Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears on MSNBC Online

July 10, 2025

Marc Santia: Hey guys, we're in Manhattan just outside of Washington Square Park. We're about to meet New York City Mayor Eric Adams. We're going to talk with him on a range of topics. President Trump, the indictment he faced, the charges that were eventually dropped, his upcoming race with Zohran Mamdani, and a very interesting phone call he got from Andrew Cuomo. We're going to hit it all. We're going to sit down and have a chat with Mayor Eric Adams. 

Mr. Mayor, thank you. So tell me, of all the places you could have chosen to meet us in the city, why'd you choose this?

Mayor Eric Adams: This is an interesting mixture. You have homeowners, apartments, NYU, so you have a real liberal view, and sometimes people support concepts until they see it actualized, like the City Council passed legislation that people should have the right to sleep outside. 

That sounds good on paper, but what does that look like in your community? They believe open use of this beautiful park here that I spent so many times as a youth. But what happens when homelessness comes in and people start using drugs and urinating and defecating in the area and nodding out? Now all of a sudden folks call us and say, well, hold on here. We didn't know that some of these policies and philosophies we were supporting, that it was going to create this.

Santia: You're talking about quality of life.

Mayor Adams: Quality of life. That's so important. That's why the commissioner put in place the Q-team, the quality of life team, because we were successful in bringing down the crime numbers, but people were saying we still don't feel safe. 

They didn't see and feel safe. I always say that feeling safe must match being safe. We knew that if we get on the ground, we create this concept of going in and focusing on these communities, these quality of life issues, people will start feeling to match what we accomplished.

Santia: Talk a little bit about November. You know the political arena. Why did you decide to run again?

Mayor Adams: I have a lot of work to do, and I'm not a quitter. I'm not a quitter. When things get tough, others have stepped down. I stepped up. If you were to do an analysis from the day that I was indicted on that lawfare and bogus charges and say, okay, let's look at that day. 

What has happened in the city while he was going through those personal challenges? You'll see we still served. There was not one day that I didn't get up and I didn't fight for New Yorkers. I said I took an oath to serve and protect the New Yorkers as a police officer and as a mayor, and I lived up to that.

Santia: You brought up the topic of the indictment. You were the first New York City mayor, sitting mayor, who was indicted. The indictment alleged that you abused your office to, quote, take bribes, solicit illegal campaign contributions, including from a foreign national. How do you, Mayor Adams, regain public trust?

Mayor Adams: Encourage people to read the indictment, because we're in an atmosphere where people just read headlines. Read the indictment. Those who read the indictments, they borrow from the old commercial, where's the beef? I was charged with calling the Fire Department and asking them to do a building inspection that the president of the country was coming here to use the opening of his building. 

I mean, that's the least amount of pressure you can do. And so then the creativity of the U.S. attorney in the Southern District, he said throughout the years, you ask for upgrades. Ever since I was a rookie cop, I walk onto a plane and say, hey, is there more leg room I can get? You know, I don't know who doesn't do that. 

They took 10 years of flying six or seven times and said, because you asked for upgrades 10 years ago or 12 years ago, and you made that phone call, that's bribery. Are you kidding me? You want to take out a sitting mayor because of that? I was facing 33 years in prison for that, 33 years in prison for something that every elected do every day. 

You show me an elected that doesn't call and say, hey, what's going on with this permit? What's going on with this issue? I was doing my job, and I didn't coerce. I didn't take any illegal money. There were no gold bars. There was no large sums of cash going on. And so there was just such a desire, I think a level of anger because of how vociferous I was around the migrants and asylum seekers. I think a decision was made. We need to shut him up. We need to take him down. 

Santia: Do you believe it was politically motivated? 

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. Without a doubt. President Biden said it. People don't want to look at that. When he pardoned his children, his son, he stated that the Justice Department became politicized. That's what he said. I said it. President Trump said it. What has been going on in the lawfare that we witnessed in this country under the Justice Department and under the previous president was going after innocent Americans because they disagree. They use those investigators as a tool.

Santia: When the charges were dropped, several DOJ officials, even the judge, said it looked like a classic case, they said, of quid pro quo, suggesting you would be indebted to help President Trump's deportation agenda in exchange for legal relief. Was that the case?

Mayor Adams: Let's look at it this way. Do an analysis of what I was saying pre-election, what I was saying about dangerous migrants and asylum seekers, what I was saying about those who come here to pursue the American dream, they should be allowed to do so, what I was saying about zeroing in on dangerous gangs. And then look post-elections. 

Before I knew who was going to be the president and post-election, look at my conversation. It's the same. It has not changed. Think about this for a moment. The Southern District felt as though they were sovereign. They felt as though they didn't have to answer to anyone. That's not in our Constitution. 

They didn't even feel they had to answer to main justice. So the power that made the decision, the authority that made the decision to indict me, that same system and authority made the decision after doing the analysis, said the charges should be dropped. 

But when that authority you don't agree with, now you're going to protest? That's the same authority that you've been living on for all these years. No entity in this country is sovereign. The president has to answer to people. I must answer to people. If you have an entity in this country that believe they're sovereign, that's a dangerous entity in our country.

Santia: So President Trump last week said that he intervened in your legal case because he believed it was politically motivated. How do you think New York City voters will react to the president's support of you?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think that New York City voters are extremely practical and rational. And I encourage them to read the indictment. What President Trump did on the campaign trail, I didn't know President Trump. We never met prior to him running for office. Never had a conversation. On the campaign trail, he stated, look at what they're doing to that mayor. It's wrong.

Santia: And that's the first time you heard from them?

Mayor Adams: First time I was sitting down somewhere and someone sent me a text message that said, you heard what the president said? First time. President Biden didn't say that. And although he knew his Justice Department was politicized, he saw what they did to his son and his definition. And so here you have a person facing 33 years in prison for something he didn't do. And someone that's running for president is acknowledging it is wrong. I don't know who wouldn't say thank you for making that acknowledgement. And having his Justice Department do a review to see what happened.

Santia: Talk a little bit about your campaign. You're gearing up. It's facing some headwinds. Low approval ratings, a fractured base. How do you overcome all of that, Mayor Adams?

Mayor Adams: I'm a New Yorker. I'm resilient. Go back 15 months. When I decided I was going to run independent, people said, oh, it's a mockery. He'll never be able to win. It never happened. But they don't analyze that individuals who run on Independent lines for mayor have a terrible record. City mayors do not. And so people who are stating that, okay, he doesn't stand a chance yet, then why didn't Andrew Cuomo follow me and do an Independent line? 

Santia: What's your message for Andrew Cuomo? 

Mayor Adams: The most well-kept secret in politics is Andrew Cuomo disrespected Black electeds. Think about this for a moment. He knew I was on the Independent, my own Independent line. He knew that. So why would he intentionally create another line? He knew before the election that the three of us was going to run against each other. Why would he do that? His intention was, I'm going to bamboozle Eric's run. 

Santia: Did he ask you to step out? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, he did. 

Santia: How did that go down? How does that just come up? 

Mayor Adams: You don't want to know. 

Santia: Like, hey, how's it going? No, no, no. 

Mayor Adams: You don't. It's arrogance. It's arrogance. 

Santia: Was it a text? Was it like sitting on a...

Mayor Adams: We text each other back and forth. We also spoke on the phone. I was like, what are you doing? What are you doing?

Santia: He flat out asked you to step out.

Mayor Adams: His position was only one of us needs to be in the race. If both of us in a race, we would give him a chance. I was like, duh. You knew that when you knew I was on the Independent line. He knew it was going to come a time where we're going to have to ask a question. Okay, two of you against Zohran. That's not good math. That's not impossible math, but that's not good math. He knew that. He's a smart politician. 

I gave you an opportunity to go one-on-one with him. You spent $25 million. The voters heard your message. You thought you were up 32 points in the poll. You lost by 13 points. And now you want to have another bite at the apple when you didn't get out and campaign the way you should have? You didn't walk the streets. You didn't talk to people. You lived in a cocoon. Now you should have another shot? 

Santia: And it was just on the phone, hey, Mayor Adams, I think you should step aside. So it becomes this basically staring contest. Who's going to step out?

Mayor Adams: No, it's not a staring contest. He needs to do what's best for the first time in his life, do what's best for New York and not best for himself. He created this problem. If he didn't succumb to the lefties and step down, he would still be governor or fighting because he felt he was right. He chose to step down. 

So this whole thing that's being created right now is because of his creation. It's not my creation. When I was under personal attack from lawfare, I didn't step down and run for governor. I continued my job. And so he should follow suit on what I did. 

Santia: Talk a little bit about your impression of Zohran Mamdani. 

Mayor Adams: You know, he is an academic elitist. He studied poverty. I live poverty. His programs are going to impact working class people. If he wants to acknowledge it or not, he already had an army on the streets. They were already in the college campuses. They were already protesting on our streets. They were already, the Palestinian movement was already underway. There was already this energy in the streets, the anti-Trump movement. 

All he had to do was pop his head up and say, hey, I'm in favor of all this stuff that you guys are doing. Come join me, and people joined. The issue of affordability is real. People are hurting. And you're saying, I'm going to promise you things that you know you can't deliver. 

His foundation for free buses, which cost $3 billion, is to raise the income tax of the 1 percent of New Yorkers. He doesn't have a power to do that. Mayors can't do that. You know who can? Assemblymen. He's an assemblyman. He didn't do it in the assembly. So why is he going to do it here as the mayor? Then when you talk about government run supermarkets, I've been to Cuba. I know what a government run supermarket looks like.

Santia: Despite his win, despite Mamdani's win, he struggled with Black voters in the primary, a key to the coalition that you're trying to build. Can Black voters, do you think, carry you to the finish line?

Mayor Adams: My pathway is going to be African-American voters that are going to be well informed on why this is moving in the wrong direction. My pathway is going to be Hispanic voters that will understand how this is going to impact on the quality of life. My pathway is going to be working class people, particularly small businesses. 

We're going to show them how his massive increase in minimum wage is only going to hurt businesses in this city. We're going to have people who are from ex-communist countries who came here and said, that model doesn't work for me. When you speak to my Chinese constituencies, they're saying, that model doesn't work for me. These people are going to learn the dangers of his policies, and they're going to mobilize their communities and say it can't happen.

Santia: Over the weekend, a report surfaced about Mamdani claiming to be both Asian and African-American on a Columbia University application back in 2009. He argues the options on the application didn't reflect his heritage. Your thoughts?

Mayor Adams: He's [disingenuous]. He's lying. There was a mixed race, I believe, mixed ethnicity. There was a box for him. But let's be clear here. If he wants to say, I grew up in Africa, so it makes me African, okay. But you were not American. He was not a citizen. He became a citizen just recently. And so for him to state that he was an American, that was a lie. 

The first thing I did when New Yorkers, after this indictment was dropped, I went to New Yorkers and said, I'm sorry. I should not have put you through this. I'm sorry you had to go through this. I didn't break any law. But the mere fact you had to read about this, I was sorry. And it hurt me that New Yorkers had to go through this. He just needs to learn, just say sorry. You should not have checked the box.

Santia: He's also faced, Mamdani has faced, Islamophobic and racist attacks here in the city. There have been threats on him. How do you respond to folks targeting his faith and his identity?

Mayor Adams: It's wrong. It shouldn't happen. You know, we have no hate, place for hate in the city. I marched with women who were attacked for wearing a hijab. I stood with Sikh members who were attacked for wearing a turban. 

I stood with Jewish members and talked about, on October 9th, talking about them not being all right because of what they saw. We need to be standing up for each other. And it doesn't help when you fuel that fire. And then after you fuel that fire, you call the Police Department, the same department you want to defund, you call them and say you need personal security. Can't have it both ways.

Santia: President Trump talked about deporting Mamdani. Mamdani's a U.S. citizen. What's your thoughts on that?

Mayor Adams: I don't believe he should be. I'm going to beat him at the polls, what's important to do. But I also don't want us to get caught up in all of the noise that's around the campaign. We need to talk about the issues that are important and not be distracted.

Santia: So at this point, running, looking at November, who's your biggest competition, Cuomo or Mamdani?

Mayor Adams: My biggest competition is those who sit home and don't want to vote. You know, I must motivate them. And I'm excited about what I'm seeing. Even the pigeon wants to hang out with us, you know. 

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: I'm excited about what I'm seeing. If I do my job, communicate with voters, let them know the success of turning around this city, registering people to vote, it's not going to matter who's in the race. I'll be the one that's going to win the race.

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