Mayor Eric Adams of New York City met with President-elect Donald J. Trump near his Mar-a-Lago compound on Friday afternoon in an unusual display of political, and perhaps personal, outreach.
The men had lunch in the main dining room at the Trump International Golf Course, in a group that included Mr. Trump’s son Eric; Steve Witkoff, the billionaire New York real estate executive who was named as Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East; and Frank Carone, a trusted adviser to the mayor.
The meeting lasted an hour, according to a person who witnessed the gathering, and the men dined from a buffet-style setup. It was not clear what they spoke about, but witnesses noted that they sat next to a table where Sylvester Stallone — who was just named as one of Mr. Trump’s three “special ambassadors” to Hollywood — was having lunch.
The surprise trip to Florida by Mr. Adams, a Democrat who is confronting an uphill battle for re-election this year, comes as the mayor is facing a trial on federal corruption charges in April.
Mr. Trump, a Republican, said last month that he would consider pardoning Mr. Adams, arguing that both men had been “persecuted” by politically motivated prosecutors.
The meeting was closed to journalists, and his office said that Mr. Adams would not have time for an interview after. The mayor was scheduled to leave Florida around 5 p.m.
Fabien Levy, a spokesman for the mayor, said the goal of the trip, which was being paid for by the city, was to discuss the city’s priorities, noting that a “partnership with the federal government is critical to New York City’s success.”
But the candidates challenging Mr. Adams in the Democratic primary in June said his visit to Florida was clearly an attempt to curry favor with Mr. Trump in the hopes of a pardon.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller who is running for mayor, said on Friday that hearing the news “made my head explode.” He urged Mr. Adams to state publicly that he would not seek or accept a pardon and questioned why taxpayers were paying for the trip.
“It’s infuriating that the mayor is so transparently willing to trade the well-being of New Yorkers and the values of our city for a pardon for himself,” he said.
Many Democrats in New York are worried that Mr. Trump could order mass deportations of immigrants, overturn congestion pricing tolls in Manhattan and cut funding for climate change projects and other priorities.
Mr. Adams, a former police officer who was registered as a Republican in the 1990s, has taken a different tack, offering to work with Mr. Trump and praising his adviser Elon Musk, who shares a lawyer with Mr. Adams.
Mr. Adams joins a diverse roster of leaders from around the world who have made the trip to visit Mr. Trump in Florida since his election, and he is not the first Democrat. John Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, met with Mr. Trump last week. Other recent visitors have included Viktor Orban, the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary, and Justin Trudeau, the liberal prime minister of Canada, who is leaving office soon.
Mr. Adams said at his weekly news conference on Monday that Mr. Trump was a New Yorker and cared about the city.
“In my conversation with him, he’s been clear that he wants to help New York and New Yorkers,” Mr. Adams said.
Joseph Borelli, the Republican minority leader of the City Council, defended the trip and said that many voters wanted Mr. Adams to work with Mr. Trump on issues like immigration.
“The public has been clear — they are tired of migrant gangs causing havoc in our city and costing us billions of dollars,” he said. “I suspect the majority of New Yorkers want there to be cooperation between the mayor and president on this, and other issues that affect our city from transportation to housing.”
Mr. Adams was charged in September with five federal corruption charges related to bribery and fraud. He is accused of receiving thousands of dollars’ worth of travel benefits from Turkish officials and of soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.
Mr. Trump has a famously fraught relationship with New York City. Though he grew up in Queens and later was celebrated for real estate deals and tabloid sizzle, the city resoundingly rejected his first bid for the presidency. New Yorkers responded to his election in 2016 by stripping his name from several high-rise buildings. Mr. Trump, in turn, took every opportunity to disparage New York.
In 2019, he complained of his treatment at the hands of New York’s leaders and changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach, Fla.
At a charity event in September, Mr. Trump said he felt a kinship with Mr. Adams.
“We were persecuted, Eric,” Mr. Trump said at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. “I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric.”
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