Mayor Eric Adams and First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer.
Photograph by Ethan Stark-Miller
A handful of prime advisors to Mayor Eric Adams have expressed curiosity in parting methods with the embattled mayor over his alleged ties to President Trump, in keeping with a number of reviews printed Monday.
A number of sources stated Adams met with at the very least three deputy mayors on Sunday, who instructed their boss they wished to resign. The assembly, which was held on Zoom, targeted on convincing the officers to decelerate any last resolution or public disclosure of a departure plan, NBC New York reported.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokesperson for the mayor, stated the administration will make personnel bulletins “if and when” they’ve them.
Based on a report in Politico, the deputy mayors in query embrace Maria Torres-Springer, who took over as first deputy mayor following Sheena Wright’s departure in September. Wright was a part of the wave of Adams administration officers who left their posts amid ongoing federal investigations that began final yr.
The opposite two deputy mayors who reportedly expressed sturdy curiosity in leaving the administration are Anne Williams-Isom, who oversees and coordinates operations of metropolis hospitals, and Meera Joshi, who heads operations.
Within the meantime, a supply near Adams instructed NBC New York that the Sunday assembly was productive, and mass departures weren’t doubtless.
Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi.Ed Reed/Mayoral Images Workplace
Hochul and the Adams administration
The announcement comes as strain mounts on Gov. Kathy Hochul to make use of her govt energy as well Adams from workplace after the U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) instructed Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop his five-count corruption indictment on Feb. 10.
Based on the NBC New York report, the senior aides stated they’ve issues about their capacity to hitch the mayor’s staff in mild of the DOJ transfer, which quickly suspends attainable prison costs in opposition to Adams.
A number of federal prosecutors resigned final week in protest, together with U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, who alleged that Adams’ protection staff supplied a “quid pro quo” to the Justice Division of cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown in alternate for having the case dismissed.
Deputy Mayor for Well being and Human Companies Anne Williams-Isom.Credit score: Ed Reed/Mayoral Images Workplace
Different metropolis elected officers, in the meantime, have additionally expressed concern about the place Mayor Adams’ loyalties lie, with some going so far as to recommend Trump had politically compromised him.
“According to the Department of Justice’s recent directive, Mayor Adams adopted a strategy of selling out marginalized New Yorkers and our city’s values to avoid personal and legal accountability,” NYC public advocate Jumaane Williams stated in a latest assertion. “Well, it worked. I hope it was worth it.”
On Sunday, tons of of demonstrators marched in Decrease Manhattan, demanding that Hochul take away the mayor from workplace. Final week, in wake of the fallout from the Justice Division’s effort to dismiss the Adams case, Hochul instructed MSNBC that she was evaluating her choices on taking motion.
However Adams has continued to insist on his innocence and has repeatedly stated since Feb. 10 that he’s not leaving the job, telling congregants at a Queens church Sunday, “I am going nowhere.” That assertion got here after he explicitly denied a quid professional quo with Trump’s Justice Division in an announcement Friday.
“I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never,” Adams stated in a Feb. 14 assertion launched from Metropolis Corridor. “I am solely beholden to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent, and I will always put this city first.”
