Pressure is growing on New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office after an alleged “quid pro quo” with Donald Trump’s administration to drop charges against him in exchange for political allegiance.
The Department of Justice formally asked a court Friday to dismiss corruption charges against the mayor amid accusations that Adams agreed to support the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda, which he denies.
Federal prosecutors working on the case against Adams fiercely opposed the request.
Hochul has not ruled out taking action following the Justice Department’s intervention.
In an interview with MSNBC Thursday, Hochul said the allegations were “extremely concerning and serious” but added she would not make any “knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction.”
“This just happened. I need some time to process this and figure out the right approach,” said Hochul, adding that she is “consulting with other leaders in government at this time.”
While Hochul mulls her authority to remove Adams under provisions in the state constitution, New York Democrats aren’t demanding his immediate resignation.
Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said it was “probably time that he move aside,” the New York Post reported.
“We really are spending more time on the mayor in his plight. It’s distracting and we have a job to do. We’re in the middle of a budget,” Stewart-Cousins told the newspaper at the Democrats’ caucus in Albany.
"I would call for the mayor to resign, but that would mean him putting the interests of the city first,” New York City Public Advocate Jumaane William said in a statement this week. “At this point it is beyond clear that he can't or doesn't care enough to, and that should anger every New Yorker."
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado also called on Adams to resign.
“New York City deserves a Mayor accountable to the people, not beholden to the President. Mayor Adams should step down,” Delgado said in a post on X Thursday.
New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Adams was putting the city and its people “at risk.”
“As long as Trump wields this leverage over Adams, the city is endangered. We cannot be governed under coercion,” she said Thursday. “If Adams won’t resign, he must be removed.”
Chaos erupted this week when the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan alleged that a lawyer for Adams suggested the charges against him shout be dropped in exchange for his support for the administration’s agenda.
Now-former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon,resigned in protest.
Sassoon’s stunning revelation was included in her eight-page letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as she pushed back against the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the mayor’s five-count grand jury indictment.
She wrote that the Justice Department’s demand was not only inconsistent with principles of fairness and impartiality, but also, during a meeting with Justice Department officials and Adams’ lawyer in January, she witnessed “what amounted to a quid pro quo“ with Trump administration attorneys.
“Adams’ attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote to Bondi in aletter obtained by TheNew York Times.
The mayor denied Sassoon’s claim on Fox News Friday morning during a joint appearance with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan.
“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.
On Friday night, deputy assistant attorney general Emil Bove — Trump’s criminal defense attorney who has now emerged as his enforcer at the Justice Department — allegedly demanded a group of prosecutors decided whether any of them would sign off on his demand to dismiss the charges against Adams, or they would all be fired.
Bove ultimately signed the order, along with two lawyers from the Just Department's Public Integrity Section and Criminal Division in Washington filed paperwork seeking to end the case.
His motion does not detail the evidence against Adams, but claims that “dismissal is necessary because of appearances of impropriety and risks of interference with the 2025 elections in New York City.”
A judge still has to sign off on the request.
Alex Woodward contributed reporting
