Hochul meets with ‘key leaders’ as she considers removing Adams

Gov. Kathy Hochul released an extraordinary statement Monday night, offering the strongest indication yet that she is seriously considering using her power to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office. She said she would meet with “key leaders” on Tuesday to discuss “the path forward,” while acknowledging the authority she has over Adams’ fate. With those meetings underway, Hochul’s thinking on her next steps regarding the beleaguered mayor remained largely shadowed.

Hochul’s statement followed the surprise resignation of four deputy mayors on Monday, each of whom have reputations of being dedicated career civil servants who were elevated to right the ship during a period of turmoil in the Adams administration. Hochul said that she had spoken with First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, one of the four deputy mayors who announced they would leave the Adams administration. “She, along with Deputy Mayors Anne Williams-Isom, Meera Joshi and Chauncey Parker, have been strong partners with my Administration across dozens of key issues,” Hochul said in the statement. “If they feel unable to serve in City Hall at this time, that raises serious questions about the long-term future of this Mayoral administration.”

On Tuesday, Rev. Al Sharpton spoke with reporters after having a roughly 30-minute sit-down with Hochul. The longtime Adams ally, who has cooled on the mayor in recent days, said the governor told him that she would wait to see what the judge in Adams’ federal corruption case decides with regards to dismissing the case. A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday. “The governor said to me that she is going to see what the judge decides tomorrow, and keep deliberating with other leaders,” Sharpton said. “My feeling is that the faith of the city’s people has been shaken and there needs to be a resolve – but at the same time, we must protect the law and not establish a precedent that can come back to haunt us.”

Sharpton didn’t explicitly say whether he believes Hochul should remove Adams, nor did he offer additional insight on the kind of guidance the governor sought from him that prompted the meeting. Sharpton is part of an unofficial “permission structure” of prominent Black leaders – which also includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Greg Meeks, the Queens Democratic Party chair – that Hochul would seek the green light from before acting to remove Adams, the city’s second Black mayor.

Leaving her own meeting with the governor, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said little to reporters, only describing the meeting as “productive.” Speaker Adams would be one of the five members of a “committee on inability,” a charter-permitted body that could remove a mayor separately from the governor. Along with her, the committee would include Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, city Comptroller Brad Lander, Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant and a deputy mayor chosen by the mayor. Some politicos think that Hochul is pushing the committee to act rather than leaning on her own authority under state law to remove the mayor, which could save Hochul from having to make a final decision on the matter.

Following his own meeting with the governor, Lander spoke with reporters outside of Hochul’s midtown office. He echoed what Sharpton said about waiting for the outcome of tomorrow’s hearing concerning Adams’ case dismissal before taking any action. Lander also spoke about his call for Adams to produce a contingency plan by Friday and said he wanted to see whether the city’s corporation counsel makes good on a promise to sue over $80 million in clawed back FEMA funds. “To me, that's one test case of, does this administration have the interests of New Yorkers higher than the interests of the Trump administration?” he said.

Lander said that he spoke with Hochul about both the state and city options for removing the governor, and acknowledged the role he would play on the inability committee. “We acknowledged both of them are relatively untested processes with a lot of questions around them,” he said. Lander reiterated his call for Adams to resign, but has stopped short of saying that Hochul should remove him – even as the number of people calling for such a move has grown in recent days. He said that conversations with the governor and other members of the inability committee would continue in coming days.

Hochul spoke virtually with Richards, who has not yet directly called on Adams to resign or be removed from office, on Tuesday morning. Richards later released a statement about his conversation with the governor. “The powers of her office are mighty and come with immense responsibility, but I have full faith and confidence that she will continue to put the interests of our city and state first in the days ahead,” Richards said.

Hochul was also set to speak with Meeks, Jeffries and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters before talking with the governor, Jefferies echoed what Sharpton said about waiting for the outcome of Wednesday’s court hearing before weighing in on Adams’ potential removal. “It’s a deeply disturbing development,” Jeffries said of the deputy mayors’ resignations. “Mayor Adams has a responsibility to decisively demonstrate to the people of New York City that he has the capacity to continue to govern in the best interest of New Yorkers, as opposed to taking orders from the Trump administration.” He also said that he planned to speak to other members of the congressional delegation about Adams soon. So far, just two House Democrats from New York – Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Laura Gillen – have called on Hochul to remove Adams from office.