...
By Sonam Sheth
Evening Politics Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Former President Donald Trump drew huge laughs Thursday night when he roasted New York mayor Eric Adams while headlining the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City.
"Mayor Adams, good luck with everything," Trump said, while looking at Adams and smirking.
"They went after you," Trump said, as the crowd burst into laughter. "They went after you, mayor."
Read More on Politics
Adams was indicted last month following a federal corruption investigation, and charged with bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and campaign finance offenses. The mayor, who is accused of soliciting bribes from foreign businesspeople to finance his political campaigns, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Trump said Thursday that he predicted Adams' indictment nearly a year ago.
"Nine and a half months ago, I said, you know, he just said something bad about the administration," Trump said, as the crowd continued laughing. "He's going to be indicted any moment. And guess what happened, but you're going to win."
"I think you're going to win," Trump continued. "I know you're going to win, so good luck. I don't like what they do."
...
The Republican nominee was likely referring to the myriad criminal cases he's faced at the federal and state level, including in New York. Earlier this year, Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to his efforts to cover up his affair with the adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump joked that it's always a "pleasure" to go "anywhere in New York without a subpoena for my appearance. Any time I don't get a subpoena, I'm very happy."
"Mr. Mayor, you're peanuts compared to what they've done to me," the former president added. "And you're going to be okay."
Trump also took several shots at Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. He tore into her for skipping the event and criticized her intelligence, as well as her choice of running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Harris, breaking with tradition, didn't attend the event because she was stumping in Wisconsin. Instead, she made an appearance via recorded video.
Harris is the first presidential nominee to decline an invitation to the annual Al Smith dinner in decades, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.
"This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn't coming," Dolan said on his podcast earlier this week. "It's a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It's not a campaign speech. It's not a campaign stop."
Thursday's event came less than three weeks before the November election, and Harris and Trump have been in a virtual dead heat since Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee in July.
While the Harris campaign enjoyed a boost in polling numbers after she became the Democratic nominee and after she debated Trump in September, the race has evened out in recent weeks.
In a Quinnipiac University poll published Wednesday, Harris edged Trump out in North Carolina, where 49 percent of likely voters said they supported her, compared to 47 percent who said they support Trump. But in Georgia, the vice president trails Trump by seven points — 52 percent of likely voters in the state back Trump, while 45 percent support Harris.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines