Rep. Zinke defends DOJ order to drop Eric Adams charges: ‘Immigration' is ‘priority'
'Well, I think the priority would be immigration,' Zinke said in an interview on NewsNation's 'The Hill Sunday' when asked to explain why the order to drop charges is not an example of politicization at the DOJ in favor of President Trump.
Zinke noted that 'the charges were many' against Adams, saying, 'But I think the big thrust is immigration. New York is our largest city. It should be a shining city, and it's not. And a lot of it is the immigration. And look, you can't walk down the streets without being harassed, so something's got to change.'
'The President looked at it, the priorities. He's got to work with New York. He found a willing partner. Just make sure that the city gets cleaned up,' Zinke continued.
'Obviously, the Trump administration looked at it and said, 'You know what? What's more important right now is getting New York back to safety and getting the illegal immigration problem out of New York,'' he later added.
The remarks come just days after Trump's DOJ ordered federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against the mayor, who had cozied up to the president in recent months as his bribery trial set for April neared.
Adams was indicted in September on counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and bribery. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered prosecutors to dismiss the counts without assessing the strength of the case and indicated that the attorneys who filed the charges did nothing wrong
Instead, he said the case 'improperly interfered' with Adams's 2025 mayoral campaign and 'unduly restricted' the mayor's ability to focus on 'the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.'
The move prompted concerns about a possible quid pro quo, and it led to the resignations of the interim U.S. attorney in Manhattan and several other federal prosecutors who refused to drop the charges against Adams.
On Friday, Trump shrugged off the resignations, suggesting that all the top prosecutors would have been dismissed anyway in the coming days.
'I don't know about it,' Trump said in the Oval Office when asked about the controversy in the Adams case. 'Obviously, I'm not involved in that, but I would say this. If they had a problem — and these are mostly people from the previous administration, you understand. So they weren't going to be there anyway. They were all going to be gone or dismissed … because what you do is you come in and you put new people in.'
'So when you say resigned, they were gonna be gone anyway,' Trump continued. 'But I know nothing about the individual case. I know that they didn't feel it was much of the case. They also felt that it was unfair with the election.'
The Hill is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns NewsNation.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
27 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump says he ordered subs repositioned in rare nuclear threat to Russia
Advertisement Because nuclear submarine movements are among the Pentagon's most closely held tactical maneuvers, it will most likely prove impossible to know if Trump is truly repositioning the submarines or just trying to make a point. But in Trump's sudden and escalating confrontation with Russia over Ukraine, it is the first time he has referenced the US nuclear arsenal, much less threatened to reposition it. Trump said Thursday that he intends to impose new sanctions on Russia over its unwillingness to wind down its war in Ukraine, the latest step in his gradual shift toward a more antagonistic stance toward the Kremlin. Still, such public flexing of nuclear muscles is rare even for Trump, who last made explicit nuclear threats to Kim Jong Un of North Korea early in his first term in 2018. At that time, he said his 'nuclear button' was 'much bigger and more powerful' than Kim's. That exchange ultimately led to a diplomatic opening to Kim, three meetings between the two leaders, and a complete failure of the effort to get the North Korean leader to give up his nuclear arsenal, which is now larger than ever. Advertisement But Russia is a different case, and Trump has often talked about the fearsome power of nuclear weapons, something he contends he learned about from an uncle who was on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. So while Russian President Vladimir Putin has made threats about putting nuclear forces on alert during the opening days of the Ukraine war, and may have been preparing to use a tactical nuclear weapon in fall 2022 against a Ukrainian military base, the US has never responded. Medvedev is a good foil for Trump; he regularly issues threats against the United States but is essentially powerless. Trump has referred to Medvedev's martial-sounding statements several times in the past week. It was not clear what kind of nuclear submarines Trump was referencing. The US has nuclear-powered attack submarines that search for targets, but it also has far larger, nuclear-powered, and nuclear-armed submarines. Those don't need to be repositioned; they can reach targets thousands of miles away. Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary, referred all questions about Trump's statement to the White House. This article originally appeared in
San Francisco Chronicle
27 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump administration cuts $300M in UCLA research funding over antisemitism claims
The Trump administration has suspended more than $300 million in federal research grants to UCLA, citing the university's alleged failure to address antisemitism and discriminatory practices on campus. The move, part of a broader crackdown on elite universities, marks the most severe funding cut in UCLA's history. According to government letters obtained by multiple news outlets, agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and Department of Energy are halting hundreds of active grants. Officials allege the university engaged in 'race discrimination' and 'illegal affirmative action,' and failed to prevent a hostile climate for Jewish and Israeli students, following campus protests over the Gaza war. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that UCLA would 'pay a heavy price' for its 'deliberate indifference' to civil rights complaints. A 10-page letter Tuesday from the Department of Justice to UC President Michael Drake said the DOJ had looked into complaints of discrimination since Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas attacked Israel, leading to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which sparked protests at college campuses across the U.S. The letter cited 11 complaints from Jewish or Israeli students regarding discrimination between April 25 and May 1, 2024, while pro-Palestianian protesters occupied an encampment on the UCLA campus. 'Several complainants reported that members of the encampment prevented them from accessing parts of the campus,' the letter said, and some reported encountering intimidation or violence. The Department of Justice set a Sept. 2 deadline for the university to begin negotiations or face legal action. 'Federal research grants are not handouts,' he wrote Thursday. 'Grants lead to medical breakthroughs, economic advancement, improved national security and global competitiveness — these are national priorities.' The freeze affects more than 300 grants, with nearly $180 million already distributed, and follows similar enforcement actions against Harvard, Columbia and Brown universities. UCLA recently agreed to a $6.5 million settlement with Jewish students and a professor over claims of discrimination during 2024 campus protests. Frenk, who is of Jewish heritage, emphasized the university's efforts to combat antisemitism, including the creation of a campus safety office and an initiative to fight antisemitism and anti-Israel bias. 'Antisemitism has no place on our campus, nor does any form of discrimination,' he wrote, while insisting the funding cut 'does nothing to address any alleged discrimination.'
San Francisco Chronicle
27 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump orders US nuclear subs repositioned over statements from ex-Russian leader Medvedev
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a warning to Russia, President Donald Trump said Friday he's ordering the repositioning of two U.S. nuclear submarines 'based on the highly provocative statements' of the country's former president, Dmitry Medvedev, who has raised the prospect of war online. Trump posted on his social media site that, based on the 'highly provocative statements' from Medvedev, he had 'ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.' The president added, 'Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances.' It wasn't clear what impact Trump's order would have on U.S. nuclear subs, which are routinely on patrol in the world's hotspots, but it comes at a delicate moment in the Trump administration's relations with Moscow. Trump has said that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made. He cut his 50-day deadline for action to 10 days, with that window set to expire next week. The post about the sub repositioning came after Trump, in the wee hours of Thursday morning, had posted that Medvedev was a 'failed former President of Russia' and warned him to 'watch his words.' Medvedev responded hours later by writing, 'Russia is right on everything and will continue to go its own way.' And that back-and-forth followed earlier this week, when Medvedev wrote, 'Trump's playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10' and added, 'He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn't Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.' Asked as he was leaving the White House on Friday evening for a weekend at his estate in New Jersey, about where he was repositioning the subs, Trump didn't offer any specifics. 'We had to do that. We just have to be careful,' the president said. 'A threat was made, and we didn't think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful.' Trump also said, 'I do that on the basis of safety for our people' and 'we're gonna protect our people' and later added of Medvedev, 'He was talking about nuclear.' 'When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared,' Trump said. 'And we're totally prepared.' Medvedev was Russia's president from 2008 to 2012, while Putin was barred from seeking a second consecutive term, but stepped aside to let him run again. Now deputy chairman of Russia's National Security Council, which Putin chairs, Medvedev has been known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since the start of the war in 2022. That's a U-turn from his presidency, when he was seen as liberal and progressive. Medvedev has frequently wielded nuclear threats and lobbed insults at Western leaders on social media. Some observers have argued that with his extravagant rhetoric, Medvedev is seeking to score political points with Putin and Russian military hawks. One such example before the latest spat with Trump came on July 15, after Trump announced plans to supply Ukraine with more weapons via its NATO allies and threatened additional tariffs against Moscow. Medvedev posted then, 'Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn't care.'
