Mayor Eric Adams on Monday hit back at claims by a fellow New York Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, that DOGE cuts to the Coast Guard could be at least partly to blame for the deadly Brooklyn Bridge ship tragedy.
Adams was asked during an appearance on FOX 5’s “Good Day New York” whether possible federal cutbacks could have had an impact on the US Coast Guard’s response to Saturday’s tragedy, as Schumer suggested Sunday.
Hizzoner insisted that the Coast Guard provided a “full response” to the Mexican tall ship Cuauhtémoc’s collision with the iconic East River crossing and that New York City “handles crises well.”
Adams, referencing a conversation he had with a member of the Coast Guard at the scene, said that in other regions of the country, the Coast Guard is often forced to take on more responsibility during such emergency situations because of the lack of local support from other agencies such as the police or fire department.
“He said, ‘When you go to other regions to deal with Coast Guard-related issues, the Coast Guard is filling a lot of manpower. Not in New York City,’ ” Adams said.
Praising the efforts of “our harbor unit, NYPD unit, FDNY, our police response, EMS,” the mayor went on to challenge Schumer’s claims further.
“I’m not clear on where the senator got that information from, but I know we had a full response on both sides of the river, and we normally do that, we manage crises extremely well in this city,” Adams said.
The host pressed the mayor, “So cutbacks were not an issue?”
Adams replied, “Unless the senator knows something that I don’t know, but I don’t know what other role the Coast Guard would have played.
“We have the boats that were needed, we have the manpower that was needed, and we responded accordingly to get those 19 injured off the ship,” he said.
Two of the ship’s crew members were killed in the crash.
Adams has been cozying up to the Republican Trump administration and distancing himself from some fellow New York Dems as he struggles with his re-election bid.
During his interview Monday, Adams also gave an insight into why many of the sailors were trapped up in the rigging and unable to climb or jump down from the masts, as it became clear the ship was drifting in reverse toward the 142-year-old span.
“I was speaking to one of the crew members who was still on the boat, and they stated [that] to get up there, it takes 5 minutes roughly to climb up there. So that can give you a real indicator of how high it is,” he said.
A mechanical failure that halted the ship’s steering ability is being blamed for the accident, which claimed the lives of young Mexico navy cadets América Yamilet Sánchez, 20, and 22-year-old Adal Jair Marcos, and left 11 other sailors critically injured.
