Adams Still Feeling Pressure Even After Hochul Says She Won’t Force Him Out

Turmoil continued to swirl around Mayor Eric Adams even after Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would not take the unprecedented step of removing him from office.

“My strong belief is that the will of the voters, and the sanctity and integrity of the next Democratic elections, preclude me from any other action,” Hochul had said in announcing her decision Feb. 20.

But she proposed new oversight of the mayor by the state to “make sure our leaders are operating only with the city’s best interests in mind, unimpeded by any legal agreements with the Trump Justice Department.”

Among the changes she proposed, which still must be passed into law by the state legislature and the city council, is the establishment of “deputy inspector general for New York City affairs” within the state inspector general’s office which could allow the city Department of Investigation to probe potential wrongdoing. Hochul also wants to amend the City Charter to prevent the mayor from firing the DOI commissioner without permission from the state inspector general.

It would also authorize the comptroller, the public advocate and City Council speaker — the three officials beside the mayor who hold citywide elected office—to file lawsuits against the federal government, without permission from the mayor and his corporation counsel.

In a sign that the matter is likely to continue to roil the political landscape between now and the June 24 primary, six people, who objected to Hochul’s decision, were given summonses for blocking the street during a protest at 633 Third Ave. outside the governor’s Manhattan office near 40th Street.

Protestors also marched from Washington Square Park on Saturday, Feb. 22, demanding that Hochul remove Adams.

Manhattan Federal District Court Judge Dale Ho said he was cancelling the corruption trial of Adams that had been scheduled to start in April before the Trump Justice Department ordered New York prosecutors to drop the case. The DOJ said it based the order not on its legal merits but because they claimed it was interfering with Adams’ ability to help the Trump administration in its migrant crackdown,

That prompted seven prosecutors, including Danielle Sassoon, the acting US Attorney in the Southern District in New York, to resign in protest.

But perhaps nothing was stranger than the appearance of Adams on Fox News on Friday, Feb. 14, with the Trump administrations border czar Tom Homan, where the mayor pledged to work with the administration to remove illegal migrants and violent criminals.

“If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on the couch—I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?’ ” Homan said in the appearance, on the Fox & Friends show. Then Homan called for Gov. Hochul to be removed from office for upholding the city’s sanctuary-city regulations. “Governor Hochul, she needs to be removed,” Homan said. “The one who needs to be removed is her. She supports sanctuary policies.”

Sassoon claimed Adams had engaged in an illegal “quid pro quo” to help in the immigration crackdown in exchange for dropping the five-count corruption case against him. She resigned Feb. 13 rather than follow the orders from the Trump DOJ in Washington, sent by the acting deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, to drop the case.

Six other top prosecutors also resigned rather than sign an order, telling Judge Ho they were withdrawing from the case. Finally, Bove had to make the trek to New York himself on Wednesday, Feb. 19, to ask Judge Ho to allow prosecutors to withdraw the case.

Initially observers thought Judge Ho would move quickly to render his ruling. But after hearing from Adams’ attorneys and the DOJ, Judge Ho on Friday, Feb. 21, ruled that while he was officially cancelling the start of any potential trial in April, he opted to not rubber-stamp the motion to withdraw the case as Bove, the No. 2 man in the Trump Justice Department, requested.

Instead he appointed Paul Clement, a former solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration, to make an amicus argument against the motion by Adams’ attorneys and the DOJ to drop the case.

The Adams administration was already in turmoil earlier in the week when four deputy mayors resigned on Feb. 17, including Adams’ closest adviser, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, who was promoted only after the previous first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright, resigned in October. Joining Torres-Springer in the stampede for the exits was Anne Williams-Isom, deputy mayor for health and human services; Meera Joshi, deputy mayor for operations; and Chauncey Parker, deputy mayor for public safety, who only took the post when the previous deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks, resigned.

All four notified Adams on Feb. 17 that they would step down from their posts, shortly after Adams and Honan appeared on Fox News. At least one of the empty seats will be filled soon. Kaz Daughtry, a controversial deputy commissioner in the NYPD who has feuded with members of the press over police coverage, will replace Chauncey Parker, the New York Times reported.

Despite the Hochul move on Feb. 20 not to push for Adams’ ouster, calls for his resignation had been growing all week. City Council speaker Adrienne Adams and Comptroller Brad Lindor, who is also in the running in the Democratic primary for mayor, were among the latest calling for him to resign.

“He now must prioritize New York City and New Yorkers, step aside and resign,” said a statement from Adams (who is not related to Mayor Adams) on Feb. 17, citing the resignation of the four top deputies. “This administration no longer has the ability to effectively govern with Eric Adams as mayor.”

Mayor Adams is clearly feeling the pressure. Adams, who had continually insisted, “I did nothing wrong,” spoke at a press conference on Feb. 18 at Bellevue Hospital, where a cop had been rushed after he was shot in the shoulder in downtown Manhattan. But he refused to answer any “off topic” questions, and left after fielding only three questions about the shooting. As the press corps attempted to follow to get in some questions about his embattled administration, a phalanx of officers temporarily blocked reporters from following.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who was at the Bellevue press conference with Adams intervened, and said softly, “Let them through.”

By then Adams had a good 20-yard lead on the pack of journalists trailing him. But when Adams got to the lobby, a few people sitting on a bench asked him if they could take his picture. Adams obliged and that gave the press horde the opportunity to catch up to him.

”Mayor Adams, why won’t you answer questions from the press?,” shouted one reporter in the horde.

Adams stopped and snarled, “because you’re liars.”

He then proceeded out the back of the hospital and into a waiting SUV.

Meanwhile, the four deputy mayors who resigned, said they will stay on board to ensure a “smooth transition” in an administration that appears increasingly chaotic and under siege.