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Tucker Carlson
Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for having us to Gracie Mansion.
Eric Adams
Thank you. Thank you. Historical place, you know.
Tucker Carlson
And you live here?
Eric Adams
Yes, upstairs. There's a residency, but, you know, I was. I get back to Brooklyn from time to time. My place of love.
Tucker Carlson
I kind of like this. I read through the indictment today on the way here. I read it the day it came out. I have no reason to suck up to you. I thought it was ridiculous. It was flimsier even than I remember. You were indicted for accepting upgraded flights and for allowing the Turkish president to occupy his own building in Manhattan. The whole thing's crazy, actually. If you read it, what was your reaction when you found out you were being indicted?
Eric Adams
Well, I know how I live my life. You know, former police officer, the one rule my staff always tell you, he says all the time, follow rules, follow law, follow law. And so when I heard of this investigation, I was like, what? What could I have done that would cause what I was seeing? And then when I read it, I was like, where the bags of cash? That's what I thought. Where were these secret stash somewhere? And what many people did not read, they saw the presentation that was given. And you walk away with saying, oh, my God, what did this guy do? But when you read it and you saw that I didn't open the consulate, I asked the fdny, can you look into the inspection to get the inspection done? And so it's.
Tucker Carlson
So just be clear, for people who haven't read the indictment, you are accused of being bribed by the Turkish government to allow the Turkish president or prime minister, pardon my not remembering to allow the council general counsel general, my apologies.
Eric Adams
To get an inspection to determine if they could pass a fire inspection and if they couldn't do it. You see, in the indictment, I clearly stated to manage the expectation if it couldn't be done.
Tucker Carlson
So you get a call from Turkish government and they say Turkish officials want to occupy their own consulate, which is being built in New York, hasn't received a fire inspection yet. You call FDNY and say, hey, can you. Do you know the government wants to occupy their own building. I'm the mayor is another country, they want to occupy their own building. Can you go ahead and do the fire inspection? There's no evidence that the building was a fire trap or out of compliance with any fire regulation. Is this correct?
Eric Adams
Exactly right.
Tucker Carlson
So that's a weird thing to be indicted for.
Eric Adams
No, no, no. And not only weird to be indicted for. When you look at, you know, being a former law enforcement person, pushing public safety, living your life a certain way, it was painful. It was extremely painful to go through this. You know, millions of dollars in legal bills and just not being able to response. You know, the hardest part about this for me, anyone that's followed my career, they know I'm a straight fighter. You know, and this is the first time in my life that you have to sit here and be punched on, and you have to allow your attorney to fight. To fight. I know how to fight, and I like to fight to defend myself. And not being able to do that is hard as hell.
Tucker Carlson
Well, the weird thing is, from the Washington perspective, where I'm from, is that you're under indictment for allowing foreign governments, Turkey, not North Korea, by the way, or Iran, but like a member of NATO, allowing them to upgrade your flights. Pretty much every member of Congress takes Almost every single 535 House and Senate, takes flights to other countries hosted by foreign governments and are given, in effect, tens of thousands of dollars of goods and services by those governments every single time. Upgrades, police protection, motorcades. No one's ever been indicted for that. That's less than what you did. Are you aware of that?
Eric Adams
Yes. Yes, I am. And I believe that I have a great attorney. And I cannot tell you how. You know, there's a desire, again, of just want to push back on this, the narrative that has been put out there.
Tucker Carlson
Y. I mean, I think anyone who reads the indictment will come away confused. And that's kind of why I was so anxious to talk to you. What was this? I mean, you're a Democrat lifelong. You are mayor of the biggest city in the United States. It's an overwhelmingly Democrat city. You're one of the most important Democratic officials in the country. You were indicted by Joe Biden's Justice Department. What was that?
Eric Adams
Well, many people dismiss when we stated that we felt we were a target. They wanted to dismiss that. And then you heard the president state that his Justice Department was politicized. You heard the incoming president stating that it's politicized. I think that there were those who were in that orbit that felt I was not a good Democrat because I watch My city, a city that I love, go through an onslaught of the migrant and immigration policy or fail border policy, and after 10 trips to Washington, stated that this is a problem. It was costing us a great deal of money, $6.5 billion that went out of our tax dollars. And I think that there were those who were just angry about it and thought I wasn't a good Democrat.
Tucker Carlson
Because you complained about allowing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of illegals from foreign nationals who have no right to be here to come to your city, and you have to pay for it, and you complained, and this indictment was punishment for complaining?
Eric Adams
Is that what you're saying? That is clearly my belief and based on several aspects of it that I can't go into detail. But there are other aspects of it that shows me that I was targeted because of that.
Tucker Carlson
So if we could just walk through and leave out the parts you can't talk about. Of course. But this happens at the beginning of the Biden administration, which is close to the beginning of your administration. All these foreign nationals start showing up in New York. They have no money, they have no jobs, they have no place to stay, and you have to deal with them, and the taxpayers here have to deal with them. So you go to Washington. What were those meetings like?
Eric Adams
Sharing with them that this was a problem. Sharing.
Tucker Carlson
Who did you speak to?
Eric Adams
I spoke with Julie Chavez is one of the personnel. Perez, another personnel. I spoke with the president himself. I spoke with the president first. Then the president came here to New York City. The governor and I sat down with the president And I said, Mr. President, I'm not sure what they're telling you about this problem, but this is a terrible problem that's playing out on the ground that we need to fix our border and we need to just stop allowing people to come into the country with no destiny. We don't know what we're doing with them. And there was some that were coming here that were almost six months to a year, in some cases two years, without any work authorization. Like, what do you do with someone that cannot provide for themselves for that long period of time?
Tucker Carlson
Well, what do you do?
Eric Adams
We have to house them. We have to feed, clothe, house, educate 40,000 children, hold them into a shelter system, the complete package of what you would do for an adult that can't take care of themselves.
Tucker Carlson
And so you tell the president and his aides this, and what do they say?
Eric Adams
Basically, be a good Democrat, Eric.
Tucker Carlson
Be a good Democrat.
Eric Adams
That was the basic overall theme. One of his aides told me that Listen, this is like a gallstone. It'll pass.
Tucker Carlson
It's like a gallstone. It'll pass.
Eric Adams
Yes, it'll hurt now, but it'll pass.
Tucker Carlson
Will you pee it out then? Why do you have to?
Eric Adams
Well, well said. And what many people didn't understand, because people believe that, okay, you're down 170,000. We were able to cycle out of our care. We still have about 52,000 that are in our care. And they say, well, okay, you know, the damage is behind you. That is not true. We took $6.5 billion out of paying for chronically absent students. We could have paid $200 million for. We could have paid for housing older adults. The long term impact of what's happening to New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Houston, the long term impact has yet to materialize. What this crisis has done to our cities.
Tucker Carlson
So what do you think that damage looks like, long term?
Eric Adams
It's a combination of things we're facing after Covid. We're dealing with a severe mental health issue just throughout the entire country, but specifically here in New York, we have a substantial number of chronically absent young people who were just traumatized from COVID and other things, and they just stopped coming to school. If I had $200 million that I can go out and go find those young people and place them back on the correct course, I'm preventing the long term problem. If you don't educate, you're going to incarcerate. That's the common denominator in all of our prisons, the lack of education. I could have put hundreds of millions of dollars in what I'm doing around dyslexia screening and other learning disabilities. So those $6.5 million that I didn't put into housing, I did not put into senior care. We're getting ready to excuse medical debt for New Yorkers that are dealing with severe medical debt. All of these dollars could have gone into dealing with the long term fixes that we were projecting to correct.
Tucker Carlson
And you did you tell the White.
Eric Adams
House that over and over again, over and over again. The impact of what these don't seem.
Tucker Carlson
To care at all.
Eric Adams
It appears to me that there was a bigger focus on the national election and not what it was doing to the cities. And we started to build a coalition of other mayors. Because when I was standing alone talking about this, it appears as though that, well, Eric, why are you complaining and no one else is complaining? And then other mayors started to see what was happening in their cities and I started meeting with the mayor of Chicago in Denver and other mayors and said we have to be uniform around this issue.
Tucker Carlson
It sounds like they treated you with contempt.
Eric Adams
Again, I think they used the terminology you were not being a good Democrat. I think that was their philosophy that I was supposed to silently watch what happens to this city. And I love this city. This is a city that I gave my life to protect. And I was watching the erosion. We were getting almost 8,000 migrants and asylum seekers a week, 16,000 every two weeks. And we were being compelled by the legal aid society to find them housing within a short period of time until we had to go back to court and fight that this humanitarian crisis is not what is. Normally someone has the right to have shelter within the city. And they were coming in 1, 2, 3am in the morning. It was a constant overturned.
Tucker Carlson
I'm just confused by why. That's the responsibility of the taxpayers, the citizenry of New York and your responsibility. Someone comes into our country illegally, from another nation, not invited here, in violation of our laws, and it's your responsibility to make sure that they're dealt with. How does that work? Where did that responsibility come from?
Eric Adams
I have no idea. It's a national problem. It should be a national price tag. They want to give us $138 million to a 6 billion price tag and wanted to reimburse us for a hotel room at $11 per hotel room. You can't get a doorknob in New York City for $11. It was just unrealistic. And it really. To bring people into the country without knowing where they are going to and what is their role. That's not a plan, that's chaos. And that chaos started to really cascade throughout our entire country.
Tucker Carlson
Was there ever a conversation in your 10 trips to Washington where anybody said, you know, really sorry for doing this to you?
Eric Adams
Never, never, never, never.
Tucker Carlson
You say, I'm the mayor of New York. It's the biggest city in the country. You can't treat me like a servant.
Eric Adams
We deserve more. I said this over and over again. This city deserves more. We're the economic engine of this country and we deserve more. And we, we should not stymie the future we future of people in the city. We had a clear plan on how we were going to move this city in the right direction. We started to see the decrease in crime. We started to see the city turn it around. And in the midst of this, this gets dropped into our laps. And then part of the problem was we were getting Venezuelan gang leaders that were coming to the city, creating crimes in the City, my hands were tied. I could not allow to stop the buses from coming in. I couldn't give people authorization to work. I was required to give them housing. I even allow them to volunteer and give them a stipend for picking up garbage and removing graffiti and doing some of the services. They said, no, you can't do that either.
Tucker Carlson
So they had to sit there idle and then.
Eric Adams
Think about that.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, think about that.
Eric Adams
You know, idle mind.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah. No, it's totally right. Idle hands.
Eric Adams
Right.
Tucker Carlson
After. Was it after your 10th trip that you got indicted when you started complaining about it in public?
Eric Adams
It was. It was after the 10th trip and on the. On the. One of the trips, I was headed down to Washington, D.C. to meet with leaders about the. With other mayors, and on the plane ride down, one of my fundraiser had a house raided while I'm on the.
Tucker Carlson
On the way to Washington to meet with other mayors about immigration.
Eric Adams
A lot of symbolism.
Tucker Carlson
Did you know it was connected?
Eric Adams
No, I had no idea. I had no idea what it was about. And when I returned to the city and I started here in Turkey, I was like, what is this?
Tucker Carlson
What is this?
Eric Adams
You know, I follow the rules, I follow the law, and this is the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me in my life. And you know, Tucker, it's one of the most painful things. You know, you cannot imagine how it feels to watch your life unfold like this. You know, I said it over and over again. The only benefit of all of this is that, you know, mommy's not alive to see this. It would have broken my heart for her to have to watch us.
Tucker Carlson
You know, you hear that with a lot of people who've been successful. You know, you get to this place that you never thought you'd be, and you realize you don't have as much power as you thought you had. And when you disobey, you get crushed.
Eric Adams
Right, right. Just like that. Just, just.
Tucker Carlson
Have you spoken? The Biden people are gone now Trump's getting inaugurated. But did you, between your indictment and the end of Biden's term, talk to anyone at the White House and say, hey, you indicted me for complaining? What's this?
Eric Adams
They wouldn't allow the president to communicate with me.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, because you're an indicted person now.
Eric Adams
You know, for whatever reason, there was little or no communication. And, you know, Tucker, listen, if it means fighting for this city, I'm going to fight for this city. And I was clear on that. I never told anyone I was going to do anything other than that I was going to fight for this city. And I saw the long term impact. Remember what inspired me to run for office was watching an 11 year old boy arrested several times for robbery and just to learn that he was not in school for months and no one was checking up on him. His dad was in jail for a serious crime, his mother was on crack cocaine. And this 11 year old boy is sitting inside my precinct. I said, damn it, I'm at the end of the line here. I need to go to the top of the line. I was seeing that again when we were not able to provide services for the people of this city.
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Tucker Carlson
Solve your tax problems today. Call 1-800-780-8888 or visit tnusa.com that's 1-800-780-888. There's a way in which this is like incredibly unfair to New Yorkers. So you're from Brooklyn. There are a lot of American born Brooklyn people, a lot of Caribbean people. You know, hardworking, not making much money. They're not getting free hotels. They're not getting housing vouchers or free cell phones or free airplane tickets. Illegal aliens are getting them. What? I mean, what's their perspective on this?
Eric Adams
And it's so funny you said that. I was at a meeting the other day with a group of Jamaican immigrants. I was at a. They were having a reception, and it was the same time that the correction officers killed a young man in upstate one of our jails, one of our prisons. The correction union came out immediately and said, they're not one of us. Those correction officers don't represent us. And I said that to the Jamaican immigrants who were in the room and I shared with them. You come here to pursue the American dream. Many of you stay with your family members. You leave loved ones at home. You fight hard. You're willing to do whatever job that's possible. I need you to stand up and say, those who are committing crimes, those who are part of gangs and being violent, they're not one of you. This is a country of immigrants. That's who we are. Build our bridges, our roadways from early Irish or early Italians and so on and so forth. So the issue is, how do you properly allow people in the country with a secure border and know what their destiny is when they get here? That is what we don't have right now. This is a free for all, and it's the wrong thing to do, I got to admit.
Tucker Carlson
I'll just admit it.
Eric Adams
Yes.
Tucker Carlson
I thought it was pretty funny when they started trucking illegals here because I don't live in New York, so I don't have to deal with the consequences because it is such a liberal city, but mostly because it's a sanctuary city.
Eric Adams
Right.
Tucker Carlson
Which is basically committed an act of insurrection against the federal government by ignoring federal law. Kind of what the Confederates did at Fort Sumter, except even more outrageous. And so isn't there a sense in which New York kind of deserves this? It was a sanctuary city.
Eric Adams
And many people don't really get the sanctuary city part.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, like me.
Eric Adams
So here's what the sanctuary city states. John, who is from a country, is in New York. He goes into the store, he buys a loaf of bread. He's paying taxes on that. He buys gas, he's paying taxes. Sanctuary city says that as long as you're here, you have a right to get the services your tax dollars are paying for. Your children are being educated. If you need police services, you can get it. If you need medical care, you can get it. That's what sanctuary city says. And that you should not be afraid of getting those services because your tax dollars.
Tucker Carlson
But I mean, you could say that of anybody breaking federal law. I mean, there could be someone indicted on terror charges or a Murderer on the lamb.
Eric Adams
Right.
Tucker Carlson
And if New York harbors him, it's harboring a criminal. It's violating federal law, and that is a form of insurrection. Right. You're saying we're not following the laws of the United States of America. So, like, why shouldn't Washington send troops here, like, immediately and make you obey, as Eisenhower did to Central High School in Little rock in the 50s when they ignored Brown vs Board? You can't be out of compliance with federal law without getting the 101st Airborne, don't you think?
Eric Adams
Well, my conversation with Tom, who's coming in as our border czars.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Eric Adams
One place he and I totally agree on. Those who violate their rights to come here by committing crimes. They need to leave our country after they serve their time. We're on the same page with that. That immigrant family who's trying to get a pathway into becoming a citizen, living out this amazing American Dre. I don't think they should be rounded up in the middle of the night and say, we're going to move you out.
Tucker Carlson
Well, then why isn't it fair for the states that are, you know, still part of the United States and are obeying federal law to send all of their illegals here? Because you guys welcome them. I mean, and you can pay for it.
Eric Adams
No, we're not. We're not welcoming. We've been very clear. We're not welcoming everyone. Everyone. No, everyone Sin. When we say when they're here and they're following the rules and they're paying their taxes, they're doing the things that people are supposed to do. My focus are those who are harming innocents.
Tucker Carlson
But you said. It was a minute ago. I mean, I get what you're saying, and I think it sounds good, but I think we just discovered why it's not good. Because it's the volume. Like, I think probably 99% of the immigrants who wreck in your city are great people who have good. You know, they're not bad people, but they're just too many of them, and you can't afford it. Right.
Eric Adams
And how do you address that?
Tucker Carlson
That's what I'm saying. Maybe not be a sanctuary city. Maybe to say we're gonna follow federal law like everybody else.
Eric Adams
Well, there's a couple of things to that. I think you address it by controlling our borders.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Eric Adams
And we've allowed the immigration issue to control us instead of controlling it. Cause this is what I'm getting from my other mayors. My other mayors are saying, across the country, Eric, we need workers. We have places in our city where we have population problems. We have places like in Kentucky. They need backstretch workers here. I need nurses, I need other professionals. I need food service workers. We in dire need of workers in this, in this country. Now, if we would have said, when you come into the country, you're not going to go where you want to go, you're going to go to the city where we need you, stay there for three years, four years, and then you could decide to go.
Tucker Carlson
Like indentured servitude.
Eric Adams
No, no. They can, they working.
Tucker Carlson
So do the indentured servants.
Eric Adams
They're not doing it for free, you know, and if you want to come, if we don't, if we control the border and make sure prior to people coming in that you know where you're going and what you're doing and not this free fall that we're seeing right now. That is where the crises lie. Real immigration reform and securing our borders. And I said it over and over again.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah. And I know you always hear that about the lack of workers and it's clearly true. I mean, there is a labor crisis in the country. Obviously, every employer says it and it's real. On the other hand, there are a lot of Americans who aren't working for whatever reason. And among native born African Americans, young men, the number's like over 50%.
Eric Adams
Right.
Tucker Carlson
It's awful. So rather than just say, well, we're just going to import people from Honduras or Paraguay or whatever, why don't we say let's get our people working instead?
Eric Adams
That's exactly. Here in New York, we've cut unemployment in those communities that you're talking about by over 20%. Because you're right, we need to make sure, while we're filling those jobs, we need to make sure that we're looking after those who are in this country for whatever reason, have barriers to employment. We have been removing those barriers to unemployment. And it's still not filling the demand that we have in need of workers. Not only here in New York. You go across the country in those cities where you have a population problem. We need workers.
Tucker Carlson
Well, because the more immigration you have, the smaller the percentage of Americans who work. I mean, that's true in every country with mass immigration. The native population stops working when you flood the country with foreigners. And I don't know why that's not obvious to everybody, but it is true. And it's particularly true for African Americans. And I just think it's weird that nobody seems to notice or care.
Eric Adams
Yeah, no. Well, I Definitely care. I care about the employment. I care about when I sit down with my business leaders and my business leaders are saying, eric, I have to close down a restaurant because I can't get workers.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, that's real. I know, right?
Eric Adams
You know, So I believe that there's a solution and answer that starts with securing our borders, real immigration reform, removing those who are, who are committing serious violent actions in our country, and continue the pursuit of the American dream.
Tucker Carlson
So what? I see the conflict, like, big picture. I know you feel this every day. I don't know if you'll admit it is the conflict between the people who pay for everything in politics. Not just on the Democratic side, by the way, also Republican side, but they're all rich, white liberals, just to be honest, and then everybody else. And it does seem like the values are just in conflict. Like the people who pay for campaigns, not just yours, but everybody's could care less, like what the subways are like, and they could care less about the downstream effects of education. Like public schools. They don't send their kids to public schools. They don't care. Do you see that? Maybe this isn't a coalition that can continue.
Eric Adams
No, no. And I like that. I like that. Because people looked at particularly the real estate industry that was extremely supportive of my campaign, they said, okay, listen, these are just rich real estate guys. No, when I walked in the room and I explained to them that if we don't fix our school system, the first thing someone will do when they go to buy property, they asked two questions. How good are the schools? How safe is the community? Yeah, I ran on better schools, safe communities. And so, yes, maybe that affluent real estate owner is not sending his child to public school, but no one wants to bring their company here if you have bad schools and unsafe communities. And so there is this symbiotic relationship, even if they're not directly connected to it. They need safe streets, good schools in order to bring in those employees, those workers, those renters, those buyers. And that is what I stood for.
Tucker Carlson
Or they could just go to Florida. I mean, I was in Miami last week, which is, you know, it's totally transformed. If you haven't been to Miami recently, it's like everyone you heard, I was with New Yorkers actually there, because they were all there and for New Years, and a lot of them live there now, and they're bringing their finance money down there, which is the single largest private sector employer in your city, of course, is banking.
Eric Adams
Right.
Tucker Carlson
By far. And they're moving out. And so, like how do you pay for a city of 8 million people if an increasing percentage of the population is poor? If the rich people are leaving, which they are, like, how do you do that?
Eric Adams
And very tired. First of all, we have to start. Stop that far left rhetoric that wants to demonize success. And far too often we do that. We want to be difficult to business. We want to demonize success. We want to do things that impact the quality of life in cities. Like, how do you legalize public urination? We did everything to get encampments off our streets. And I'm back in court fighting with those who want to allow people.
Tucker Carlson
Why don't you go to court? Why don't you just send the cops? Get off the street.
Eric Adams
It's not your side.
Tucker Carlson
You don't own the sidewalk. Because what are you going to do about it?
Eric Adams
And I'm with you, Tucker, you know?
Tucker Carlson
No, but I'm just saying, like, I'm not saying.
Eric Adams
But we're sued because of it.
Tucker Carlson
But so what?
Eric Adams
No, we're still doing our job. Don't give me no, but just make.
Tucker Carlson
What are you going to do about it, Mr. Legal Aid Guy? You ban guns. Like, only the cops have guns. And we're not allowing people to live on the sidewalk or sell fentanyl to kids. Like, sorry, tough shit. Why don't you do that?
Eric Adams
You, good lord.
Tucker Carlson
Kind of go full fast, just a little bit. People would love you if you did that.
Eric Adams
So here's what. Here's what we have done. When we first came into office and we stated that we were not going to allow people to sleep on our streets, we did just that. I don't want to hear all that noise. People are not sleeping on our streets. And we were able to move our city from encampments on the sidewalks, on the highways, in our train station. You don't see that anymore in this city. And because of that success, you now have those that are suing us. But we're still carrying out the job.
Tucker Carlson
But why don't you put the junkies at their houses, Ms. Legal Aid Lawyer, if you're so compatible? How many junkies do you have living in your house? Zero. But you expect taxpayers in Queens to pay for shelter for junkies like what?
Eric Adams
And that's a disconnect serving here. That's the disconnect. You know, the, the loud is represent the majority. I hear from everyday New Yorkers that say, thank you for taking this encampment off our street. Thank you for making sure that our communities have the quality of life issues. But the Professional, loudest, that really are not speaking on behalf of everyday New Yorkers. I hear everyday New Yorkers, and I know that we're in the right direction.
Tucker Carlson
I still hear people saying, everyone says New York is getting better. You know, low bar, but. But it's still. The subways are scary because there are a lot of crazy people on the subways. I saw a picture today of people waiting for a train, and they're all standing with their backs against the wall so no one pushes them. Daniel Penny tried to save a man's life. He gets indicted for doing the right. Obviously doing the right thing. What do you do about that? Like what?
Eric Adams
Here's what we're going through in the city. What's overshadowing our success is how people are feeling because of random acts of violence.
Tucker Carlson
Yes.
Eric Adams
You have to go back to 2009 when you take out the two Covid years to see our subway system safer. We have over a billion rioters, 4.5 million a day. We have an average of six felonies a day. Out of those, 4.5 million a day. But none of that means anything when someone is burned to death on your subway system or someone shoved you to the subway track. But when you do a correlation of what's causing that fear, that anxiety, is those with severe mental health issues. We have been fighting with our state lawmakers as well as those advocates, again, that are trying to stop us from taking those with severe mental health illness off our streets. And we have been successful in doing that. 8,000 people with mental health illness we were able to remove off our subway system and put them into what we call safe haven. So the real battle is dealing with the anxiety that people are feeling. But this city has recovered more jobs in the city history. Second largest tourism in city history. Our subway system is safe. Back to the 2009 days of 20,000 illegal guns removed off our streets. Our cops have stepped up. No matter how bad they've been treated by some, they've stepped up and they produced for the people of the city of New York.
Tucker Carlson
But the prosecutors don't. I mean, I keep reading, you know, some guy gets picked up, he's been arrested 47 times for violent crimes not prosecuted like that. That's not sustainable. Like civilization can't exist under those circumstances.
Eric Adams
Well said. You know, when I talk about it all the time, the criminal justice system is not just police. Everyone will see the police. But it's more than just the police. We need to have our judges on board, our prosecutors on board, our lawmakers on Board. We were just showing stats today. People who were arrested three times in the year for the same crimes. The numbers are unbelievable for robberies, for assault, for burglaries, for grand larceny. These guys are being. It's a revolving door system. And it's not only here. If you go across the country, you will see it's the same stats, the same small number of people are repeat, repeated committing crime.
Tucker Carlson
Always.
Eric Adams
Yes.
Tucker Carlson
So how is it that those people don't get put away? They keep doing it.
Eric Adams
We have to. Like I said, every aspect of our criminal justice system must.
Tucker Carlson
Do you know who they are? You've got some of the worst prosecutors in the country. George Soros paid for them, as you know. And why not just call them out and say people die because of that? Prosecutor.
Eric Adams
What we do is sit down and really try to show our lawmakers, our prosecutors, where the numbers are, where the results are, and how we could turn this around. And one of the bills is what's called the discovery bill, which has caused a great deal of refusal or failures to prosecute. We sat down with our district attorneys. They seem now to be aligned with us as we go back and sort of alter some of these changes that we've made that's impacted on public safety. Idealism, I say, collides with realism. The laws we make must ensure that we don't make our city unsafe.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah. And why do you let people smoke weed on the street here? It smells like a slum. Why not? If you want to smoke weed, just go to your apartment and watch TV or whatever. But why do you have to? People are blowing weed on your face on the street. Has that made anyone's life better at all?
Eric Adams
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's so funny, when I ran for office, that question came up about legalization.
Tucker Carlson
It's no smoke in your apartment.
Eric Adams
You know, cannabis. And I was at a press conference and I said, I smell weed everywhere, you know, and we need to manage how we're dealing with the cannabis issue. And you know what? People know what my teachers are telling me? What? Our children are high all the time.
Tucker Carlson
Of course they are.
Eric Adams
They're saying they're high.
Tucker Carlson
So a small number of people run all the weed supply chains and the retail, and they're making a ton of money and everyone's invested in it. Private equity's all up in it. I'm sure they're handing out money to politicians here they are everywhere else in the country. But it's clearly hurting people and it makes the place smell like Islam. I Mean, it's disgusting and everyone knows that. And, like, why can't anyone do anything about it?
Eric Adams
Okay, we gotta. We have to. Well, one thing we did, we would have. We were having, after the law was passed, legalized campus cannabis. We were having illegal shops open everywhere and we had no power to close them the way we wanted to. We went back to Albany. This is where our state government is, as you know. We went to Albany and we stated, we have to get this under control. The governor gave us the authority. We've closed down over 1300 of these illegal shops. Almost $67 million in illegal cannabis we took off our streets. And now the legal cannabis businesses thriving. But what we must do now, we need to go back and say, listen, what should we be smoking? How we should manage this even more? And I'm with you. I think there's too much open cannabis being smoked on our street. We need to really carefully decide where you can smoke cannabis. And I go with you on that. Also smoke at home.
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Tucker Carlson
So here's. Tell me what you think of this vision. This is a liberal vision. You want to do weird stuff at home, we're not going to bother you, we're not going to ask any questions. But it's kind of up to you because it's your life, right? That's kind of the liberal idea. Don't do it on the street. You want to have a parade, put your junk away at the pride parade. Don't have sex with people in ATMs, don't smoke weed on the street. If you know you're violent, crazy person, you know, don't bark at people on the subway or push them in front of trains. Like, just keep it indoors. Why can't New York arrive at that?
Eric Adams
And you would not have one argument with me. Don't publicly inject yourself with drugs. Don't publicly urinate on the street. Don't smoke in front of somebody's house. Smoking your cannabis. If you want to smoke cannabis, do it at home.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Eric Adams
If you want to urinate, go use the bathroom. So you're not going to get a debate. You won't get a debate from me.
Tucker Carlson
But you, like, wonder, like, is that far right to say, go do your weird shit at home? Like, I don't think that's far right. Is it? No.
Eric Adams
You know what, Know what has happened in our country? We reached a point where any and everything goes. And you know, the most bizarre it is, the most people think it's acceptable, but it's not to everyday working class people. Simply, that's the, that's what people don't fully understand. Everyday working class people don't believe in any and everything goes.
Tucker Carlson
I totally agree with that. Yeah. I mean, I'm just for the record, I'm kind of against all immigration right now. We have too much of it. But I will also say I've never seen an African immigrant do anything like that. Like, they're not marching around with their junk out in parades or whatever. Like, we have buttoned down people coming into the country and the longer they stay here, the more they decide, like, I gotta do this stuff on the sidewalk. I mean, it is, it's a very specific, affluent liberal culture that promotes doing all that stuff in public. And I'm wondering why, like, why. Why are they in charge of everything? Have you ever wondered that?
Eric Adams
Well, you know, what happens is that if you push back on that that's the norm and that's what working class people want. You get demonized or indicted. Right. For upgrading your flight, then that's exactly what you happen. So people often say, well, you know, you don't sound like a Democrat and, you know, you seem to have left the party. No, the party left me and it left working class people. And our conversations that we should be talking about are not the issues that everyday people that are in power are talking about. People are concerned about the future of their families and that should be our focus. And that's the focus of this administration.
Tucker Carlson
Yes, it does seem that way. So you're being challenged, supposedly, and I think it's true by Andrew Cuomo, the former governor. What do you make of that?
Eric Adams
Well, he hasn't. He hasn't announced, and I'm a firm believer. I'm not running against anyone. I'm running against myself. You know, Andrew Yang got into the race the last time. He was 13 points up in the poll and the team, we were very clear we have to run our race. And so no matter who's in the race, I'm going to run my race, and I'm going to sell to New Yorkers what we did with this city and the reversal of where we were headed and where we're going now.
Tucker Carlson
So you were here in the 90s when the city reached peak crime. 92, 93. Then Giuliani comes in. Everyone hates Giuliani now, and he's being destroyed by lawsuits. But the truth is, crime just went right off a cliff. You were there, and the idea was pretty simple. It's like, we're just not gonna let quality of life crime slide anymore. And if you'll commit a small crime, you're more likely to commit a big crime. That was the idea. Jack Maple and the whole. You were there.
Eric Adams
Yes.
Tucker Carlson
Why not do that?
Eric Adams
Well, no, that's exactly. And you're right. And I police during that era, and Bill Bratton, who have a great deal of respect for. And Jack Maple, as you mentioned, many people don't know that name, Jack Maple, but we owe a debt of gratitude to his commitment and that whole model of just not accepting any and everything goes. I know how successful it is, and that is a methodology that I believe and I live by because I police when you allow any and everything goes. I was in the subway systems, and I saw what our subway systems look like. And so you have to go to the method, as Bill would say, you have to reclaim the city so that you can make sure it's doing the right thing for New Yorkers.
Tucker Carlson
What are you expecting with this indictment, do you think? I mean, is there going to be a trial? When is that going to be? What. What is the penalty that you're facing? How does this play out to the extent you can explain?
Eric Adams
I have a great deal of respect for my legal team, and they're going to exercise every avenue to get justice for me, whatever that avenue may be. Alex is a great attorney, Spiro. Yes. He's heading my defense, and he's going to exercise every avenue to get justice.
Tucker Carlson
What's the potential penalty hanging over you?
Eric Adams
Oh, no, these are. This is real time. You could do 20, 30 years.
Tucker Carlson
You could do 30 years. Yes, we're taking flight upgrades.
Eric Adams
This is real.
Tucker Carlson
You wish you'd flown coach.
Eric Adams
In retrospect, you know, you can't live. You can't live.
Tucker Carlson
Just bring your own food.
Eric Adams
You can't live life in the rearview mirror. You gotta live life in the front windshield, you know.
Tucker Carlson
Have you talked to Trump?
Eric Adams
Yes. Yes.
Tucker Carlson
How'd that go?
Eric Adams
Very well. We talked about. He loves the city.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, he does.
Eric Adams
And we talked about, you know, how do we do things to work together to improve this city. And as I told everyone, I'm not here to be warring with the president. I'm here to work with the president, and everyone should do that. And you have. The mayor of Washington reached out and said the same thing. After that, the governor did the same thing. People realize that you can't spend the next four years fighting. We need to spend the next four years listening to the American people, the popular vote, the electoral vote. We can't be bigger than the American people. And the American people are saying we need to do something about our borders. We need to do something to make it easy to do business in this city. We need to do things differently. We need to be open to do that. And, you know, we need to be clear with. Even if incoming president is talking about with the new visas of getting some of the intellectual talent into this country. Country. I think there's some great opportunities and we need to find out those areas of. Of agreement.
Tucker Carlson
But you're not going to let those people drive into the city without paying a big tax.
Eric Adams
No. No.
Tucker Carlson
Why not let people drive in your city? Okay, here's my take on congestion pricing. This is the bicycle lobby from the west side who doesn't believe in cars in the first place, exerting undue influence once again on the mayor's office and shafting the people in Westchester. The outer boroughs just want to drive their minivans into the city to do a day's labor, you know, and.
Eric Adams
And I always tease people when I'm at the town hall. A guy came up to me one day and said, you know what? I'm getting a divorce. It's your damn fault, Mayor. Everything that happens wrong in the city, people look at the mayor. We had nothing to do with congestion price. As the governor's an empty.
Tucker Carlson
Were you involved with his wife at all or. No. I mean, you don't have to answer.
Eric Adams
You know, it's listening. The people think the mayor made that decision. The MTA made that decision in partnership with Albany that made the decision in the federal government. The mayor did not make that decision. And if it was up to me, we would have more waivers if we had to do it. Because we have to think about our firefighters, our police officers, our teachers. We were able to get some waivers. We were able to get $100 million for the environmental communities that will be impacted. But this, this was a decision by the mta. The environmental communities, like places like the Bronx, because people would be parking their cars there, they'd be trying to reroute themselves. And some communities have a historical problem with environmental issues because of the Cross Bronx Expressway and other issues, you know, that, that they had to deal with.
Tucker Carlson
Now you're getting into deep New York stuff. Yeah, yeah, I'm drowning in it. I don't even understand what you're talking about. But can we both agree that people who ride bicycles should have no say in governance in the city of Asia? No, they should have say minor, minor say.
Eric Adams
They shouldn't have control. They shouldn't have control.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, they should have control.
Eric Adams
So you have some communities where we attempted to force bike lanes and other items in their communities and we said, no, we have to communicate with those long term community residents. We never should get so far ahead of those long term community residents and what they desire, their communities.
Tucker Carlson
Amen. I agree with that. But if you're gonna. Basically, this MTA rule will force people onto public transportation, buses, and particularly the subway system, biggest in the country. Isn't it fair that the subway be like, perfect? If you force people to take the subway, there should be zero crime, zero crazy people barking at you. You stare at someone in the eyes, he punches you in the face. You can't have that. They don't have that in Tokyo. Why have it here?
Eric Adams
The goal is to use the money from congestion pricing to improve on our subway system. We have to have a first rate subway system. And that is the goal. To use the money to make sure we improve our subway system. We have to do just that.
Tucker Carlson
By improving, do you mean make it safer?
Eric Adams
Yes, that's the prerequisite to prosperity, is public safety. People should be able to ride our subway system anytime of the night without fear of harm. And you can't do it by allowing people to stay on the system that are harmful to themselves and harmful to others. That's why we took 8,000 off the system, to give them the care that they deserve.
Tucker Carlson
Why are there so many mentally ill people all of a sudden? All around.
Eric Adams
That's a great Question. That's a great question.
Tucker Carlson
I don't know the answer.
Eric Adams
Well, you know, we made a mistake years ago when, because of the way our psychiatric wards, the draconian practices of those psychiatric wards, advocates came in and stated that it's wrong for people to be kept in these locations. When we shut them down, we put them in the street. No one thought through, well, what do we do? Because, listen, we have to be honest with ourselves. There are those who cannot take care of themselves. They need complete care. 51% of our inmates at Rikers have mental health issues. 20% have severe mental health issues. Yet we closing forth, we closing the jail. Open four new jails just to create four more smaller Reichs. I say let's turn one of them into a state of the art mental health facility for outpatient, inpatient treatment. This way we can deal with the population the way we should be.
Tucker Carlson
But does it? There does. I'm not an expert, but there does seem to be an absolute rise in severe mental illness. Not just anxiety disorders, but disassociative schizophrenia and stuff like that.
Eric Adams
And I don't know. I don't, you know, Tucker, I don't know if it was from COVID You know, people were traumatized through Covid. You know, I lost a lot of good friends through Covid. And, you know, some people lost loved ones and family members who took care of them when they were going through severe problems. Some families were destroyed. I see an increase after Covid or during COVID I don't have any empirical data that could state that. But we do need to look at it. It's a national problem. When I go across the country, I'm seeing the same problem and there's no real attempt to address it as much as I believe we should be.
Tucker Carlson
What about all the people who were hesitant to take the vax, who didn't know enough, or who are aware of, you know, previous incidents of the government lying about public health, and a lot of them lost their jobs. At the very least, they were yelled at and scolded by the Biden administration and by public health authorities here in New York. Aren't they owed an apology?
Eric Adams
At least those people braided in mind we inherited. The mayor had a rule in place already on what happened with those who did not take the vaccine. Those conversations are still being played out in court to determine what should happen with them. But we had to make sure we were dealing with a severe public health emergency, and we had to make sure that we addressed it as soon as possible to make sure we could get it under control. Those are some real troubling, scary times when we were dealing with COVID But.
Tucker Carlson
When you have a scary time, what you can't do is isolate a vulnerable minority and blame them for everything, which is what they did.
Eric Adams
We should never do.
Tucker Carlson
Right. I mean, I feel like we've seen a lot of that through history, and maybe it's a bad idea at this point. We shouldn't do that.
Eric Adams
You won't get a disagreement.
Tucker Carlson
So the next time there's a public health crisis or any kind of crisis, when you see public officials say it's these people's fault, American citizens with jobs and families, they did this, maybe we should call that what it is, which is bad.
Eric Adams
Yeah. And I think that your love of history that. I think that sometimes when you're dealing with emergency, how we remain, respond, we look back later and say, hey, could we have done things differently?
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Eric Adams
You know that there's so many lessons of that in history, and we always want to do it better.
Tucker Carlson
Now what? There was some question about what happened to de Blasio. You're mentioning the mentally ill on subways. Is he one of them? Is what happened to him? Do you know Bill de Blasio, the former mayor? He lived here.
Eric Adams
Yes, I believe he's. He's. He's teaching, you know, from time to time.
Tucker Carlson
What would he be teaching?
Eric Adams
I believe he's teaching at one of our Ivy League schools. I'm not sure.
Tucker Carlson
What would he teach? Like, what would be the class built a Blasio on what? Do you have any idea?
Eric Adams
No, no, I don't. You know, we'll touch. He'll send me, you know, you know, good luck, you know, some tips from time to time. But I'm not sure what he's doing professionally right now. I don't know what happened to the afterlives of mayors.
Tucker Carlson
What do you think? What does happen to mayors?
Eric Adams
You know, that's a good question.
Tucker Carlson
Have you thought about that?
Eric Adams
I'm not gonna find out this time because I'm running for reelection and I'm looking forward to winning.
Tucker Carlson
Mayor Adams, thank you very much for having us.
Eric Adams
No, real, real pleasure to spend time with you as well.
Tucker Carlson
Thank you.
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Summary of "The Tucker Carlson Show" Episode Featuring Eric Adams
Introduction
In the January 22, 2025 episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, host Tucker Carlson engages in a candid conversation with New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The discussion delves into Adams' attempts to address the city's pressing issues, including his recent legal indictment, immigration challenges, public safety initiatives, and his strained relationship with the Democratic Party.
1. Indictment and Legal Challenges
The episode opens with Carlson addressing Mayor Adams' recent indictment. Adams was charged with accepting upgraded flights and permitting Turkish officials to occupy a building in Manhattan without proper fire inspections.
Adams vehemently denies the allegations, emphasizing his commitment to legal and ethical standards as a former police officer. He describes the indictment as "the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me in my life" ([14:58]) and highlights the immense personal and financial toll it has taken, including "millions of dollars in legal bills" ([03:49]).
Key Points:
2. Immigration Policies and Their Impact
A significant portion of the discussion centers on New York City's immigration policies under Adams' administration and the resultant challenges.
Adams criticizes the influx of migrants, asserting that it has strained the city's budget and overwhelmed public services. He recounts his multiple trips to Washington to address these issues, receiving responses urging him to "be a good Democrat" ([08:07]). Adams suggests that his outspoken stance on immigration led to his targeting by political adversaries.
Adams argues for federal intervention, stating that New York City alone cannot bear the financial and logistical burdens of large-scale immigration. He highlights the need for a unified national approach to immigration reform.
Key Points:
3. Public Safety and Crime Reduction
Adams discusses his strategies for enhancing public safety and reducing crime in New York City, drawing inspiration from past administrations.
Adams highlights efforts to address minor offenses as a means to prevent more serious crimes, referencing models used by former police leaders like Jack Maple and Bill Bratton.
He underscores the importance of tackling mental health issues within the criminal justice system, noting that a significant portion of inmates suffer from mental health problems. Adams advocates for comprehensive reforms, including better judicial support and prosecution strategies to break the cycle of repeat offenses.
Key Points:
4. Urban Policy and Governance
The conversation shifts to urban policies such as congestion pricing, public behavior regulations, and infrastructure improvements.
Adams defends the implementation of congestion pricing, aimed at improving the subway system and overall city infrastructure. He discusses successes like removing encampments from streets to enhance community quality of life, despite facing lawsuits.
He also addresses public behavior issues, such as public urination and cannabis use, advocating for enforcing rules to ensure such activities remain confined to private spaces.
Key Points:
5. Relationship with the Democratic Party and Federal Government
Adams reflects on his strained relationship with the Democratic Party, suggesting that the party has drifted away from addressing everyday people's concerns.
He emphasizes his willingness to collaborate with the incoming administration, including reaching out to President-elect Trump to find common ground on improving the city. Adams critiques both major political parties for neglecting the needs of the working class in favor of affluent liberal interests.
Key Points:
6. Personal Reflections and Future Aspirations
As the episode nears its conclusion, Adams shares his personal motivations and future political aspirations.
He expresses determination to continue his reformative work in New York City despite the legal challenges, focusing on the well-being of the city's residents and the pursuit of justice.
Key Points:
Notable Quotes with Timestamps
Conclusion
This episode of The Tucker Carlson Show offers a comprehensive look into Mayor Eric Adams' administration, highlighting his efforts to reform New York City amidst significant challenges. From legal battles and immigration woes to public safety initiatives and political disillusionment, Adams presents a narrative of a mayor striving to balance the needs of his city against formidable obstacles. The conversation underscores the complexities of urban governance in a politically charged environment and sheds light on the personal and professional struggles faced by a high-profile public official.