Four of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ deputies have resigned amid the fallout over the Justice Department’s move to dismiss corruption charges against Adams last week and his cooperation with the Trump administration on immigration matters.
Adams pledged to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to the city’s Rikers Island jail at the meeting with White House border czar Tom Homan last week. One day later, the Justice Department moved to dismiss criminal corruption charges against Adams, which acting deputy Attorney General Emil Bove had ordered days earlier, sparking allegations of a quid pro quo between Adams and the Trump administration. The mayor and his lawyers have denied any quid pro quo.
First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer; the deputy mayor for health and human services, Anne Williams-Isom; the deputy mayor for operations, Meera Joshi; and the deputy mayor for public safety, Chauncey Parker, all have told the mayor they are stepping down, Adams confirmed in a statement.
“I am disappointed to see them go, but given the current challenges, I understand their decision and wish them nothing but success in the future,” Adams said.
Torres-Springer, Williams-Isom and Joshi said in a joint statement that serving as deputy mayors was “the greatest honor and privilege of our lives,” and called the decision “difficult.
“Due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families, we have come to the difficult decision to step down from our roles,” they said.
Parker did not cite a reason for his resignation, saying only that serving as deputy mayor under Adams was “an honor of a lifetime.”
That resignations were pending was first reported by NBC New York after Politico reported the mayor and deputies had a meeting Friday night.
The deputy mayors’ announcements add to a wave of resignations following the Justice Department’s decision to dismiss the bribery and fraud charges against Adams.
At least seven DOJ officials have resigned over the department’s handling of Adams’ case, including Manhattan’s then-top federal prosecutor Danielle R. Sassoon, who refused to drop the charges against Adams after Bove ordered U.S. prosecutors to do so. Sassoon wrote in a memo to Attorney General Pam Bondi that “Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo” — which the mayor and his attorney, Alex Spiro, have denied. Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges and alleged they are politically motivated.
Following Adams’ meeting with Homan last week, the two men sat for an interview with “Fox & Friends” Friday, during which Trump’s border czar said he would be “up [Adams’] butt” if he did not follow through on his commitment. Homan said in a Sunday interview with CNN that allegations of quid pro quo were “ridiculous,” and his conversation with Adams had been merely “cop to cop,” not “border czar to mayor.”
Adams is up for re-election in November and had been facing an April trial on the charges against him.
