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\n

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\u2019s Eric Adams, however, the blows were thrown by fellow Democrats.<\/p>\n

GOP lawmakers not only spared Adams from the brunt of their often-theatrical attacks on sanctuary cities, they defended him against the Democratic onslaught \u2014 including from fellow New Yorker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a>. Oversight Committee Chair James Comer<\/a> (R-Ky.) at one point called Adams \u201can outstanding mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cBiden of Brooklyn\u201d and \u201cnew face of the Democratic Party\u201d to an unlikely ally of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

That about-face \u2014 with the Trump Justice Department\u2019s decision last month to drop a corruption case against Adams as its pivot point \u2014 fueled the Democratic attacks Wednesday at the made-for-TV hearing.<\/p>\n

It opened with Rep. Gerry Connolly<\/a> of Virginia, the panel\u2019s top Democrat, referencing Adams\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a right to know if the Trump administration has actually coerced you into agreeing to him,\u201d Rep. Robert Garcia<\/a> of California asked him. \u201cAre you selling out New Yorkers to save yourself from prosecution?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ocasio-Cortez \u2014 who, like Adams, represents New York City \u2014 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\u2019s decision to drop his prosecution as a \u201cfour-alarm fire\u201d for the rule of law in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no deal, no quid pro quo, and I did nothing wrong,\u201d Adams said in what has become his standard response to the allegation that he struck an illicit deal with Trump\u2019s border czar Tom Homan to allow federal immigration agents into city jails in exchange for the end of his legal peril.<\/p>\n

The dynamic set Adams far apart from the three other Democratic mayors \u2014 Denver\u2019s Mike Johnston, Chicago\u2019s Brandon Johnson and Boston\u2019s Michelle Wu \u2014 who sat alongside him in a subterranean hearing room and faced feverish questioning from House Republicans seeking a viral moment.<\/p>\n

Adams had braced for the possibility he would feature prominently in the GOP\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Adams is being attacked because he\u2019s agreed to cooperate with federal officials to uphold the laws of the United States,\u201d said Rep. Gary PalmerGary Palmer<\/a> (R-Ala.).<\/p>\n

Rep. William Timmons<\/a> (R-S.C.) connected Adams\u2019 prosecution to his criticism of former President Joe Biden: \u201cThe only one of you who stood up to the previous administration was under investigation shortly thereafter. Weird how that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Comer praised Adams for being \u201cwilling to work with [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] on detaining the most criminal illegals \u2014 and I want to publicly thank you for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Adams paused as an attorney whispered into his ear then repeated the line: \u201cThis case is in front of Judge Ho, and out of deference to Judge Ho, I’m not going to discuss this case,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Subramanyam eventually dropped the line of inquiry, concluding that \u201cMayor Adams is not answering the question because he probably has\u201d discussed his case with the White House.<\/p>\n

Rep. Laura Gillen<\/a> (D-N.Y.) \u2014 whose Long Island district was previously represented by Anthony D\u2019Esposito, a Republican and former New York police officer \u2014 targeted the New York mayor with the same zeal as her more progressive colleagues, calling on him at one point to resign.<\/p>\n

Her attacks provoked Adams to retort, \u201cThank God you don\u2019t live in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s mass deportation agenda looming over the country\u2019s largest sanctuary city.<\/p>\n

Democrats were not in the mood to do him any favors. Garcia came with posters of former U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon\u2019s resignation letter condemning the decision to drop charges against him and of Homan praising Adams in a joint Fox News interview.<\/p>\n

Weighing in from afar was Homan himself, who wrote on X<\/a> that \u201cMayor Adams is trying to protect New Yorkers from violent illegal aliens\u201d as he watched the hearing.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know me, I\u2019m the same mayor,\u201d he told reporters before the hearing. \u201cThree things stay on my mind all the time: public safety, public safety, public safety. We have to have a safe city.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}