Gov. Kathy Hochul holds high-level meetings as she weighs removing Mayor Eric Adams from office
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Governor Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office, met Tuesday with key leaders as she considers the mayor's future.
It comes as Adams and prosecutors with Trump's Justice Department plan to appear before a judge in New York City on Wednesday to explain why they believe federal bribery charges should be dropped.
The meetings are happening after the resignation of four deputy mayors in one day, prompting Hochul to call the high-stakes virtual and in-person meetings.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has already called on Mayor Adams to resign. So has Comptroller Brad Lander. Both were among many of the city's most prominent leaders meeting with Hochul on Tuesday.
Rev. Al Sharpton says Hochul has a fateful decision to make.
"My feeling is that the faith of the city, of the people, has been shaken and there needs to be a resolve," Sharpton said. "But at the same time, we must protect the law and not establish a precedent that could come back to haunt us."
The governor has the power to remove a mayor, but it's never been done before. But the Adams Administration is now in turmoil after the resignations of his deputy mayor for operations, his deputy mayor for health and human services, his deputy mayor for public safety and his first deputy mayor, his top lieutenant.
At issue is the mayor's agreement to use his executive authority to circumvent the City Charter and partner with immigration agents to identify and arrest criminal migrants.
Critics say Adams can't stand up to President Donald Trump because he is now beholden to him. That's an allegation the mayor has angrily denied.
On Monday, he seemingly compared his accusers to Nazis.
"If you tell a lie long enough-loud enough-people would tend to believe it's true. And that's what you're seeing right there, right now, a modern day Mein Kampf," Adams said.
In his response, Adams referred to one of his most vocal critics, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a person the mayor says is reason enough not to step down.
Williams, who as public advocate would step in as mayor if Adams were to resign or be removed, insisted on Tuesday that he is not considering a run for mayor, and is instead focused on being reelected public advocate, but said he would be ready to step in if necessary, as per the City Charter.
"We are in a moment of crisis. Clearly, the mayor is engulfed in his own, and it remains difficult to watch," Williams said in a statement. "The job for the rest of us in elected office is to prevent his personal troubles from dragging our city into the crisis along with him."
Adams will return to court Wednesday, where a judge will decide whether to allow prosecutors to drop the mayor's bribery case.
Until then, Gov. Hochul will continue to seek advice from people like Lander and the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr.
"I had a clear-eyed and frank discussion with Governor Hochul," Richards said. "I have full faith and confidence that she will continue to put the interests of our city and state first."
Lander is among those who will run against Adams in the June Democratic primary for mayor.
"When the deputy mayors resigned yesterday, I thought, OK, and then also when he gave that gross rant, instead of a thoughtful answer about what to do, I was like, OK, we are starting to go in the direction of where I think he's unable to discharge the powers and duties," Lander said.
Under the City Charter, Lander could convene a panel on mayor inability, which states if four of the five panel members vote that Adams is unable to govern, a vote by the entire City Council must take place in 21 days -- requiring a two-thirds majority to oust the mayor.
Lander said he and Hochul spoke about staying in communication for Wednesday's court case and beyond.
"There is what will come in a contingency plan is what happens on Friday," Lander said. "So there's a set of things we talked about watching and that, you know, we will continue to stay in dialog."
Adams' mayoralty spiraled into a political crisis after the Justice Department ordered prosecutors on Jan. 10 to drop the bribery and other charges against him. Adams has pleaded not guilty.
Several career prosecutors and supervisors of public-corruption cases resigned rather than carry out what they saw as an improper, politically based dismissal of the charges.
One of those who resigned was the interim U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who wrote that Adams' lawyers offered his cooperation on immigration policy in exchange for getting the case dismissed. The Adams attorneys have denied any quid-pro-quo offer, while saying that they told prosecutors, when asked, that the case was impeding the mayor's immigration enforcement efforts.
Ultimately, two senior Justice Department lawyers filed the requisite paperwork Friday to ask a judge to put a formal end to the case. That request spurred the hearing set for Wednesday.
Adams has insisted he was looking out for the city's interests, not his own, in cultivating a relationship with the president.
(The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.)
WATCH | ABC News' Aaron Katersky joins Eyewitness News to discuss the political turmoil:
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