Some high-profile supporters of Donald Trump are rallying behind New York City Mayor Eric Adams on social media after the Democrat was indicted by the Justice Dept., calling the case an act of “lawfare” — the same language many MAGA adherents have used to defend the former president in his various legal battles.
On Thursday morning, a five-count criminal indictment against Adams was unsealed that included federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations that are alleged to have taken place over years.
After the New York Times reported Wednesday evening that the indictment had been handed down, Adams referred to himself in a video statement as a “target,” saying, “I always knew that If I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target—and a target I became.”
Adams then spoke about the city’s migration crisis, saying, “despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks to the news media on Thursday, September 26, 2024, after he was indicted on federal charges alleging that he took bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources.
AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey
That argument now being amplified by some on the opposite end of the political spectrum, who argue that Adams’ outspoken stance on New York’s migrant crisis triggered the indictment.
The right-leaning New York Post splashed Adams’ defense on its front page Thursday.
Shaun Maguire, a partner at the VC firm Sequoia Capital who donated $300,000 to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “It’s one thing to use lawfare against Republicans but when it’s used against one of their own, Democrats will start to wake up.”
This Eric Adams indictment will backfire massively for the Democrats — unless they have rock solid evidence of something very bad
It’s one thing to use lawfare against Republicans but when it’s used against one of their own, Democrats will start to wake up
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) September 26, 2024
“Lawfare” refers to using the legal system and institutions to bring down, damage, or delegitimize a political opponent. The term has become a common shorthand on the right to refer to the legal cases surrounding Trump.
Maguire doubled down and called the indictment a “political witch hunt,” in another post hours later, and in a third wrote: “The left will eat their own so insanely fast if they’re no longer politically useful.”
Billionaire hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, a Democrat-turned-Trump supporter, wrote before the indictment was unsealed that, while he doesn’t know whether Adams is guilty or not, “I do know that Eric loudly spoke the truth on migrant problem in NYC and what the consequences would be for New Yorkers and the country. Doing so required bravery, as sharing these views publicly as a Democratic mayor did not win him any friends in the Party or with the Biden/Harris administration.”
He added: “Having witnessed the weaponization of our country’s prosecutorial resources, sadly I have to say I am that much more skeptical when indictments are announced against someone whose views are not welcomed by the party in charge.”
I don’t know whether Eric Adams @ericadamsfornyc is guilty or innocent. He does, however, deserve the presumption of innocence.
I do know that Eric loudly spoke the truth on the migrant problem in NYC and what the consequences would be for New Yorkers and the country. Doing so… https://t.co/0xEWYaQ6ps
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) September 26, 2024
The anonymous and influential X account EndWokeness, which has three million followers on the platform, posted a video clip of Adams speaking at a September 2023 town hall about the migrant crisis and its impact on the city. The post was captioned: “Exactly one year ago, Mayor Eric Adams admitted (off-script) that migrants are ‘destroying NYC’ He was just indicted by Biden-Harris.”
In the video clip, Adams was speaking about that the influx of migrants, suggesting that it “will destroy New York City.” He went on to how the city had received around 10,000 migrants at that point, with not enough resources from the federal government to manage the arrivals.
The conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair drew attention to the fact that Adams is the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted. She wrote on X, “Wow it is so so crazy that NYC Mayor Eric Adams (who told the Biden Admin to stop sending illegals to our city) is the first New York City mayor in the history of ever to be indicted while in office Every other mayor was awesome and not at all corrupt and never ever stole money!”
Meanwhile, the conservative commentator Ann Coulter reposted a clip from Adams’ Wednesday night statement, adding: “The mayor is stating he’s being targeted by the federal government because he spoke out against the migrant crisis here in NYC.”
Jack Posobiec, another influential MAGA commentator and fierce defender of the former president wrote on his X account, “This is the same way Xi Jinping gets rid of domestic opponents.”
The Adams indictment was the result of a corruption investigation into the mayor and his inner circle that began in 2021, before the migrant influx surfaced as a political issue in New York. The bribery and fraud scheme he is alleged to have benefited from began when he was an elected official in Brooklyn, before he ran for mayor, and continued after his election, prosecutors said Thursday.
