Mayor Eric Adams and First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer.
Picture by Ethan Stark-Miller
A handful of high 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 studies revealed Monday.
A number of sources mentioned Adams met with at the very least three deputy mayors on Sunday, who informed their boss they needed to resign. The assembly, which was held on Zoom, targeted on convincing the officers to decelerate any last choice or public disclosure of a departure plan, NBC New York reported.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokesperson for the mayor, mentioned the administration will make personnel bulletins “if and when” they’ve them.
In keeping with a report in Politico, the deputy mayors in query embody 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 robust 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 New York Occasions article on Monday reported that each one three, along with Deputy Mayor Chauncey Parker, are “expected to resign” in simply days.
On the similar time, a supply near Adams informed NBC New York that the Sunday assembly was productive, and mass departures weren’t seemingly.
Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi.Ed Reed/Mayoral Pictures Workplace
Hochul and the Adams administration
The announcement comes as stress mounts on Gov. Kathy Hochul to make use of her government energy besides 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.
In keeping with the NBC New York report, the senior aides mentioned they’ve issues about their capacity to hitch the mayor’s group in mild of the DOJ transfer, which quickly suspends attainable felony costs towards 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 group 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 Pictures 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 mentioned 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 informed MSNBC that she was evaluating her choices on taking motion.
However Adams has continued to insist on his innocence and has repeatedly mentioned 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 mentioned 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.”
