Mayor Adams slammed these calling for his resignation on Monday, saying eradicating him could be anti-democratic.
The mayor additionally added that he was by no means involved about being faraway from workplace by Gov. Hochul as a result of he knew he did “nothing wrong.”
Calls each for the mayor’s resignation and for Hochul’s use of her energy besides him from workplace intensified after Trump’s Division of Justice ordered prosecutors to drop Adams’ federal corruption case partially so he might higher perform the president’s immigration goals within the metropolis.
“The possibility of dismissing your charges, that’s a reason to take away the mayor of the largest city in America?” Adams stated at a media briefing on Monday. “If that’s the standard, we are all in trouble. If you can bypass the will of the people based on what people don’t like of an action, that’s not democracy.
“And it’s amazing that those who call themselves so democratic are leading the charge that a mayor who wasn’t convicted of anything … they are saying we need to remove him.”
Mayor Eric Adams speaks with the media at Metropolis Corridor on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, in Manhattan. (Barry Williams / New York Day by day Information)
Final week, Hochul stated she wouldn’t take away him — for now, at the least. As an alternative she introduced a slate of attainable laws that will put additional checks on the mayor’s energy.
Adams has come underneath intense criticism within the two weeks because the DOJ first ordered his case dismissed. Politicians and different leaders, some previously sympathetic to Adams, have accused him of getting into right into a corrupt settlement with the feds to help Trump in trade for leniency in his case.
The DOJ moved to dismiss the case “without prejudice,” which means the fees may very well be introduced again.
Within the newest spherical of escalating requires Adams to step down, elected leaders together with state Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams have referred to as on him to resign.
4 of the mayor’s high deputies, lots of whom had been appointed within the wake of a primary spherical of resignations following Adams’ indictment in September, despatched in their very own resignation letters final week after privately voicing considerations concerning the president’s affect on metropolis immigration coverage.
Adams has denied there’s any settlement in place and has repeatedly said that he is not going to resign.
Mayor Eric Adams speaks with the media at Metropolis Corridor on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, in Manhattan. (Barry Williams / New York Day by day Information)
Adams downplayed the requires his ouster by referencing Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who’s subsequent in line ought to the mayor step down.
“Those who are calling [for my resignation] are going to take my spot,” the mayor stated. “Come on. This becomes almost comical when you think about it.”
With Chris Sommerfeldt
Initially Revealed: February 24, 2025 at 6:09 PM EST
