A Resolute Eric Adams Insists He Can Keep New York City Running

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams defiantly insisted Wednesday that New York City is running smoothly — even with four of his deputies ready to resign, several prosecutors stepping down over orders to drop his case and his fate in the hands of a federal judge.

His public display of resistance came even as his career could be cut short by his fellow elected Democrats.

The mayor maintained his pattern of declining to criticize President Donald Trump, who posted “long live the king” in reference to himself after moving to kill New York’s congestion pricing toll scheme.

“I think that’s a question to ask the president, what he meant by it,” Adams told New York news station News12. “The other day, I did a comparison of how Mein Kampf is a big lie, and all of a sudden people are saying I’m trying to compare myself to those who are Holocaust survivors.”

The mayor repeated he’s not in the business of “trying to cancel people every time they talk.”

Adams has said he seeks to work with Trump on parts of the Republican president’s deportation agenda in the country’s largest “sanctuary city.”

The two are also inextricably linked through Adams’ federal criminal case. As Adams deepened his bond with the president, Trump’s Department of Justice directed Manhattan prosecutors to dismiss Adams’ corruption charges, and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has argued — including in court Wednesday — that Adams is needed in office for immigration enforcement.

The mayor finds himself leaning on Trump for his political future as Gov. Kathy Hochul and several New York Democratic leaders discuss whether he should be removed from office. Some have floated City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as a stabilizing force to succeed him.

The mayor argued Wednesday the city is stable with him at the helm.

He also downplayed the pending departures of four of his deputy mayors, including some in charge of overseeing city operations. And he insisted there is no quid pro quo in place as former interim U.S. Attorney for Manhattan Danielle Sassoon charged in her resignation letter. She and several others stepped down in protest of Bove’s directive that they dismiss Adams’ charges “without prejudice.”

“I had to swear under oath a question that has been, I think, inappropriately put out there that, was there some form of quid pro quo? Was I forced for my acknowledgment? Was I forced in anything? And under oath I clearly stated I was not,” Adams told NY1 on Wednesday. “And that was very important, because what is put in the universe is not always facts.”

He called his deputies’ departures “heartbreaking” but noted his predecessors faced resignations of their own. (None have been of this scope in recent history, though.)

“When this first came to light, you heard the same usual suspects that are calling out, you heard them talk about Eric should step down. No, I stepped up,” he said, citing job growth, lower crime rates and his “City of Yes” housing initiative. “I was clear then, and I’m clear now. You cannot be judged only by what you have done, but what you have overcome. And I’m going to continue to overcome.”