Ex-Adams campaign vendor accused of SoHo assault donated to him at ritzy fundraiser

Yahoo

2 days ago

Trent Pool, a conservative political consultant accused of assaulting his girlfriend in a Manhattan hotel, donated the legal max amount to Mayor Adams' reelection effort as part of a fundraiser last year — and was months later hired by the campaign to do petitioning work, the Daily News has learned.
The fundraiser itself may also have violated campaign finance rules as Adams' team failed to disclose cryptocurrency tycoon Brock Pierce's role in hosting the event.
Pool, who's known for managing petitioning for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s failed 2024 presidential campaign, was arrested in April 2024 on charges alleging he strangled his partner at the SoHo Grand Hotel.
As reported by Gothamist this week, Adams' campaign paid Pool some $175,000 this spring to do petitioning work to secure an independent line for the mayor on November's general election ballot.
Pool's hire came as he was in the middle of fighting his assault case — which remains pending in Manhattan Criminal Court — and Adams' campaign responded to Gothamist's report by saying it'd cut ties with Pool, adding that the mayor was unaware of the charges against him and 'has never had contact with' him.
Records obtained by The News via a Freedom of Information Law request nonetheless reveal that months before being hired, Pool contributed $2,100, the legal max, to Adams' reelection campaign as part of an exclusive fundraiser in Puerto Rico attended by the mayor.
The Dec. 10, 2024 fundraiser, hosted at Pierce's San Juan mansion, raised a total of $13,404 from nine individuals, including Pool, the records show. As required, the records were submitted to the city Campaign Finance Board by Adams' team to disclose all fundraiser attendees who gave in connection with the event.
Thomas Keniff, Pool's criminal lawyer, declined to comment Friday on his client's participation in the fundraiser, but said he 'has supported and donated to Eric Adams, along with many other common sense candidates nationwide.'
'As to his pending criminal charges, Mr. Pool maintains his innocence and looks forward to being fully exonerated,' Keniff added.
Pool's case is slated to go to trial next month.
'Mayor Adams has no recollection of ever meeting Trent Pool in any setting, but the campaign sometimes acts independently on hiring independent contractors,' an Adams campaign spokesman said when asked about his interactions with Trent and reliance on his services.
Pierce, a pro-Trump investor and billionaire, threw the fundraiser for Adams while the mayor was on the island for a cryptocurrency conference. The private event came as Adams was still under indictment on federal corruption charges that were months later dismissed at the request of President Trump's Department of Justice as part of a deal many believe has left the mayor beholden to Trump's agenda.
Given that Pierce's event raised more than $500, Adams' team under campaign finance law was required to either report Pierce as a so-called 'intermediary' or pay him for hosting the shindig. However, Adams' campaign didn't report Pierce as an intermediary and there is no record it paid Pierce for hosting, records show.
A spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board declined to comment.
Vito Pitta, Adams' campaign compliance attorney, didn't immediately return a request for comment.
The revelations about Pool — who was reportedly spotted at the U.S. Capitol during the deadly pro-Trump Jan. 6, 2021 attack, though he denies participating in any violence — come as Adams is kickstarting his independent run for reelection amid various headwinds.
Continuing to face political fallout from his indictment, Adams held a formal reelection campaign launch rally at City Hall Thursday, where he assailed the presumptive Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani, as unfit for office.
Several of Adams' longtime supporters joined him at the event, including Sheikh Musa Drammeh, a Bronx community leader who called him the 'moral clarity mayor.'
With Josephine Stratman