The suggestion that race played a role when prosecutors initially filed corruption charges against embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams sent a CNN conservative commentator and a Democratic operative into a Valentine’s Day head-to-head confrontation.
The on-air clash came Friday night when former Hillary Clinton campaign official Karen Finney launched a fierce pushback during a discussion with Shermicahel Singleton, a GOP strategist, over the Trump Justice Department’s controversial dismissal of Adams’ case.
While Finney insisted that Adams was engaged in “a lot of shady stuff,” Singleton said he had “issues with the allegations of a quid-pro-quo,” and delivered his own take on the legal matter.
“There are politicians across this country who do a lot of very corrupt things,” Singleton said Friday on CNN. “They just don't happen to look like the mayor of New York City, and a lot of those things are swept under the rug.”
Finney wasted no time pouncing.
“Oh no, no, it ain't because he's Black, it's because he's corrupt,” she told Singleton as she held her hand up and faced him directly. But Singleton offered his own pushback and peppered Finney with a round of questions.
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“What are you basing that on? Have you seen the evidence? What evidence? Tell the American people what evidence – there hasn't been a jury yet.”
“Keep talking or are you going to let me talk?” Finney shot back.
“You interrupted me, but go ahead, Karen,” he replied.
The two CNN regulars continued to make their respective points without reaching common ground.
“You can be in fantasy land all you want brother,” Finney told Singleton – a comment the Republican clearly wasn’t pleased with. “Fantasy land? What fantasy land am I in? Please tell me.”
Finney concluded the segment by predicting that by “the end of the weekend” there would be “a city process in place” involving Adams’ future as mayor, “or the governor will be facing calls to remove him.”
Watch the clip below or at this link:
