Mayor Eric Adams stated he’s not stepping down, following the newest fees towards his former prime aides. Friday, Aug. 22, 2025.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
On the heels of the newest corruption allegations towards his former prime aides, Mayor Eric Adams on Friday stated “hell no” to the notion of him “stepping down,” whereas declining to explicitly condemn their actions.
Hizzoner, throughout an Aug. 22 Metropolis Corridor press convention, made clear to New Yorkers that he’s not resigning or suspending his long-shot reelection marketing campaign within the wake of 4 newly unveiled indictments towards his former chief adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, introduced by Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg.
“When you were calling around to my staff saying ‘is the announcement today that Eric is stepping down?’ Hell no,” Adams stated — a Democrat working for reelection as an impartial. “I’m never going to quit on the city of New York, we worked too hard to get here.”
Mayor Eric Adams.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Whereas Adams himself was not implicated within the newest fees, his administration has seen a torrent of corruption scandals over the previous two years. Chief amongst them is his personal federal bribery case, which was dismissed on the behest of President Trump earlier this 12 months.
Adams stated that he should proceed to steer town as a result of none of his common election challengers — Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, impartial former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa — are geared up to deal with the job.
“I’m not going to leave this city to a beret-wearing carnival display. I’m not going to leave it to a person who put dangerous laws on the books…I’m not going to leave this city to someone that does not understand what it is to run a city,” Adams stated — referring to Sliwa’s look, the legal guidelines Cuomo handed as governor, and Mamdani’s relative lack of expertise respectively.
The mayor has been coming in third or fourth place in most public polls of the race, typically buying and selling locations with Sliwa, and coming properly behind Mamdani and Cuomo.
Adams’ feedback observe Lewis-Martin getting hit with state bribery and conspiracy fees for allegedly accepting $75,000 price of money, residence repairs, and catered meals in addition to a talking function on a TV present. In return, she allegedly used her place because the second strongest official in metropolis authorities to carry out official favors for a number of people, together with fast-tracking approvals for housing developments and killing a avenue security redesign of Brooklyn’s McGuinness Boulevard.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a former senior aide to Mayor Eric Adams, is escorted by detectives in handcuffs at New York County Legal Courtroom on Aug. 21, 2025.
The slew of latest fees adopted a separate corruption indictment towards Lewis-Martin late final 12 months, that got here shortly after she resigned from her publish at Metropolis Corridor.
Jesse Hamilton, who resigned yesterday from his publish as deputy commissioner for actual property companies on the Division of Citywide Administrative Companies, was additionally charged by Bragg’s workplace on Thursday. Additionally charged had been Lewis-Martin’s son — Glenn Martin II — and Gina and Tony Argento, siblings who personal the north Brooklyn firm Broadway Phases.
Nonetheless, Adams appeared unwilling to sentence any of the actions the Manhattan DA alleged came about inside his administration when requested a number of occasions by reporters.
“The message I’m sending is something called due process, something we all believe in,” Adams stated. “If you condemn someone without due process, it’s a slap in the face of what our constitution stands for.”
Adams even sung Lewis-Martin’s praises when pressed on whether or not he was conscious of her alleged misconduct.
“There were no complaints on her work ethic,” Adams stated. “In fact, to the contrary, people knew that she knew how to make sure that the people in this city got the services they need.”
Democratic mayoral nominee and Meeting Member Zohran Mamdani.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Earlier Friday, Mamdani blasted Adams throughout a Union Sq. press convention. He charged that the alleged graft in Adams’ administration is consultant of the acute affordability disaster that he efficiently campaigned on combating.
“The same tens of thousands of dollars that are alleged to have passed hands from top donors to the Adams administration to the top aide to Eric Adams, are the same kinds of money that keep New Yorkers from living a life of dignity in their own lives,” Mamdani instructed reporters. “And too often, we understand corruption only through the lens of what politicians have to gain, as opposed to the lens of what the public has to lose.”
