Trump offering NYC mayor Saudi ambassadorship to drop re-election bid: Report
Trump offering NYC mayor Saudi ambassadorship to drop re-election bid: Report
The Trump administration is seeking to nominate New York City Mayor Eric Adams to a top ambassadorial role in exchange for dropping his re-election bid ahead of the November race, a new report says.
If Adams were to exit the race, it would clear the path for former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is staunchly backed by pro-Israel groups, to be the main challenger to the leading candidate, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani.
The New York Times, citing four unnamed sources on Friday, said President Donald Trump's special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, has been working diligently to persuade Adams to consider being the ambassador to Saudi Arabia - a very plum posting at a critical time for US relations with the kingdom.
Witkoff, a billionaire real estate investor and close personal friend of the president, met with Adams in Florida this week to explore the issue.
The New York Times' reporting from the previous day said that Adams could also be considered for the ambassadorship to the United Arab Emirates or Oman.
Adams is running for re-election as an Independent, but is currently far behind both Mamdani and Cuomo.
Earlier this week, he denied reports that he would step aside.
"I'm the CEO of 320,000 employees. People saw what I did, how I handle crises. So I've been getting job offers for the last year and a half... people like my leadership," he said.
"And so to say, 'Would you take a job in the administration or would I take it somewhere else?' That's hypothetical. I'm running for office and I'm going to finish doing that."
One of the first things the Department of Justice did after Trump was sworn into office in January was to drop federal criminal charges against Adams, who is alleged to have taken bribes, committed wire fraud and received illegal campaign donations from at least one Turkish government official from 2021-2022.
Adams threatened to fire a city employee if he did not certify that Turkey's Turkevi Center near the United Nations headquarters met safety standards, and refused to comment on the Armenian genocide in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign donations and free flights, federal prosecutors working under former President Joe Biden had said.
Opponents
Mamdani delivered a stunning upset in June by winning the Democratic Party nomination in a landslide, and mobilising the largest number of New Yorkers to ever vote in a primary race. His win meant that the establishment Democrat he was neck-and-neck with, Cuomo, had to drop out of the race.
But within weeks, Cuomo jumped back into the race as an Independent, despite previously also having resigned the governorship in disgrace.
Mamdani is now projected to become the first Muslim and vocally pro-Palestine mayor of New York City, unless the circumstances change dramatically - and the White House has made no secret of the fact it's trying to do that.
"This guy is a communist at the highest level and he wants to destroy New York. I love New York and we're not going to let him do that," Trump said in July, despite having moved out of New York City himself nearly a decade ago to Republican-friendly Florida.
While presidents are typically assumed to support their own party's candidates in local races, it is unusual for the White House to intervene directly to influence the outcome.
With polls now showing that only Cuomo has a possible chance at defeating Mamdani, the Trump administration is seeking to move other candidates out of the way.
Cuomo and Trump did not see eye to eye on policy during Cuomo's governorship, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, but their "dysfunctional" relationship goes back four decades, The New York Times pointed out.
Cuomo is also backed by the old guard of the Democratic establishment, including former president Bill Clinton and Senate Minority Leader and New York Senator Chuck Schumer.
They all congratulated Mamdani, but refused to endorse him after he won the party nomination.
More than one million Jewish people reside in New York City alone, the largest number outside of Israel. Some are dual US-Israeli citizens. Recent reports suggest that the Muslim population of the city has now equalled or even surpassed the Jewish population in New York City.
Cuomo has repeatedly emphasised his pro-Israel credentials and was accused by Mamdani's people of running an Islamophobic campaign.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller and highest-ranking Jewish official in New York, echoed that accusation during his own campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination.
During the primary race, Mamdani was outspent 8-1 by Cuomo, and the money largely came from donors who invested in a Political Action Committee (PAC) towards one goal: unconditional backing for Israel. Mamdani still handily won the nomination.
"Andrew Cuomo is Donald Trump's choice to be the next mayor of this city," Mamdani said in remarks on Thursday.
"Today's news that the White House is considering job offers for Eric Adams... it is not news that carries meaning because of any impact it will have on this race. We feel just as confident as we did yesterday that we will win this race in November," he said.
"We have not seen a president of this country seek to fundamentally alter the nature of a race, all with the intent of preventing the Democratic nominee from succeeding. I have no issue facing Andrew Cuomo one-on-one," he added.
Cuomo said he has not sought nor would he accept Trump's endorsement, and insisted that Mamdani would actually be Trump's ideal pick for New York City.
"Number one, he would hold him up like a poster child, run around the country and say, 'This is who the Democrats elected, this socialist, this anarchist. He's against the police. He's against everything you believe.' Politically, it would be a boon. It would cost Democrats congressional seats, I believe that," Cuomo said.
"And number two, it would justify his takeover of New York, which is what he really wants to do".
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