CITYWIDE – POLITICIANS AND PROGRESSIVE advocates harshly criticized Monday’s decision by the federal Justice Department to direct the Manhattan U.S. Attorney to drop the bribery case against Mayor Eric Adams, with several questioning whether quid pro quo had occurred behind the scenes, as the mayor and President Trump have grown closer in recent months.
The New York Civil Liberties Union wrote in a statement, “There are urgent, unanswered questions about the reported recent courtship between Adams and Trump […] By dismissing the charges without prejudice, the Trump administration retains the option to refile charges and keeps open a channel to exert political pressure […] New Yorkers must wonder whether the Mayor’s personal interests and the City’s are now in indefinite conflict.”
Brooklyn state Senator Zellnor Myrie, endorsed on Monday for mayor by U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, announced a press conference near City Hall for 10 a.m. on Tuesday, and called on the U.S. Attorney to defy the order: “We already know that Eric Adams has sacrificed the safety and sanctity of our schools and public hospitals to curry favor with this fascist Administration. How many more of our rights and freedoms did the Mayor give up to save his own skin?”
Former comptroller Scott Stringer, currently second in polls for the Democratic mayoral primary this spring, wrote in a press statement, “The only New Yorker breathing a sigh of relief tonight is Eric Adams. The rest of us are facing unaffordable housing and childcare costs and rising crime and disorder. But thankfully, New Yorkers—not the president—get to decide who is mayor next year.”
Candidate and hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson wrote, “Eric Adams is corrupt and an embarrassment to New York City. He should be sleeping in a jail cell, not hiding in a taxpayer-funded mansion on the Upper East Side. He sold out New York to kiss Trump’s ass so he could avoid the consequences of his actions.”
Current comptroller Brad Lander said, “Instead of standing up for New Yorkers, Adams is standing up for precisely one person,” while state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani pushed for an investigation into “any kind of deal with the Trump administration that involves breaking city law,” reports NY1; both are candidates in the upcoming primary.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who would become acting mayor should Adams leave office, wrote, “He said he wanted his day in court, but instead sidestepped that system using the privilege and power that so few people have access to. This is obscene and obvious – the White House doesn’t want to lose their deputy in New York City.”
Governor Kathy Hochul, who has the authority to remove the mayor from office and who is currently negotiating with Trump over the fate of the city’s congestion pricing program, has not yet offered a statement on the situation.
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