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Fellow Democrats tear into Eric Adams on Capitol Hill

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The four big city mayors who testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill knew they were invited by House Republicans to be punching bags. For New York’s Eric Adams, however, the blows were thrown by fellow Democrats.

GOP lawmakers not only spared Adams from the brunt of their often-theatrical attacks on sanctuary cities, they defended him against the Democratic onslaught — including from fellow New Yorker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) at one point called Adams “an outstanding mayor.”

It was the latest display of just how far through the looking-glass things have gone for Adams, who in four years has gone from the “Biden of Brooklyn” and “new face of the Democratic Party” to an unlikely ally of President Donald Trump.

That about-face — with the Trump Justice Department’s decision last month to drop a corruption case against Adams as its pivot point — fueled the Democratic attacks Wednesday at the made-for-TV hearing.

It opened with Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the panel’s top Democrat, referencing Adams’ federal case and alleged indebtedness to Trump. It deepened when other Democrats pressed Adams in increasingly aggressive terms about whether he had traded his cooperation with federal immigration officials for leniency from prosecutors.

“We have a right to know if the Trump administration has actually coerced you into agreeing to him,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California asked him. “Are you selling out New Yorkers to save yourself from prosecution?”

Ocasio-Cortez — who, like Adams, represents New York City — later rained questions on the mayor about whether he agreed to municipal policy changes that would appease Trump. Adams looked straight at her as she described the Trump administration’s decision to drop his prosecution as a “four-alarm fire” for the rule of law in the United States.

“There’s no deal, no quid pro quo, and I did nothing wrong,” Adams said in what has become his standard response to the allegation that he struck an illicit deal with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan to allow federal immigration agents into city jails in exchange for the end of his legal peril.

The dynamic set Adams far apart from the three other Democratic mayors — Denver’s Mike Johnston, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson and Boston’s Michelle Wu — who sat alongside him in a subterranean hearing room and faced feverish questioning from House Republicans seeking a viral moment.

Adams had braced for the possibility he would feature prominently in the GOP’s scrutiny of cities that had rebuffed federal immigration enforcement. Instead, Republicans largely gave the former New York City police captain a pass, often skipping over him with their rapid-fire questions.

Where the other three mayors put up a defiant and sometimes argumentative front, Adams instead followed a formula of giving succinct, unprovocative answers. He was rewarded with plenty of Republican praise.

“Mayor Adams is being attacked because he’s agreed to cooperate with federal officials to uphold the laws of the United States,” said Rep. Gary PalmerGary Palmer (R-Ala.).

Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) connected Adams’ prosecution to his criticism of former President Joe Biden: “The only one of you who stood up to the previous administration was under investigation shortly thereafter. Weird how that happens.”

And Comer praised Adams for being “willing to work with [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] on detaining the most criminal illegals — and I want to publicly thank you for that.”

That praise alternated with combative exchanges between Democrats and the New York mayor. In one testy exchange, freshman Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia asked Adams if he had ever discussed his criminal case with Trump.

Adams paused as an attorney whispered into his ear then repeated the line: “This case is in front of Judge Ho, and out of deference to Judge Ho, I’m not going to discuss this case,” he said, referring to U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, who is now considering whether to drop the charges as the Justice Department has requested.

Subramanyam eventually dropped the line of inquiry, concluding that “Mayor Adams is not answering the question because he probably has” discussed his case with the White House.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) — whose Long Island district was previously represented by Anthony D’Esposito, a Republican and former New York police officer — targeted the New York mayor with the same zeal as her more progressive colleagues, calling on him at one point to resign.

Her attacks provoked Adams to retort, “Thank God you don’t live in New York City.”

The bear hug from congressional Republicans, meanwhile, does Adams no favors when it comes to his political future. He faces a narrowing path to reelection this year with the criminal case and Trump’s mass deportation agenda looming over the country’s largest sanctuary city.

Democrats were not in the mood to do him any favors. Garcia came with posters of former U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon’s resignation letter condemning the decision to drop charges against him and of Homan praising Adams in a joint Fox News interview.

Weighing in from afar was Homan himself, who wrote on X that “Mayor Adams is trying to protect New Yorkers from violent illegal aliens” as he watched the hearing.

Adams appeared disengaged at times. When Connolly laid into him at the top of the hearing, he looked off to the side, then looking forward again and sipping his tea after the Virginia Democrat moved on. As other Democrats pressed him for answers, he flipped through a briefing book as he mounted his defense.

In his own opening statement, Adams leaned heavily on his experience as a law enforcement official and sought to push back on the notion that his approach to immigration and crime has changed since Trump won a second term.

“You know me, I’m the same mayor,” he told reporters before the hearing. “Three things stay on my mind all the time: public safety, public safety, public safety. We have to have a safe city.”

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Congress

Mace sued for defamation by man she accused of abuse in floor speech

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Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is facing a defamation lawsuit filed by one of the four men she has publicly accused of sexual abuse in a floor speech, in a case that could test the legal protections members of Congress have for their official conduct.

The South Carolinian took to the House floor last month to accuse her ex-fiance, Charleston businessman Patrick Bryant, and three other men of rape, sex trafficking and nonconsensually filming sex acts with her and others.

Now Brian Musgrave, one of the other men Mace named on the House floor, is suing the member of Congress for defamation.

In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in South Carolina, he categorically denied the allegations leveled against him by Mace — saying he was not present during any alleged events Mace described and did not “film” or “incapacitate” anyone — adding she “and her team destroyed the lives” of Musgrave and his family.

The suit seeks an unspecified award for compensatory and punitive damages to be determined by a jury “sufficient to impress upon the Defendant the seriousness of her conduct and to deter such similar conduct in the future.”

Mace’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The legal action also seeks to carve out an exception from the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, which provides a legal shield for members of Congress for acts taken as part of their roles as lawmakers, including “any Speech or Debate in either House.”

The clause “does not transform the floor of Congress into a sanctuary for defamation, nor does it protect Congresswoman Mace’s extra-Congressional defamatory statements surrounding her speech,” Musgrave’s suit asserts.

His lawsuit also points to some of Mace’s actions outside the House floor, including a draft of the speech circulating and posts on social media.

In her February speech, Mace claimed she was speaking out because South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson had declined to act upon evidence of abuse that she said she provided. But the top state prosecutor said Mace’s accusations of improper conduct by his office were “categorically false,” claiming the office had “no knowledge” of Mace’s alleged assault until her speech on the House floor.

Wilson and Mace are both considering bids for South Carolina governor in the state’s 2026 election.

Shortly after Mace’s public speech, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division confirmed that it is investigating Bryant. Bryant has categorically denied Mace’s allegations.

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Congress

Jeffries stays silent on Schumer’s future as Senate leader

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sidestepped a question about the leadership of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — a stunning demonstration of the breach that has emerged between the two New York Democrats over a looming government shutdown.

“Next question,” Jeffries told reporters when asked if there should be new leadership in the Senate. He also declined to answer a question on whether he had confidence in Schumer and said that while he’d been in touch with his fellow leader, their conversations would “remain private.”

Schumer said Thursday he planned to vote to advance a GOP-written funding patch to avert a shutdown, which is said was the better of two bad options.

“It is a false choice that Donald Trump, Elon Musk and House Republicans have been presenting, between their reckless and partisan spending bill and a government shutdown,” Jeffries responded Friday. “We do not support a bill that is designed to hurt the American people.”

When asked whether Schumer had acquiesced to Trump, Jeffries said there was still time — the vote had not taken place yet, and some senators were still undeclared, he added.

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Congress

Mark Kelly ditches his Tesla

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Amid the Friday chaos on Capitol Hill, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) took to X to announce … he’s getting rid of his Tesla.

“This is going to be my last trip in this car,” Kelly said in a video posted to his social media.

The Arizona Democrat wrote the car felt like “a rolling billboard” advertising Elon Musk. The chainsaw-wielding special adviser to the president has spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency’s shuttering of agencies and mass firings across the government. He’s also Tesla’s CEO.

Kelly said he couldn’t drive the car without thinking about the damage DOGE has brought on the government, including the firing of veterans.

“Elon Musk kind of turned out to be an asshole, and I don’t want to drive a car built and designed by an asshole,” Kelly said.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump decided to buy his own Tesla, setting up a collection of the electric cars for his selection at the White House after protests broke out across the country at Tesla dealerships.

Following the car show, Senate Democrats sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics asking the office to open an investigation, saying Musk and Trump used their roles to promote Musk’s company with their “temporary Tesla showroom.”

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