Eric Adams heads to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump

New York Mayor Eric Adams, whose re-election chances are uncertain and who faces federal indictment, flew to Florida on Thursday to meet with President-elect Donald J. Trump at Mar-a- Lago, just four days before the inauguration. .

The mayor, a Democrat, made the trip without notice. His aides only indicated that the two men would discuss “the priorities of New Yorkers” during their meeting on Friday.

Mr. Adams joins a diverse list of leaders from around the world who have made the trip to Mar-a-Lago since the election, and he is not the first Democrat. John Fetterman, a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, met with Mr. Trump last week. Other recent visitors include Viktor Orban, the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary, and Justin Trudeau, the liberal prime minister of Canada, who will soon leave office.

The mayor requested the meeting, according to two people with knowledge of the trip. The city is funding the trip because it meets a “municipal objective,” the mayor’s spokeswoman said. No other city officials will accompany the mayor other than his security guards, she added.

Mr. Trump, who was convicted of 34 crimes in New York in May, and Mr. Adams have grown publicly closer since Mr. Adams was indicted in September on five federal corruption charges. It’s part of an investigation that the mayor says is political revenge for his criticism of President Biden’s immigration policies.

Mr. Trump publicly sympathized with Mr. Adams and supported his description of a Justice Department gone mad. Mr. Adams said he was open to the idea of ​​benefiting from a presidential pardon.