Gov. to install guard rails around Mayor after deputy mayors resign and leaders call for his dismissal
after many local elected officials asked for him to resign.
Illustration by Lori Ann Doyon
The buzz about Mayor Eric Adams’s ethical priorities increased in volume six months ago when he was indicted for bribery, campaign finance, and conspiracy offenses by the Southern District of New York. The indictment was unsealed on September 26, but it was reported by news sources on September 25 that Adams would be indicted.
NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher suggested Adams resign a dozen days prior to the news of his indictment, “We deserve a new mayor. A mayor who cuts education, library budgets, and parks, who surrounds himself with criminals and alleged corruption up to the very top, does not deserve our trust.”
Shortly thereafter that same day, September 13, 2025, NYS Senator Julia Salazar posted this on Twitter, “We’ve seen enough. I am tired of a lack of accountability from executives at every level of government. I agree with my Assemblywoman [Emily Gallagher]. Several FBI investigations and too much harm done to the best city in the world. Time to step aside and allow for new leadership.”
NYC Council Member Lincoln Restler added his voice on the evening of September 25, “The Mayor must resign. No mayor can serve our city under criminal indictment. The only responsible course for New York City is for Mayor Eric Adams to step down. If he refuses, he must be removed from office as prescribed by the charter. New Yorkers deserve so much better.”
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced at the indictment’s unsealing, “As alleged, Mayor Adams abused his position as this city’s highest elected official, and before that as Brooklyn borough president, to take bribes and solicit illegal campaign contributions. By allegedly taking improper and illegal benefits from foreign nationals—including to allow a Manhattan skyscraper to open without a fire inspection—Adams put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents.” However after the election of President Trump, Williams tendered his resignation that would go into effect on the last minute of December 13, 2024.
Adams met with Trump in mid-January. Adams stated, “To be clear, we did not discuss my legal case, and those who suggest the mayor of the largest city in the nation shouldn’t meet with the incoming president to discuss our city’s priorities because of inaccurate speculation or because we’re from different parties clearly care more about politics than people.”
In early February, the Department of Justice serving under President Donald Trump petitioned the court and U.S. attorneys to drop the charges against Adams “without prejudice” — meaning these charges could be resurrected later. However, seven federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Washington resigned in protest of having to dismiss a case that some saw as valid or that attached the use of “without prejudice”, which potentially could be used as a form of coercion.
In his February 11 newsletter NYC Council Member Lincoln Restler wrote, “Mayor Adams has directed city agencies, including schools and shelters, to ignore our sanctuary city laws and allow ICE onto city property without a judicial warrant. This is an outrageous violation of New York City law and undermines our status as a sanctuary city. The Council, under the leadership of our speaker Adrienne Adams, is considering all legal options to stop this. I believe we should sue the mayor for failing to implement our sanctuary city laws and that we should use our subpoena power to understand exactly how he sold out our immigrant communities to save himself.”
Adams met with Tom Homan, Trump’s designated “border czar, on February 13. In a statement, Adams said, “Today, I met with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan and local federal law enforcement officials to discuss how we can work together to remove violent migrant gangs from our city. We are now working on implementing an executive order that will reestablish the ability for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island — as was the case for 20 years — but now, instead, ICE agents would specifically be focused on assisting the correctional intelligence bureau in their criminal investigations, in particular those focused on violent criminals and gangs.”
On Valentine’s Day, Homan and Adams appeared on Fox & Friends. Homan added a pointed insinuation that if Adams faltered from the agreement, there would be consequences.
Consequences came from the mayor’s office first when four of Adams’s deputy mayors submitted their resignations: 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.
A rally was held at City Hall on February 14 where NYS Senator Kristen Gonzalez said, “I want to be so incredibly clear: Mayor Adams, you must resign! If you won’t put the needs of New Yorkers ahead of your own needs, you need to be removed.”
Also on February 14, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso called for Adams’s removal saying, “Our city is in a tumultuous state: the disturbing recent news developments regarding Mayor Adams, and the ensuing resignations of his top lieutenants, have put city government in an untenable position. I have called on Mayor Adams to resign, or on Governor Hochul to remove him immediately if he refuses to do so.”
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said, “We have to protect our values. And if the mayor can’t send a message to us straightforward, that he’s going to stand with us to preserve those values, then he may have to step aside,” on February 18 in an interview with Spectrum News. If an Inability Committee is convened to oust Adams, Richards would be on this committee of five of which four would need to vote to remove Adams.
On February 19 Trump posted on Truth Social that he just killed congestion pricing and that he was king. At a press conference, Adams’s, who was a proponent of congestion pricing, refused to answer a question about Trump’s calling for this to end — saying it was off of the subject he was addressing.
Reynoso questioned Adams’s silence on this subject, “Eric Adams should be fighting for working people, not His Majesty Donald Trump. Whether it’s killing congestion pricing or letting ICE into our schools, Eric Adams has abandoned New Yorkers and is throwing them under the bus. This city belongs to ALL of us—it doesn’t belong to Eric alone, and it certainly doesn’t belong to Trump.”
Governor Kathy Hochul, who had delayed congestion pricing and lowered the amount of the original plan’s toll, stood firm and stated the toll scanners remain on.
At a February 19 rally at Albany’s State Capital where some called for Hochul to remove the mayor, NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher said, “As a public servant my job is to find the flaws and fix them and to put myself last. Our mayor is putting himself first. NYC did not elect Donald Trump, and we certainly did not elect the oligarchy that controls him. We need a mayor who will stand up to Trump, protect our immigrant neighbors, and fund the services all NYers depend on. If Mayor Adams won’t resign, Governor Hochul must remove him.”
to remove NYC Mayor Eric Adams at a rally in Albany on February 19.
Photo credit: office of NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher
On February 20, Governor Kathy Hochul said, “New York is facing a grave threat from Washington. The Trump administration has said it is already trying to use the legal jeopardy facing our mayor as leverage to squeeze and punish our city. To move this city forward, I’m undertaking the implementation of certain guardrails that I believe are a first start in reestablishing trust for New York City residents and ensure that all decisions out of City Hall are in the clear interests of the people of this city and not at the behest of the President.”
Hochul offered three immediate actions: legislation to create a “Special Inspector General for New York City Affairs” to protect the City’s investigations from any interference; the city comptroller, the public advocate and the New York City Council speaker will be given an independent authority to clarify the independent language to commence litigation against the federal government when necessary, and using outside counsel; expanded funding for expanding funding for the office of the deputy state comptroller for city oversight to provide an independent line of sight into potential decisions related to the federal government.
In an interview with ABC 7NY’s Eyewitness News on February 21, Adams responded to the governor establishing checks on him due to the uncertainty he will act in the best interest of New Yorkers. “What is the evidence of that? Look at our successes even after this ordeal was announced, we have not moved backward we’ve moved forward, decreased crime, record number of jobs, our subway system is safer.”
Judge Dale E. Ho, who is to rule as to whether the charges against Adams can be dropped, ruled on February 21 to postpone the hearing. He appointed Paul Clement to look into the legal standards for dismissing the case in addition he also wanted Clement to research a 1977 precedent where the government’s request to dismiss a case was rejected by the judge. Clement served as U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush from 2004–2008. Judge Ho set a deadline of March 7 for briefs and March 14 as a potential date to hear oral arguments.
On February 22, several hundred people marched from Washington Square Park to City Hall to ask the Governor to remove Adams as mayor. This rally was organized by New York Immigration Coalition. Future rallies are in the works.
The Greenline 