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Mayor Eric Adams called the media "fake news" Friday morning amid speculation that he could return to the Republican Party.
“I never thought I would be quoting the incoming president, but it’s just fake news. These guys they just create this fake news," he said during an interview with The Reset Talk Show.
In an interview with NY1 last Friday, Adams, a Democrat, didn’t rule out a return to the GOP, prompting speculation about whether he could try to run on the line for his reelection bid.
“Someone asked me a question on one channel about running for reelection and I said, ‘Listen, I’m part of the American Party.’ I believe we have to do what’s best for America because the American public, this partisanship, this squabbling back and forth while they’re suffering.”
Adams in the interview on Friday insisted he is a Democrat through and through.
“I was a Democrat candidate as a senator, as a borough president, as a mayor and I’m going to be a Democratic candidate again.," he said.
Adams comments come as he has noticeably avoided saying a negative word about President-elect Donald Trump since he won last month’s election.
And on Thursday, the mayor met with Trump’s incoming so-called “border czar” Tom Homan.
“It was Democrats who cost us $6.5 billion in migrant and asylum seekers and ignored our pleas for help. Those were democrats who did that that didn’t secure our border," Adams said.
Adams said he and Homan share a mutual interest in going after immigrants who commit violent crimes.
“I was clear, last year, prior to the election, that those who are committing violent criminal acts in our city, they are violating the privilege of being in the city and in this country. I’ve said that over and over again. This is not this is not Donald Trump’s talking point. This is my talking point, and it’s the talking point of working-class people in the city," he said.
But Trump has vowed to deport millions of other migrants — not just those charged with crimes.
It’s a promise that most New Yorkers support. A recent Siena Poll showed that 54% of New York voters would want the state to support Trump in any efforts to deport migrants living illegally in the state.
Separately, Adams weighed in on the case of the United Healthcare CEO killing.
The mayor baselessly claimed that Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspect, was all but brainwashed while attending the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school.
“We’re radicalizing our children in general, but specifically on these Ivy League campuses. I saw that at Columbia University when you look at some of the literature that was on the ground there about hating America," Adams said.
