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DOJ lawyer taking on Columbia U. finds ‘partner’ in Mayor Adams
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 28, 2025
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JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 28, 2025
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A Trump administration official leading an antisemitism task force that has slashed funding for Columbia University praised Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday as a “partner” who is pursuing new ways to help the federal government crackdown on antisemitic hate crimes.
Leo Terrell, the head of the Department of Justice's task force, said in an interview on Fox News that he’d met with Adams Tuesday morning and came away feeling “ecstatic.” City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said City Hall and the Department of Justice are exploring ways to make victims of antisemitic hate crimes feel more comfortable contacting authorities.
“For too long, antisemitic propaganda has been masquerading as activism, and it has led to an unacceptable rise in antisemitism across our city and in our country,” Adams said in a statement.
The collaboration highlighted how Adams continues to court the Trump administration as the White House wages an all-out pressure campaign on one of the city’s most prominent institutions, Columbia University. The move comes as the issue of antisemitism dominates the mayoral race. Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner in the Democratic primary, has called it “the most important issue” of the campaign. Adams, a Democrat, is skipping the primary and running as an independent in the November general election on two ballot lines: “Safe&Affordable” and “EndAntiSemitism.”
In a statement, Adams noted he recently opened a new office to combat antisemitism, which he referred to as a “sledgehammer.”
According to NYPD data, crimes targeting Jewish people accounted for 54% of all hate crimes last year. That figure rose to 62% in the first quarter of this year.
The mayor said he and federal officials had met to “discuss ways to address this rise in antisemitic hate crimes, report them more easily, be there for the community more quickly after an incident occurs, and much more.”
Mayor Adams marched in the Israel Day parade on May 18. He's launched a new office to combat antisemitism.
Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
The federal antisemitism task force has been at the center of the Trump administration’s efforts to force dramatic changes to academic life at Columbia. In March, the administration slashed $400 million in funding for Columbia, alleging the university had let antisemitism run rampant on campus without consequence amid pro-Palestinian protests. Columbia then offered concessions to the administration, including additional oversight of its Middle East Studies department, in a bid to restore that money. Negotiations are ongoing. The Wall Street Journal reported that a government attorney serving on the task force grilled Columbia’s former interim President Katrina Armstrong for three hours about whether she’d done enough to protect Jewish students.
Terrell, a Los Angeles-based talk radio host and attorney, is currently serving as senior counsel in the Department of Justice’s civil rights division and head of the task force, which is also targeting Harvard University.
“I wanted to see if he was real, sincere,” he told Fox News on Tuesday, referring to Adams. "And let me tell you, right now, I was ecstatic. We got a new partner.”
That praise represented a shift. In 2022, Terrell called Adams a “failure” who “plays the race card.”
Altus said the discussions were preliminary and that there was not yet an agreement in place.
Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who currently teaches at Columbia Law School, said Adams could direct the NYPD to funnel antisemitic cases to federal prosecutors instead of local district attorneys.
Federal prosecutors “would have likely done some of that anyway,” Richman said. “Maybe now they will do more.”
Tagged
new york city
Politics
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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