New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday she won't — for the time being — remove embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office, but will instead impose limits on his power.
Hochul in recent weeks has been pressured to exercise her power to remove Adams from City Hall after his indictment last year on corruption allegations.
"After careful consideration, I have determined that I will not commence removal proceedings at this time," she told reporters at the governor's New York City office.
"My strong belief is that the will of the voters and the supremacy and sanctity of democratic elections preclude me from any other action. I cannot deny the people of this great city the power to make this decision for themselves."
Calls to remove Adams have intensified after the Trump administration moved to drop all charges against the mayor and told him he needs to help federal authorities carry out immigration raids. That raised allegations from New York Democrats of a "quid pro quo" arrangement, making Adams allegedly beholden to Trump.
Adams has insisted on his innocence and refused to resign. The Trump administration has also denied a quid pro quo arrangement.
He said in a statement Thursday that he was elected by the people of New York City and his administration has worked to “uphold their values.”
“While there is no legal basis for limiting New Yorkers’ power by limiting the authority of my office, I have told the governor, as we have done in the past, that I am willing to work with her to ensure faith in our government is strong,” Adams said. “look forward to continuing those conversations.”
The governor announced plans to limit mayoral authority:
- To install a "special inspector general" to oversee the mayor.
- Making arrangements for the city comptroller, the public advocate and the New York City Council speaker to have an independent authority to take possible legal action against the federal government.
- And she's expanding operations of the state comptroller "for city oversight" that would closely evaluate "decisions related to the federal government," Hochul said.
"This is an opportunity to install safeguards that we need to have in place to give people confidence that there’s only one factor in every decision that’s made, and that’s what’s best for the people of the city," Hochul said.
The governor compared the current Albany/City Hall conflict to the 1970s disagreement between Gov. Hugh Carey and Mayor Abe Beame on how to best handle financial woes which had brought down New York City.
"There’s a crisis of confidence," she said. "These are steps to try and move past that, to put safeguards in place."
Federal prosecutors charged Adams in September, accusing him of taking more than $100,000 in benefits and illegal campaign donations in exchange for favors to Turkish business and government interests.
Adams has refused to back down and Hochul has kept largely mum about a previously, little-known element of the city charter that allows a New York governor to remove the mayor.
"The mayor may be removed from office by the governor upon charges and after service upon him of a copy of the charges and an opportunity to be heard in his defense," according to the charter.
Hochul met with reporters on Wednesday to explain her plans to defend congestion pricing, a toll imposed on most drivers coming into Manhattan during non-overnight hours. And during that Q&A and Grand Central Terminal, Hochul refused to answer several questions lobbed to her about Adams.
Danielle R. Sassoon, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York resigned that post last week, saying Adams was explicitly looking for a quid pro quo reward from federal prosecutors if those corruption chargers were to be dropped.
“Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Sassoon wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Adams insists there's no quid pro quo being asked for by himself or offered from the government.
A federal judge on Wednesday said he's still studying court filings on this matter.
