NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Friday that he won't succumb to pressure to end his reelection campaign and insisted he is the only candidate strong enough to beat the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani.
Adams declared his intention to stay in the race at the end of a fraught week that began with a trip to Florida, where Trump administration intermediaries sought to assess his willingness to quit the race to take a job with the federal government.
Earlier Friday, Adams appeared to leave the door open to a departure, releasing a statement saying he “will always listen if called to serve our country” but adding he had not yet received any “formal offers.”
Hours later, he summoned reporters to the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, to slam that door back shut.
“I am in this race. And I am the only one who can beat Mamdani," Adams said.
“How many times have I been told throughout this journey to step aside, to surrender, to give up, to give in,” he said. “That’s the same thing we tell everyday New Yorkers. Everyday New Yorkers are not giving up, are not giving in, are not surrendering, so their mayor is not going to do that.”
Adams dismissed Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both fellow Democrats, as “two spoiled brats” who are “not like us," then walked off as a throng of reporters shouted questions.
Trump has told reporters he would prefer not to have Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, as New York's next mayor, but believed it was inevitable unless two of the three other major candidates in the race dropped out. Besides Cuomo and Adams, Republican Curtis Sliwa is also on the ballot.
Moments after Adams’ announcement, Trump was asked about it by reporters at the White House.
“He’s free to do what he wants,” Trump said of Adams, but he added that Adams staying in the contest might help cement a Mamdani victory.
“Cuomo might have a chance of winning if it was one-on-one," Trump said. "If you have more than one candidate running against (Mamdani), it can’t be won.”
During a trip to Florida this week, Adams met with Steve Witkoff, a former real estate developer in New York who is now one of Trump’s main diplomatic envoys in Washington, said Adams' campaign spokesperson, Todd Shapiro. It was unclear what specifically was discussed.
Adams skipped the Democratic primary, saying he was sidelined from campaigning after he was indicted last year on bribery charges. Trump's Justice Department then dropped the criminal case, saying it was distracting Adams from helping with the president's immigration crackdown.
In an interview, former Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson said he spoke with the mayor Wednesday morning. Adams told him he wanted to remain in the race but had received offers, Paterson said.
“He said, ‘Listen, they say I have some offers. I have a lot of offers.’ Then he started laughing. And he was saying that, you know, he really doesn’t want to leave and he’s trying to work that out so he doesn’t have to,” said Paterson, who has endorsed Adams for reelection. “He didn’t get specific about it, but I got that in his heart of hearts, he really wants to stay. But I also got that, even though he didn’t say it, that the odds can’t be very good."
Mamdani won the Democratic nomination after soundly defeating Cuomo in the primary. He could be a heavy favorite in the general election if Cuomo and Adams split the centrist vote and most Republicans vote for Sliwa.
Izaguirre reported from Albany, New York. AP writers Seung Min Kim and Michelle L. Price contributed from Washington.
FILE - New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a campaign launch rally at City Hall, June. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
FILE - New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a campaign launch rally at City Hall, Thursday, June. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships from conducting trade, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com.
Madani said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
