Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears On “The Don Lemon Show”

June 26, 2025

Don Lemon: Mayor Eric Adams, thank you very much for joining us. How are you? 

Mayor Eric Adams: Good, Don. Good to speak and see you. 

Lemon: Yeah. Good to speak and see you too. So, you know, I happened to be at City Hall today because I wanted to come check it out. I'm covering this. You had a very large crowd there today. This is the official launch of your reelection, correct? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, so true.

Lemon: And how are you feeling about that?

Mayor Adams: Oh, good. And I think it was not only the size of the crowd, but the diversity of you saw, you know, individuals with hijabs, kufis, yarmulkes, Jewish residents, Spanish speaking, you look at it, you saw New York and that's what I've been saying over and over again. 

I'm a blue collar, working class mayor, and I went through a lot growing up. I know the challenges of, you know, carrying your clothing to schools in a garbage bag because your mom thought you were going to be thrown out. I know how I struggled with dyslexia and felt I was a dumb student because I couldn't read. 

And in those the things and items, when you go through a lot, you can help people who are going through a lot and that is in contrast to others who are running. They're not coming through, coming from, you know, struggling, struggling. And so that's why I'm prepared to continue leading this city. 

Lemon: So that's it. That is the breaking news today. The other breaking news, mayor, is that there is a heat wave here in the Northeast and especially in New York. The temperatures have been really, really high. I don't believe that there are any deaths or anything so far. You can correct me if I'm wrong. Do you feel like the city was prepared for this historic heat that we've been having here?

Mayor Adams: Yes. Mother Nature, she does what she wants to do and you have to be best to pivot and shift based on what she throws at you. We were hitting near 100 degrees, we were having some power outages, but we quickly deployed our manpower to ensure that our hospitals stayed up and some of our major locations, our 311 and 911 systems, made sure they were handled appropriately. 

But, you know, it's a real challenge when you have this level of heat. Everyone is turning on their air conditioners, we asked them to lower it to, you know, in the area of 70-something just to make it comfortable. But we were prepared. We notified New Yorkers early, opened our cooling centers. We did everything that we were supposed to do.

Lemon: So, and that's what the mayor is going to have to, that's what mayors have to deal with in this city, plus a lot more. You ran on public safety. How are you feeling about that? Are you running on that again? Because affordability has been a big issue, you know, the big issue that, one of the issues that they say propelled the person who could end up running against you.

Mayor Adams: Yes, and public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity. Everything builds on public safety. When people visit New York City, they say, how good are the schools and how safe are the streets? That is the top issue and always has been. When I ran for mayor, public safety was an issue. And affordability. The difference between what I am doing and what the candidates are saying is that I am not making broken promises. 

The worst thing you can do to someone that's struggling, this is– I remember happening to my mom all the time. You get these promises of what elected officials are going to do when they know it's not in their powers. Here you have a candidate that is stating he wants free buses, free supermarkets, free this, free this, free this, and he's gonna use an increase in income tax of the 1 percent high income earners. Here's the problem. Mayors don't have that authority to do so. You know who has that authority? Assemblymen. He's an assemblyman. He didn't do it when he was in Albany. And so now he's claiming that he's going to do it and that's the foundation of how he's going to pay for all of these items that he's stating is free. 

This socialism mindset, Don, it has failed across the globe. You don't want to tell people we're just going to give you handouts and have you just exist. No, we want to give you a hand up so that you can provide for yourself and family. That's what I've done. Don, I put $30 billion back into–

Lemon: Mayor, if you could just repeat, you cut out just for a minute. Not to be disrespectful, but you cut out, you said, yeah, can you just repeat a little bit where you said about 10 seconds back?

Mayor Adams: No, I was saying that the goal is not to make these promises of things you can't do as an elected official. It's about knowing the office. He's only been in Albany for four years, never passed a bill. Either he doesn't know the powers of a mayor or he's intentionally misleading people and that's wrong to do. 

I put $30 billion back in the pockets of New Yorkers. I'm paying off medical debt for low income New Yorkers. The number one cause of bankruptcy. I dropped the cost of childcare from $220 a month to less than $20 a month. Free high speed broadband for NYCHA. Paying college tuition for foster care children and giving them life coaches till they're 21 years old. I am putting money back into the pockets, live up to a promise, and that is not what he's doing.

Lemon: But mayor, if you're a mayor, you do have influence. Even in Albany, you're the mayor of New York City. You don't think that you can have influence over some of the things? If you wanted free buses, you can at least tell the legislature, I would like to have this, no?

Mayor Adams: Don, that's a great question. Here's the thing. When you go to Albany to lobby, you know what they call it? They call it Tin Cup Day. You have to go up there and beg for them to give you those things. I begged for them to help me look at the bail reform that we stopped the revolving door of criminology. They refuse to make the changes that I ask for. 

I begged them to look at those who are dealing with severe mental health illness so we can do involuntary removal. They refused to make the extensive changes that I ask for. So you can't build your entire foundation of what you're going to deliver based on what you have to beg Albany for that they may not be willing to give you because he was in Albany. 

That's what I want you to get clear. He was in Albany. So if he didn't have a good job of getting them to make the changes that he's looking for while he was in Albany or while he's in Albany, how is he going to do it when he's not in Albany?

Lemon: You know Maria Torres-Springer. I saw someone asked her about the mayors race, she said, look, no one is ever prepared to be the mayor. No matter– So and she says it's something where you kind of learn on the job and then you realize you have what you do basically is to keep people safe. And to keep them alive or something. I'm paraphrasing here. But do you disagree with that? Because it seems to me like she's saying, well, no matter how much experience you have, it's still an on the job learning.

Mayor Adams: No, without a doubt. Let me tell you something. You know what assists your learning abilities? Your life journey. When you spend 22 years seeing failed policies, when young people and families are the victims of crime, the participating crime, that's a lot to learn in 22 years. 

When you spend seven years in Albany writing laws, passing bills and understanding how the legislative process is, that's a lot to learn. Then you're a chief executive where you manage the largest borough in the city. If it was a separate [state], it would be the third or fourth largest [state] in America. That's a lot to learn. 

I came into this office with a lifetime of experience and still things were thrown out at me that was unexpected. You can't plan for COVID. You can't plan for 237,000 minors and asylum seekers to come to your door that you can't stop the buses from coming in, that you can't allow them to work, that you're going to have to provide food, care, housing, and educate 40,000 children, and that $7.7 billion must come out of your budget somewhere. 

You can't plan for this stuff. You have to have the ability to use your prior experience and knowledge to be able to come up with the right solution and build the right team. My team, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer was an excellent deputy mayor, and the other team members that I had, First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, my Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, my Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, that's the team you need to be able to address these issues. But leadership starts at the top, Don. The leader must be able to address these issues as they come at you.

Lemon: Look, I want to ask you, because something that is, in full transparency, that is of concern, okay, and it is, you have a relationship with Donald Trump. You were a Republican, and you know people feel a certain kind of way about the Donald Trump relationship, that's on you. 

But you're a Republican, why, and you became a Democrat, and I think you said that you, as a Republican, it was a protest vote against the Democrats, and that seems kind of similar to what's happening now. Why don't you run as a Republican?

Mayor Adams: First, I think it's so important that what you just stated. You said, Eric, you have a relationship with the incumbent president, the President of the United States. No matter who a person votes for, like or dislike, he's the President of the United States. 

But people forget, I had a relationship with President Biden. I used to call myself the Biden of Brooklyn. President Biden came to New York when I asked him to come to look at the problems we were having in criminal justice and the overproliferation of guns in our city. 

He traveled here, he spent a day here with me, I visited him and spoke with him several times, and I went to Washington several times. And so having relationships with the president when you're the mayor of the largest city in the country, if you don't do that, that is malfeasance. You are not doing your job. And so because I was able to pick up the phone and communicate with President Trump, we were able to prevent a multi-billion dollar wind farm from being shut down. 

We had a stop work order, I communicated with the president, he heard me, we lifted the stop work order, we were able to get 1,500 jobs, 500,000 houses will use this electricity in this area. That is what you're supposed to do as a mayor. And so when you say, why don't you run as a Republican? I'm a Democrat. I say over and over again, I didn't leave the party, the party left me. When you're no longer talking about working class people, I want to stand up and fight for working class people. Yes, I'm true blue, but I'm also true blue collar. I'm a working class mayor, and I want to continue to fight for working class people.

Lemon: I don't think anyone would disagree that you should have a relationship with the president, but Mr. Mayor, you know this one's different this time considering the circumstances. I mean, don't you think?

Mayor Adams: No, help me understand that a little bit. The president is the president.

Lemon: I know what I'm saying, but you had the issues and then, you know, the President pardoned you and whatever. So there's a little bit of a difference in the relationship here.

Mayor Adams: No, no. Think about this for a moment, Don. I'm so glad that you're talking about this, because I couldn't talk about the case while it was going on, because my lawyer, I listen to my lawyer. Anyone out there that is dealing with the criminal justice issue, you need to shut up and let the lawyer handle it. Now that the case has been dismissed and it's not coming back, I'm open book on this case. 

I was, Don, I was being charged with calling the Buildings Department and asking them, I'm sorry, calling the Fire Department and asking them to do an inspection on the building, not to pass the building, just go in and do a darn inspection. And I said, if you can't, let me know, I'll manage their expectations. And then they coupled that with, well, you got upgrades throughout the years from flying with the airlines. So we consider that bribery. Even the judge was questioning that philosophy on where that came from. 

So I never met President Trump when he was in this city prior to running for office. Never met him. He was on the campaign trail saying, look at what they're doing to that mayor in New York. It was clear lawfare. I was targeted and I'm not going to allow people to tell me I was not targeted. And he spoke up about it. Don, I was facing 35 years in prison. 35 years in prison. 

I fought for prison reform, criminal justice reform all my life. I stood next to Ken Thompson to get out those who were wrongfully accused. This is my life’s work. And so for the president to stand up and say this is wrong, what they're doing to this mayor in New York, am I supposed to say, no, Mr. President, don't say it's wrong. When I felt it was wrong, I knew I did nothing wrong. Hey, did I trust people I should not have trusted? Yes. Did I break the law? No, I did not. Don, I'm 65 years old. You live this long, there's going to be a lot of people that's going to break your heart. There's going to be a lot of people that are going to do things that's going to hurt you. 

There's some folks that hurt me, that I put my trust in that I should not have put my trust in. And I apologize to New Yorkers that I wasn't perfect. I made mistakes, of judging characters of people as the mayor. But hundreds of thousands of people I've walked past, interact [with], take pictures with, speak with as the mayor of the City of New York, because I'm clearly very open and I love the people of this city. 

So I think the Justice Department, DOJ, made the right decision to look at this and when you look at some of the tweets that came and some of the, I should say, emails that came out, clearly the former U.S. Attorney in the Southern District, he had his own intentions. You know, immediately after leaving, he opened a website that looked like a campaign website. You know, it's just unfortunate. And you know, I'm going to say this also, Don. Think about what the Southern District considered themselves. They said they were sovereign. That means that they don't have to answer to anyone. 

No one in government is sovereign. The president must answer to someone. A mayor answers to someone. There's no one in our Constitution that gave them the power to say they're sovereign. And that should trouble Americans. That an entity in our government believes they do not have to answer to anyone. Even their bosses up in main Justice– that's just not acceptable. And we should not tolerate that as Americans.

Lemon: I didn't think you would be this candid about it. And so thank you for that. Have you ever spoken this much about it?

Mayor Adams: No, because no one was willing to ask me [inaudible]. They wanted to ask me–

Lemon: Yeah you don't need– Sometimes people get pissed at me, but I got to do what I got to do. Would you accept an endorsement or support from Donald Trump?

Mayor Adams: Listen, I would accept an endorsement or support for anyone that loves this city and believes this city should move forward. I have not asked the president for an endorsement. I need the people of this city. 

So if anyone that I believe would like to see this city grow and be safe, and they want to support me, and support the direction that I'm taking this city I am fine with it. 

Lemon: What if he wanted to campaign with you? 

Mayor Adams: I don't want to be hypothetical. All of that would be part of the analysis of how to win the campaign. The goal is to be re-elected to continue the work that I am doing and my political strategist would sit down and say this is the best way to be re-elected to continue the work that we have been doing the successful work that we're doing.

Lemon: If I throw out a couple names for you, will you just give me your opinion on it? 

Mayor Adams: I love that game. 

Lemon: Andrew Cuomo?

Mayor Adams: His dad and his family served this city well. His mother was amazing. What she did for internships for young Black and brown youth was important. I think that this was not his desire. Running for mayor is an extremely challenging job particularly for the City of New York. You know what I like to say Don? New Yorkers have five fingers, they like using the middle one the most. 

You better be ready to deal with that. So I don't think his political future has concluded. I think there's more that he's going to do in his life. 

Lemon: You think he'll run in this one? 

Mayor Adams: I always felt, and I could be wrong, but I always felt Andrew wanted to be the president of the United States. I always felt that. A bend in the road is not the end of the road. All you have to do is make the turn. I believe, and this is my opinion, I believe that it's always been his desire. I know his dad was planning on running at one time. Rumors have it that he was actually about to board the plane and he's turning not to. Sometimes you want to finish the journeys that your parents have started. 

Lemon: Zohran Mamdani. 

Mayor Adams: I think that his philosophy, I said before and I said it more than one time, we know who he is. He has not vacillated. He has not changed over the years. I think his philosophy of socialism is really something that when you look across the globe, it failed. I've been in Cuba. I know what it is to hand out ration books. That's the equivalent of his free supermarket that he's talking about. 

I saw what it is when you don't put money into housing. What I saw in different parts of the country. I know that socialism is a failed system. The idealism collides with realism. I think that what he's trying to present to this city is going to do serious economic challenges. 

When you tell small property owners that you can't have a modest increase in rent, what happens is what we saw happen in the 70s and early 80s. People walked away from their buildings, stopped doing repairs, insurance costs went up. 

These small property owners would lose their homes. I don't think he understands the full scope of the decision of the mayor and how it impacts the quality of life of the city. I think that either he lacks the understanding of this role or he lacks the understanding of the full scope of the decisions that we make. We're part of a financial ecosystem that if you’re treated unfairly, bond raters would decrease your bond. You would not be able to put police on the street, teachers in our schools, firefighters to put out fires and make sure the quality of life exists.

Lemon: Do you think he's an anti-Semite?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I do. I think some of the comments, you look at some of his rap lyrics where he's talked about his embracing of Hamas. That says a lot. Hamas is a murderous organization. Not only does it kill people who they don't agree with, they're known for killing those from LGBTQ+ communities. 

They're known for harming and using human beings as shields. When you look at the videos of what they did in Gaza, you can't embrace Hamas. The mere fact that you embrace Hamas, it says a lot. Other things that he has stated shows that in a city where you have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, you have to be troubled. 

I would be troubled if both of us, [inaudible] would all of a sudden want to hold a position in our country somewhere. That would trouble me. Those who are Jewish should be concerned. I also think those who are worried about if you're one of the 700,000 small property owners, you should be concerned. If you're one of the people that worked in one of our companies and corporations, how he's talking about going after corporations, you should be concerned. 

We all should be concerned. If you ride our subways or you're dealing with trying to remove guns off our streets, here we're talking about someone that wants to dismantle or to defund police departments and put social workers to respond to jobs instead of police officers. That's just a lack of understanding what public safety is.

Lemon: You know, I'm a New Yorker. I love New York City. I took the subway from your event that I watched you back to here at my studio. Look, you have an advantage and a disadvantage because you are an incumbent. That means that you have a record. You know what I mean? But you know the city. 

So I'm wondering if, since people are concerned about crime, they say it's out of control. I send you pictures and I say, mayor, look, I just saw someone on the street doing this. Is there anything that you would do differently? Do you feel that those problems are taken care of or what? 

Mayor Adams: No, not at all. Let me tell you something. Homelessness didn't start January 1st, 2022. These are problems that this city has been facing for generations. You know what? I did something about it. I came into office January 1st, 2022. We saw people living on the side of on the highways. We saw people living on streets, cardboard boxes, tents. I went and visited them when I first became mayor. 

I saw people who were schizophrenic, bipolar, drug paraphernalia, human waste, stale food. And I made the determination that we're not going to live like this. I got a lot of pushback, people said Eric, you will never [inaudible] I said, yes, we are going to darn try. And we did. Thousands of people were living on our subway system. We removed them. We put thousands of people in care. 

Lemon: There's still some there.

Mayor Adams: Yes, there is. And, you know, think about this for a moment, Don. The City Council passed legislation that said people should have a right to sleep on the streets. Thank God the Supreme Court overruled that and stated that that's not acceptable. So I've been pushing back on lefty policies throughout my entire administration. 

It's amazing what we have been able to do in spite of bail reform that came from a left-leaning assembly and Senate. In spite of what we have witnessed the City Council has done by allowing a small number of lefties to hijack the philosophies. And so, yes, do you know that if a person you see on the street that's homeless or in our train station and look like they can't take care of themselves, do you know we don't have the ability like we want to do involuntary removal to take them and get their care? 

They made some slight modifications, but they didn't change the law to empower me to do the job that I want. You don't want that homeless person on the subway station yelling, screaming, threatening people. You don't want that. So why are our lawmakers listening to everyday working class people who are clear on the quality of life that they want?

Lemon: But I also want those people to be taken care of. I mean, I do have a heart, right? I want them to be in a safe place and in a facility or whatever it is that there needs to be, and I'm sure you agree with that.

Mayor Adams: 100 percent. And taking care of them is placing them in an environment where they can get care. There's nothing humane about a person in a subway system in 30 degree weather with no shoes on, defecating on themselves, yelling and screaming, or walking or laying in a subway station. That's not humane. That is inhumane. And that is how you do involuntary removals. 

Let them come in, let them get the treatment they deserve and the support that they deserve, like what we're doing with our various outreach locations. It's something that we call clubhouses. It's giving people the love, the nurture, the support they deserve, and not walking past them. 

Lemon: The second part of my question is, would you do anything differently? 

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. You know, life is a learning experience. As I stated to you, you know, that's one of the biggest apologies I give to New Yorkers. I trust the people that I should not have trusted. And again, although I didn't do anything wrong, there are people who were around me, that they did things that were inappropriate. And I would have to try your best to be a better judge of character. I've done that throughout my years, for the most part. But there were moments that I would look back and say, you know, Eric, you should have saw that sign. You should have handled it differently. 

But when you're living in a city this complex, it moves so quickly. And sometimes things you would pick up when you're able to evaluate and study better, you can detect better. But I was dealing with a crisis when I came into office. COVID was here. Children were unsure if they should go to school or not. I had to make bold decisions about our budget, crisis after crisis. And you know, sometimes you don't catch it all when you're in that foxhole, or when you are trying to move the ball down the field. 

So yes, there are things I would have done differently. But in totality of this journey, I'm so proud I lived up to what I promised New Yorkers. Lowering crime, increasing our economy, bringing jobs here, decreasing unemployment across the city, including Black and brown communities, investing in dyslexia screening. So 30 percent of our inmates are not living with dyslexia or sitting inside jail somewhere. 

When you look at the record, the record does not lie. Now I need to get out and show people the record. The number one thing I hear, Don, when I'm in the streets on people from our town halls, and I show them what we've done, they say, wow, I didn't know that. I have to change that I didn't know that and allow the perception that this city has not prospered to, wow, I know that. And this mayor loves the city and he produced for the city. 

Lemon: And you think you're going to win, right? 

Mayor Adams:  There is no doubt in my mind that January 2026, when you bring me on again, you'll still be saying Mayor Eric Adams. 

Lemon: I hope you'll come back on before then. But okay, I'll take that, but here’s the thing. Now, you won't disagree with me that social media played a big part in the campaign so far, especially with Zohran Mamdani, right?

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. And that's why I'm big on streamers, particularly streamers of color. I was with Kai Cenat the other day, talking about him coming back to the city to do some things.

I'm on with many different people, streamers. I think it's a way– Streaming is doing something that's important. Because part of my message never got out. Because we have to be honest. Many people in the legacy media just made the decision that we just have to [inaudible] this guy. We're not going to talk about what he has done. 

Streaming allows me to talk direct to consumers. Social media is crucial. And we're not going to make the mistake that other people made. You have to respect the game. And social media is the game. If you want to hate the player, you better at least respect the game.

Lemon: I'm glad you said that. Because oftentimes, whether a streamer or a journalist or whatever here in the digital space, I don't believe streamers of color or people in the digital space of color get enough respect and shine. They don't understand the loyal audience that we have and the big audiences that we have. For some reason, I don't know why that is. I think it's short sighted and it's a mistake. And I appreciate you coming on. One of the reasons I asked you this is because I just want to play a little bit of this for you. And then I've got something to say. So here it is.

[Video Plays.]

Lemon: Mayor, I have respect for doing a get ready with me. Now sometimes a lot of people say it's kind of cringe. I have a great social media team. They could really, really help you out there. Is it uncomfortable for you to lean into this space and do this stuff?

Mayor Adams: No, I am transparent and I'm an open book. Sometimes people criticize that. But you know, a number of people who stop me and say, you iron your pants. Yes, I know how to iron my pants. I know how to hem my pants. I know how to iron my shirts. In fact, I iron my own shirts every day. Even if I take them from the laundry, I want to re-iron them because I want them to look crisp and look right. My dad always said the way you look is the way you feel. 

And so people need to see you outside that suit and tie. I'm just a regular human being that goes through good days and bad days. And I don't want to be deified. I don't want to be put on a pedestal. I want to be who I am in an authentic way. So I'm out somewhere, and I'm smoking a cigar, and I'm drinking a Tito's or a bourbon. And people say, well, you got to put that down because you don't want to take a picture with that. No, I drink Tito's and bourbon. I'm not hiding who I am. So you don't ever have to say we caught you, I got you. I'm showing you who I am every day. 

Lemon: Mayor Eric Adams, thank you for spending this amount of time with us. I thought you would just give us a couple minutes, but you've been very, you've been extremely candid. And I really do appreciate that. Is there anything else that you want to say? Did I get everything in? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, you did. It’s always good seeing you Brother.

Lemon: Thank you. And I hope you come back often. 

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