New York Governor Kathy Hochul is seriously considering removing Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams from office, announcing she is convening a meeting to determine the controversial mayor’s fate.
The governor has been facing calls to fire Adams since the Trump administration asked federal prosecutors to drop his corruption case in what has been called a ‘quid pro quo’ so he could aid the President’s immigration crackdown and campaign for reelection without the burden of pending charges.
Many of the mayor’s advisors have stepped down in the aftermath, and on Monday, Hochul said she spoke with four deputy mayors who had announced their resignation earlier in the day.
‘If they feel unsafe to serve in City Hall at this time that raises serious questions about the long-term future of this Mayoral administration,’ she said.
The governor went on to say she recognizes that she has the constitutional authority to fire Adams, but said, ‘In the 235 years of New York State History, these powers have never been utilized to remove a duly-elected mayor; overturning the will of the voters is a serious step that should not be taken lightly.
‘That said, the alleged conduct at City Hall is troubling and cannot be ignored.’
She then announced that she has asked ‘key leaders’ to meet her in her Manhattan office on Tuesday to discuss ‘the path forward, with the goal of ensuring stability for the City of New York.’Â
The Trump administration had pushed prosecutors to drop their corruption case against the New York City mayor
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Monday she is convening a meeting to discuss New York City Mayor Eric Adam’s future
‘Let me be clear: my most urgent concern is the well-being of my 8.3million constituents who live in New York City,’ Hochul continued.Â
‘I will be monitoring this situation extraordinarily closely to ensure that New Yorkers are not being shortchanged by the current crisis in city government,’ she vowed.
Hochul’s announcement came just hours after Adams announced that four deputy mayors resigned amid questions about the mayor’s ties with the Trump administration.
The top deputies included First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Chauncey Parker.
In their resignation letters, Torres-Springer, Joshi and Williams-Isom wrote: ‘Due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families, we have come to the difficult decision to step down from our roles.’
Hochul noted they have each ‘been strong partners with my administration across dozens of key issues.’Â
The deputy mayors’ resignations came just days after Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor announced she was stepping down.
Republican Danielle Sassoon blasted the ‘rushed and superficial’ process to vacate the case against Adams in a scathing eight-page resignation letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday.
Four deputy mayors, including First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi announced their resignations on Monday
Anne Williams-Isom and Maria Torres-Springer are pictured at a 2023 summit
Sassoon, the interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said prosecutors were prepared to seek a new indictment against Adams before the Trump administration intervened.Â
The charges included more crimes of destroying evidence, instructing others to destroy evidence and providing false information to the FBI.Â
Sassoon also warned bosses she was confident that Mayor Adams ‘has committed the crimes with which he is charged.’
She said she would refuse the Justice Department’s order to drop the corruption case against him, which stems from allegations Adams accepted illegal campaign contributions and bribes of free or cheap travel.
Two senior Justice Department officials also quit after department leadership in Washington moved to drop the case.
Republican Danielle Sassoon sent an email to all staff announcing her resignation as interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on Thursday
Meanwhile, Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado have called on the mayor to step down.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is not related to the mayor, added her voice to the chorus on Monday saying that with the deputy mayors’ resignations it is clear that the mayor ‘has now lost the confidence and trust of his own staff, his colleagues in government and New Yorkers.’
Adams was indicted in September on charges that while he worked as Brooklyn borough president, he accepted over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks such as expensive flight upgrades, luxury hotel stays and even a trip to a bathhouse.Â
The indictment said a Turkish official who helped facilitate the trips then leaned on Adams for favors, including asking him to lobby the Fire Department to let a newly constructed, 36-story diplomatic building open in time for a planned visit by Turkey’s president.
Prosecutors said they had proof that Adams personally directed political aides to solicit foreign donations and disguise them to help the campaign qualify for a city program that provides a generous, publicly-funded match for small dollar donations.
Under federal law, foreign nationals are banned from contributing to U.S. election campaigns.
Hochul has been facing calls to fire Adams since federal prosecutors dropped his case
Hundreds of protesters rallied at the NYC Municipal building and federal court to remove Mayor Eric Adams and to stand up to Donald Trump on Sunday
Adams has denied the allegations, and bizarrely invoked Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf in a rally at a Brooklyn church on Monday, according to the New York Post.
He claimed he once heard civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. recite a quote from Hitler’s book that went something like: ‘If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, people will tend to believe it’s true.
‘And that’s what you’re seeing right there right now: A modern Mein Kampf,’ the mayor lamented to his supporters.
The quote – which has many iterations- is not actually from the book, and is most often attributed to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebells.
Still, Adams went on to defend his mayoral record against attacks on his handling of issues like the migrant crisis.
‘All they know how to do is protest,’ he claimed of his political rivals.Â
