New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s (D) relationship with President Trump is alarming Democrats, who question the embattled mayor’s motives amid his ongoing legal challenges.

Adams sat down with Trump for a meeting days before the president was sworn in and caught attention for a last-minute cancellation of his schedule to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Adams has argued the importance of having a relationship with Trump as mayor of the country’s largest city for the benefit of his constituents.

But this also comes as Adams, who is up for reelection in November, faces the start of a bribery trial amid speculation that Trump could pardon him.

“With the mayor, his legal case sort of hangs over everything that he’s doing, whether fair or unfair,” said Democratic strategist Chris Coffey, who co-managed Andrew Yang’s 2021 mayoral campaign.

Adams has faced questions for months about whether he would seek a pardon. Trump stirred speculation last month when he said he would consider pardoning Adams, arguing that he has been “treated pretty unfairly.”

Adams has repeatedly avoided directly saying if he would accept one, though he told CNN in the fall that it’s “not on my agenda.”

But his hesitation to publicly criticize Trump as most other Democrats have and his public engagement with the president has added more fuel to the rumors.

The mayor has maintained that his interest in speaking to and working with Trump is for the best interests of his constituents.

Kayla Mamelak Altus, the press secretary for the mayor’s office, told The Hill that “partisan bickering” from officials leading the city and state with the president during Trump’s first term prevented progress to benefit New Yorkers.

“Mayor Adams has been clear that will not happen on his watch,” she said. “While the mayor and president will not always agree on everything, Mayor Adams is focused on how we can work together to do what it........

© The Hill