Mayor Eric Adams dismisses Donald Trump questions as 'waste of time'
LOWER MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) -- With the presidential election just two weeks away, Mayor Eric Adams faced questions about his relationship with both candidates, days after Donald Trump compared his legal problems to those of the mayor.
Mayor Adams has not missed a single Q&A session. He's continued to hold his free-wheeling, open-forum with reporters, even while fighting COVID, and even after his indictment on federal bribery charges.
On Tuesday, Eyewitness News asked about Donald Trump and the upcoming rally at Madison Square Garden.
Mayor Adams says he intends to "meditate" that night.
But at last week's Al Smith dinner, the former president offered his defense of the mayor.
"I know what it's like to be persecuted by the DOJ for speaking out against open borders. We were persecuted, Eric," Trump said.
Since then, Adams has tried to downplay Trump's comments - to a point.
"This is the season when the silliness comes into politics," Adams said.
The mayor is dismissing it as a sideshow.
"New Yorkers need to hear the issues. And I'm just not going to get back and forth on comments that are made on both sides," he said.
Adams pointed out, he's already declared his support for Kamala Harris and attended the Democratic National Convention.
"Whatever the campaign needs me to do, I'm willing to do. But I'm not-I'm not campaigning here, right now. I'm dealing with running this amazing city," he said.
By the fourth question about Trump, the mayor had had enough.
"If any of you have another Trump question, you should save it because I'm not wasting my time on that anymore," Adams said.
What matters, he insisted, was the city's dramatic drop in crime and its efforts to build affordable housing.
"We're going to continue to move the city forward," Adams said.
Veteran political consultant, Hank Sheinkopf says the mayor's strategy is wise.
"The mayor is covering his bets, not only for himself, but for the City of New York," he said. "Who knows what the future might hold for us, from a fiscal perspective?"
In other words, Sheinkopf says, it's good to have a friend in the White House, no matter who wins.
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