In a press briefing Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would not remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office.
Hochul said she would instead impose “guardrails” to increase oversight on Adams, steps that would likely require legislative approval.
Hochul’s announcement comes after the Department of Justice moved on Feb. 10 to drop the criminal charges against Adams.
Despite saying she was “deeply troubled” by the allegations against Adams, Hochul said removing him would violate the “will of the voters.”
“My strong belief is that the will of the voters and the supremacy and sanctity of democratic elections preclude me from any other action,” Hochul said. “I cannot deny the people of this great city the power to make this decision for themselves.”
“I understand the outrage and the sense of betrayal many New Yorkers feel,” she added. “But those who argue to ‘just go and remove him’ fail to appreciate that there is a process involved.”
Among Hochul’s proposed actions is the creation of a “special inspector general” within the Office of the State Inspector General, which she said would oversee the city’s Department of Investigations and ensure independent probes into government activity.
She also proposed granting the City comptroller, the public advocate and the City Council speaker independent authority to initiate legal action against the federal government.
“This ensures that if the Trump administration tries to exert control over New York, we have the power to fight back,” she said.
Hochul also pledged increased funding for the Office of the Deputy State Comptroller for city oversight, providing further scrutiny of city decisions related to federal policies.
“This is an opportunity to install safeguards that we need to have in place to give people confidence that there’s only one factor in every decision that’s made, and that’s what’s best for the people of the city,” she said
She framed the measures as a direct response to what she called the “Trump revenge tour,” accusing the president of attempting to punish New York following his felony convictions.
Adams previously pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that accused him of accepting years of luxury travel gifts in exchange for, among other things, allegedly persuading the New York City Fire Department to approve the opening of the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan despite the lingering safety concerns of inspectors.
Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has said the reason for dropping the charges is unrelated to Adams’ guilt or innocence but instead predicated on his ability to enforce federal immigration policy.
In a court appearance Wednesday with the federal judge who must approve the motion to dismiss the case, Bove denied moving to dismiss the case was part of a “quid pro quo” arrangement.
“The continuation of this prosecution is interfering with national security and immigration enforcement,” Bove said. “The mayor cannot communicate with federal authorities responsible for immigration enforcement, such as the U.S. Attorney’s office.”
In the days following Bove’s directive, U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon and six other federal prosecutors resigned in protest.
On Monday, four deputy mayors in Adams’ administration also resigned.
Hours after the deputy mayors announced their departure, Hochul said she would meet with key state leaders “with the goal of ensuring stability for the City of New York.”
“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,” Hochul said of the resignations.
Adams spent time with President Donald Trump shortly before the Justice Department moved to drop the case, including meeting with him in South Florida and attending his inauguration.
The mayor has the backing of Trump, who has claimed Adams was unjustly charged by federal prosecutors and has said he would “take a look” at a pardon for him. “I think that he was treated pretty unfairly,” Trump said of Adams during a press briefing in December.
Adams, who was elected in 2021, is the first sitting New York City mayor to ever face charges.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
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