Klobuchar says Adams has become Trump administration’s ‘own political pawn’

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Sunday that New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has become the Trump administration’s “own political pawn.”

“They have literally taken the mayor of New York City, who was facing and is facing serious charges of bribery, which were going to be expanded, and they have turned him into their own political pawn,” Klobuchar told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

“And they have done this by trying to force career prosecutors in the Justice Department to drop the charges against him,” she added.

Federal prosecutors were recently ordered by a top Department of Justice (DOJ) official to dismiss corruption charges against Adams, who has gotten close with President Trump in recent months.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said in a memo that the Justice Department came to the decision to dismiss the counts without assessing the strength of the case and signaled that the attorneys who filed the charges did no wrong.

“This is just another day in the Trump administration. Costs are up, chaos is up, and yes, corruption is [up],” Klobuchar said Sunday.

Adams said that he met with Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan on Thursday to get ready for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to restart operations on Rikers Island, which holds New York City’s largest jail.

“Today, I met with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan and local federal law enforcement officials to discuss how we can work together to remove violent migrant gangs from our city,” said Adams in a statement.

“We are now working on implementing an executive order that will reestablish the ability for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island — as was the case for 20 years,” the mayor added.

The Hill has reached out to the DOJ for comment.

The Hill was directed by a press secretary for Adams’s office, Kayla Mamelak Altus, to comments from Adams in which he said he “never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case.”

“Never,” Adams continued in the comments. “I am solely beholden to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent and I will always put this city first.”

Updated at 4:30 pm EST.