Heard Around Town
NYC politicians are chattering like their life depends on it!
Adams says he was NOT offered a job and Cuomo says he is NOT coordinating with Trump and Sliwa says he is HIRING and Mamdani wants you to SAY IT TO HIS FACE.
Eric Adams touted the endorsements of Muslim leaders at City Hall Thursday. Many of them were told it was a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday and did not realize they were at a political event. Sahalie Donaldson
Clearly, everyone is doing totally fine in wake of Wednesday’s reports that officials in the Trump administration have been scheming to potentially offer Mayor Eric Adams a cushy job in hopes of narrowing the field of mayoral candidates. Per the New York Times, which broke the initial story, the president has no desire to see Zohran Mamdani as the city’s next mayor. And getting Adams out of the way – and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa too – would give former Gov. Andrew Cuomo a better shot in a Mamdani matchup: take two.
From denials to accusations, to snark and moral outrage, just about everyone has had something to say about the possibility.
Mayor Eric Adams: Deny, deny, deny – that’s been the mayor’s response so far and that did not change Thursday.
“I’m surprised how the standards of reporting in The New York Times has flopped so much,” Adams told The City’s Katie Honan Thursday morning when asked about the Politico New York story that he’d been offered a position at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “I’ve never asked for a job with HUD, I’ve never been promised a job with HUD, I have not communicated with the president.”
Later, while appearing with Muslim leaders outside City Hall – some of whom apparently did not realize they were at an Adams campaign endorsement event – the mayor threw a shot at Cuomo. “If you want to allow Andrew Cuomo to determine the rules of our electoral process, then where’s our democracy?” he said of the mounting pressure for him to drop out. “The fact of the matter is the voters decide.” Mere minutes later, he denied implying that Cuomo was behind that pressure.
Zohran Mamdani: After the Democratic mayoral nominee’s appearance on MSNBC and the emergency press conference Wednesday, he upped the ante Thursday when he challenged Trump to a televised debate.
“Let’s cut out the middle man,” Mamdani told the New York Post. “Why should I debate Donald Trump’s puppet when I could debate Donald Trump himself?”
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Again and again, Cuomo denied any knowledge of conversations taking place within the Trump administration to offer Adams a job – but also said he thinks the other candidates should drop out of the race to consolidate the non-Mamdani vote.
“Trump doesn’t want me,” Cuomo said Thursday morning outside a senior center on the Upper West Side. “Our interactions were not pleasant, and I stood up and I fought him every step of the way. So my speculation, if he wants anything, anyone, he wants Mamdani, because he would go through that kid like a Mack truck.”
Curtis Sliwa: Party affiliation aside, the Republican nominee is no fan of Trump. He took the comical step of trying to recruit Adams’ campaign staff who might feel betrayed after recent reports. “They are so disappointed because here it is, they are out there, going to his events, they have these signs, they wear his shirt, and then (Adams) goes to Florida and he goes back and they all have vertigo,” Sliwa said. “So I told them, no problem. We will sit, we will talk, we will find a place for you on my campaign because you are good foot soldiers out there.”
John Catsimatidis: Wading into the fray, the billionaire businessman told the New York Post that apparently Trump rang him up over the weekend to express concern about the city’s fate if Mamdani wins in November.
“He is concerned about the New York City race. He does not want a socialist mayor, and he said, ’It’s not going to happen’ under his watch and wants a person under his watch,” Catsimatidis recalled. “At the end of the next 10 days, he wants the most qualified candidate to beat Mamdani.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Asked about House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer not endorsing Mamdani – a topic that’s taken on even greater significance amid Trump’s potential meddling in the mayoral election – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that she is “very concerned” about the example being set.
“We have a Democratic nominee. Are we a party that rallies behind our nominee or not?” she said, adding “this isn’t about personalities. We are in a moment of a Trump administration, the stakes are high, and I want of course to see our party come together and stick together despite our differences."
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