Veteran political commentator Geraldo Rivera is calling on President Trump to “do his hometown New York a big favor” by issuing a pardon for Mayor Adams amid his fight against a slew of corruption charges.

“President Trump can do his hometown New York a big favor by pardoning Mayor Eric Adams, who is being unfairly railroaded by federal prosecutors,” Mr. Rivera wrote on X on Tuesday morning. “The heart of the federal case is the allegation Adams got free upgrades on Turkish Airways … big effing deal.” 

In September, the New York mayor, who took office in January 2022, was accused of soliciting illegal campaign contributions and accepting gifts, including luxury travel benefits from Turkish officials, over the course of the last decade. Mr. Adams, who has spurned calls for him to resign, maintains that he is being targeted by the federal government for his outspoken criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis and has pleaded not guilty to all five charges. 

Trump, while at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, tee’d up the possibility of issuing a pardon for the mayor, telling reporters that “Yeah, I would. I think that he was treated pretty unfairly.” Trump also raised potential political motives behind the indictment, citing that Mr. Adams was charged soon after he “made some pretty strong statements” against immigration policy. 

Just a few hours after Mr. Rivera voiced his plea to the president-elect, however, Mr. Adams lost his bid to dismiss the bribery charge in his corruption case. That charge is based off allegations that Mr. Adams, while operating as Brooklyn borough president in 2021, accepted luxury travel gifts from wealthy Turkish officials in exchange for pressuring the New York Fire Department to expedite the opening of a midtown building that holds the Turkish consulate despite safety concerns. 

The Manhattan judge overseeing the motion, Judge Dale Ho, rejected the defense’s argument that the charge was “extraordinarily vague” and targeted “normal and perfectly lawful acts that many city officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation.” Mr. Adam’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, further contended that the prosecution failed to adequately establish that the defendant had agreed to a “quid pro quo” arrangement to trade his political influence for perks. 

The judge wrote in his ruling: “Ultimately, whether or not Adams used his official position as Brooklyn borough president to exert pressure on the FDNY is a factual question for a jury to resolve.” Judge Ho also denied Mr. Adams’ request to push up his trial, which is set to start on April 21. The mayor had hoped to finish proceedings before the Democratic mayoral primary in June.