|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
“This administration no longer has the ability to effectively govern with Eric Adams as mayor,” the speaker of the New York City Council said Monday.
By: Andrew Bernard
Four of New York City’s eight deputy mayors resigned on Monday amid ongoing questions about whether Mayor Eric Adams struck a quid pro quo deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to drop corruption charges against him in exchange for enforcing stricter immigration policy in the five boroughs.
First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi and Deputy Mayor for Health Human Services Anne Williams-Isom sent a joint notice of resignation to their staff, The New York Times reported.
“Due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families, we have come to the difficult decision to step down from our roles,” they wrote.
Chauncey Parker, deputy mayor for public safety, said in a separate departure statement that serving in the role was the “honor of a lifetime” but gave no reason for leaving.
The resignations prompted Adrienne Adams (no relation to the mayor), speaker of the New York City Council, to call for the mayor to step down.
“It has become clear that Mayor Adams has lost the confidence and trust of his own staff, his colleagues in government and New Yorkers,” the speaker wrote. “He now must prioritize New York City and New Yorkers, step aside and resign.”
“This administration no longer has the ability to effectively govern with Eric Adams as mayor,” she added. “We have endured enough scandal, selfishness and embarrassment, all of which distract from the leadership that New Yorkers deserve.”
‘Put this difficult episode behind us’
Federal prosecutors indicted Adams in September, alleging that he had accepted bribes from the government of Turkey in exchange for official favors, including help securing the occupancy permit for the Turkish consulate in Manhattan.
On Feb. 10, Emil Bove, the acting U.S. deputy attorney general, instructed the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York to drop the case without consideration for the merits of the evidence against Adams.
Instead, Bove’s memo argued that the case against Adams was politicized, noting that he had been a critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policy and that the prosecution had “unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior administration.”
The memo prompted a wave of resignations within the Justice Department, including from Danielle Sassoon, a Republican and former clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia who was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York by President Donald Trump just three weeks earlier.
In her resignation letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sassoon said the Justice Department’s deal with Adams was an improper quid pro quo, and she could not justify dismissing the case before a judge.
“I attended a meeting on Jan. 31, 2025, with Mr. Bove, Adams’s counsel and members of my office,” Sassoon wrote. “Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. Mr. Bove admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting’s conclusion.”
To date, at least seven federal prosecutors have resigned over the issue. The judge in the case has yet to respond to the government’s request to dismiss the charges.
Tom Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, raised additional eyebrows on Friday as he seemed to confirm that the Trump administration and Adams had come to an arrangement during an interview with Fox News while he sat beside the mayor.
“If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on the couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is this agreement we came to?’” Homan said.
Later that day, Adams issued a statement denying that he had made a quid pro quo arrangement with the Justice Department.
“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,” he wrote. “We must put this difficult episode behind us so that trust can be restored.”
On Sunday, Homan said in an interview with CNN that his words had been taken out of context, calling the notion of a formal deal to drop corruption charges against Adams in exchange for immigration cooperation with the Trump administration “ridiculous.”
“I just think people are making a lot about nothing,” he said.
(JNS.org)
