 was unbelievable where we are now. This city is in a much better place, and we're going to continue the success that we're doing. 

Jones: Mr. Mayor, do you regret your former party, being a part of it? Because there's a lot of Americans that are out there that said, it went too far. It's too far left. It's not common sense, men and women's sports, allowing the borders. 

I mean, you were very critical of my governor in Texas about the border there, but once they got here, you realized how crazy it was for the citizens. So, did the party go too far left, and do you think it's repairable?

Mayor Adams: First of all, now I understand where your tone comes from. I thought that was a Brooklyn accent, it’s Texas. No, but you're right. The extreme arm of the party did go too far. I say it all the time. I didn't leave the party. The party left me. The party left working class people. 

When they were starting to call the president Hitler and other fascists, I said, that's not what working class people are concerned about. We need to talk about affordability, housing, public safety, these bread and butter issues. It has gone too far left, an arm of the party, and far too many working class people are saying, start talking about my issues. 

Kilmeade: Real quick, is Cuomo going to win the primary? 

Mayor Adams: I'm not concerned with which one of them are winning. I'm ready for whoever comes. But remember, he is on the independent line also, so he will be in the general election no matter what. 

Mamdani will also be in the general election no matter what. He's on the Working Families Party, so all of them are following my— 

Jones: It's a complicated system. 

Kilmeade: Wow, I didn't know that. 

Mayor Adams: They're following what I did. People say, “Eric, you can't win on the independent line.” Then why is everyone else following what I did? I'm a sitting mayor running on the independent line. That's a different scenario. 

Historically, independents are individuals who are unknown. This is a different race. I'm a sitting mayor running on the independent line that even the New York Times stated, don't vote for the other two guys. 

Kilmeade: Bloomberg won as an independent. 

Jones: We hope you come back, Mr. Mayor. We appreciate that.

Earhardt: Y'all come back now, you hear? November [4th] is the election. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you.