New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is weighing removing New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office after the latest fallout from the Justice Department’s push to end his corruption case.

Summary

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering removing NYC Mayor Eric Adams after four top deputies resigned amid controversy over his corruption case.

The Justice Department dropped Adams’ case, allegedly to secure his cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown, sparking backlash.

Seven federal prosecutors quit in protest, and Democratic leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for Adams’ resignation.

Adams, who denies wrongdoing, faces a tough reelection. Hochul stressed that removing a mayor is unprecedented but said the situation “cannot be ignored.”

  • underisk@lemmy.ml
    1·
    3 days ago

    If the governor is completely powerless in the face of Trump then there’s no reason to even look into this because the law doesn’t matter. If the only reason you wont do it is because you’re concerned about retaliation from Trump then that will happen regardless of legal justification. So either you accept the consequences of action and take it, or let Trump continue to plow ahead full steam. There is no world in which the person looking for a legal basis to avoid Trump’s wrath will ever take action on anything that might provoke him, so this entire exercise is already political theater.

    • robbinhood@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 days ago

      So what does the governor do? What does anyone do? What’s “the” action? The only avenue forward is hopefully legal measures because if governor breaks any serious laws she’s done and nothing happens.

      Yeah, it is all political theater because one party is much more powerful than the other.

      • underisk@lemmy.ml
        1·
        3 days ago

        She does politics. Go out there and demand his fucking resignation, declare of state of emergency and use those powers to remove him; make them stop you. Call for protests, call for strikes. Use your office and the reach that it grants you. The reason they have so much more power is because they understand that politics is now almost entirely theater and they are playing to the crowd while the democrats try to appeal to some imagined referee.

        • robbinhood@lemmy.world
          1·
          3 days ago

          I’m pretty sure once she crosses into “physical” action (not the right word but not sure what to use) she’s probably just getting removed herself. In this hypothetical case, maybe that encourages widespread resistance, but I think we’ll hear crickets in a few weeks.

          If she’s going to extreme measures, probably best to do so as a last resort. She might be able to pin Adams under state laws or other mechanisms to try and remove him. If nothing else, better to go into a showdown with Trump with stronger legal backing.