Gov. Kathy Hochul will not immediately remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office, but will instead push for increased oversight of City Hall as he faces intense scrutiny over his relationship with the Trump administration.
Hochul will announce Thursday that she has, for now, decided against removing Adams from office, according to two sources familiar with the governor's plan but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose its details.
The decision came after she solicited opinions this week from a roster of New York political figures, holding individual meetings at her Manhattan office, following questions over whether Adams could independently govern after the Justice Department moved to drop his corruption case so he could help with the Republican president's immigration agenda.
Hochul — a centrist Democrat, as is Adams — has faced questions about the mayor's future since his indictment in September on bribery and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty and said at a court hearing Wednesday that he hadn’t committed a crime.
Hochul has been reluctant to oust him, arguing that doing so would be undemocratic, while thrusting the city into a complex, court-like removal process that has never been used before against a sitting mayor.
But after four of Adams’ top deputies quit Monday, the governor said she had “serious questions about the long-term future of this mayoral administration.”
