Mayor Adams defended his longtime advisers Ingrid Lewis-Martin and Jesse Hamilton on Friday on the heels of their corruption indictments, whereas his opponents within the mayoral election slammed their circumstances as indicative of deeper issues with Adams’ management.
Adams additionally conceded throughout a press convention Friday that “mistakes” have been made in the course of the course of his administration.
“Ingrid is like a sister to me. I love Ingrid… I have known her to be a hardworking, dedicated member of city government for 40 years,” Adams stated at a press convention at Metropolis Corridor, including that he additionally “wishes the best” for Hamilton, a high actual property official for town who resigned from his put up Thursday after he was indicted.
Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s longtime pal and shut adviser, was charged Thursday in 4 separate bribery schemes. Prosecutors alleged she raked in $75,000 in bribes, together with a bit function in Hulu present “Godfathers of Harlem,” hundreds of {dollars}’ value of seafood and $50,000 for a luxurious automobile for her son.
The mayor has come below scrutiny for a spread of corruption allegations confronted by many in his internal circle, in addition to his now-dismissed federal indictment.
“There are things I would loved to have done differently, but I don’t live life in the rear view mirror,” the mayor stated. “I’ve learned, I’ve learned from those bumps in the roads and become a better not only mayor every day, but a better human every day.”
Requested what he needs he might have performed in a different way, although, the mayor merely stated he needs he spent extra time along with his son, Jordan, when he was younger.
Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information
Ingrid Lewis-Martin is escorted in handcuffs right into a Manhattan Supreme Courtroom courtroom on new corruption fees on Thursday. (Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information)
The brand new indictments come because the mayor seeks re-election regardless of quite a few setbacks, together with his personal authorized bother, a relationship with President Trump many see as too shut and additional allegations of corruption throughout the higher ranks of his administration. He trails the sphere in most polls.
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani stated the newest Lewis-Martin indictments present Adams’ first time period has amounted to a “resuscitation of Tammany Hall-style politics.”
“Mark Twain said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes, and here we are, just a stone’s throw away from Tammany Hall, and we see that rhyme taking place with Eric Adams becoming a living, breathing testament to a continued legacy of corruption in this city’s politics,” Mamdani stated, talking in Union Sq. Park, toes away from the notorious headquarters of the Tammany Corridor group that dominated metropolis politics within the early twentieth century.
Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information
Eric Adams walks to a press convention at Metropolis Corridor Friday, Aug. 22, 2025 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information)
Mamdani is seen as having a neater path to the mayoralty as a result of Adams and Andrew Cuomo have each opted to run on unbiased strains in November and are thereby prone to cut up up the extra centrist, conservative-leaning Democratic vote.
Cuomo, talking from a marketing campaign cease in Higher Manhattan, stated that Adams isn’t a severe contender at this level within the race.
“I don’t believe that Mayor Adams can credibly ask New Yorkers to give him four more years,” Cuomo stated.
“I don’t think he has performed well, and I think that the series of corruption cases against the mayor are damning. And then on top of that was the deal he made with President Trump, where he saved his own hide by turning his back on New Yorkers. And to me, that is inexcusable.”
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro known as the corruption allegations — which concerned a public official employed in Adams’ administration till Thursday — “ancient history.”
Hamilton was charged with taking bribes along with Lewis-Martin from actual property developer Yechiel Landau in trade for utilizing his metropolis powers to fast-track building tasks Landau was pursuing in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
“I’m not going to sit silently by and accept a characterization of how these good public servants are serving this city, because we’re serving this city well and producing unprecedented results for New Yorkers,” Mastro stated.
A neighbor of Lewis-Martin in Brooklyn stated he doesn’t see her all that always, and that he wasn’t too phased by the costs in opposition to her.
“It’s nothing new. This has been going on for years. Everybody does it. It’s just who’s smart about it,” he stated.
Initially Revealed: August 22, 2025 at 12:01 PM EDT
