President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that he would be open to pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams once Trump returns to the White House, according to CNN.
Adams, whom Trump says was "treated pretty unfairly," was indicted on federal corruption charges earlier this year.
During his news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump reportedly played down the details of the allegations against Adams, which include soliciting and accepting donations for his mayoral campaign and illegally accepting free international travel.
According to CNN, the president-elect said the alleged illegal travel payments were similar to being upgraded by an airline.
"I think that he was treated pretty unfairly," Trump said. "Now I haven't seen the gravity of it all, but it seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago. I know probably everybody here has been upgraded."
Adams, whose city has struggled to absorb hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants in recent years, has openly criticized the Biden administration's immigration policy, and Trump suggested that the indictment against the mayor was politically-motivated retribution for speaking out.
Federal prosecutors indicted Adams in September on five charges of bribery, corruption, wire fraud and soliciting and accepting donations from foreign nationals. He has pleaded not guilty and publicly maintained that he did not commit any of the crimes of which he has been accused.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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