Adams to sue Trump admin over $80M in FEMA migrant shelter funding clawed back from NYC
Mayor Eric Adams plans to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration next week after the feds secretly clawed back more than $80 million in migrant funding from New York City’s coffers, according to a letter obtained by The Post.Counsel for the Adams administration issued a letter to city Comptroller Brad Lander Friday stating that the city’s Law Department is looking to take legal action by Feb.21 to recoup the $80.5 million Federal Emergency Management Agency payments taken by the feds on Tuesday.“The Law Department is currently drafting litigation papers with respect to this matter,” the letter, penned by corporation counsel Mureil Goode-Trufant, said.“We intend to initiate legal action by February 21, 2025.
As the Law Department is representing the City of New York in this matter, there is no need for an authorization for the Comptroller’s Office to engage external legal counsel.”The letter was sent just hours after Lander demanded the Adams administration either file a lawsuit or grant him permission to hire his own attorneys to bring a case against Trump and Department of Government Efficiency honcho Elon Musk.“Given the gravity of the situation, we cannot afford to waste any more time,” Lander, who is running against Adams in the June Democratic mayoral primary, said in a statement Friday. “If the Mayor would prefer to spend his days advancing President Trump’s agenda instead of fighting for New Yorkers, then the Law Department must allow me to do so.”The sudden withdrawal of FEMA funds from New York City’s accounts unfolded on Tuesday – without Adams’ knowledge – and was discovered the next morning by Lander, who accused Trump and the richest man alive of “highway robbery.”Musk claimed this week that DOGE “discovered” a $59 million FEMA payment to the Big Apple was being wasted on “luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.”Trump later echoed that remark as he defended the seizure, contending ...