By Nathan Layne
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams said he had a “productive” meeting with Republican President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Friday, including a discussion about how the federal government can help improve the lives of the city’s residents and its economy.
Adams, who traveled to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach three days before Trump will assume the presidency, said the two did not discuss the mayor’s federal indictment on corruption charges and upcoming trial.
“President Trump and I had a productive conversation about New York’s needs and what’s best for our city,” Adams said in a statement.
“To be clear, we did not discuss my legal case, and those who suggest the mayor of the largest city in the nation shouldn’t meet with the incoming president to discuss our city’s priorities because … we’re from different parties clearly care more about politics than people.”
Spokespeople for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.
Adams said they discussed federal investments in the city’s infrastructure and ideas to encourage businesses to create manufacturing jobs in New York, with a focus on the Bronx, one of the city’s five boroughs and the most ethnically diverse.
Adams has made a series of overtures to Trump dating to well before the president-elect’s election victory in November, expressing a desire to work with him on immigration and other issues that impact the country’s most populous city.
The mayor’s critics have speculated that he is warming up to Trump in the hopes that the incoming president will pardon him.
Adams, 64, was charged in September with accepting travel perks from Turkish officials and political donations from foreigners in exchange for taking actions to benefit Turkey. He pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, fraud and solicitation of a campaign contribution from a foreign national.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in West Palm Beach, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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