It could be a make-or-break weekend for Mayor Eric Adams as calls mount for him to resign and Gov. Kathy Hochul faces pressure to oust him for being beholden to President Trump after the Justice Department quashed his criminal case.
The pressure cooker situation comes in a week where Hizzoner has become increasingly isolated from once-loyal allies — with some turning against an embattled Adams and others wrestling with the choice to continue to back the second black leader of the Big Apple, sources said.
Hochul is said to have already started having behind-the-scenes conversations on booting Adams from City Hall, a source told The Post after the governor earlier confirmed she was consulting state officials about his future.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, too, was convening a meeting of top black elected officials in New York City and the state over the weekend to weigh their next move.
“Now he’s damaged goods so [black leaders are] not going to spend political capital on him, but they are still torn because he’s the second black mayor,” one Democratic pundit said.
“It’s a s–t show,” another said of the escalating saga.
The flurry started late Monday after Trump’s DOJ ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop the historic corruption charges against Adams — arguing, in part, that the case was politically motivated and that it impacted the mayor’s ability to lead the city and to help enact the president’s immigration agenda.
By Friday, those conversations had spilled out into public view — with even New York Attorney General Letitia James telling reporters at an unrelated press conference that there were “a number of discussions going on” about the mayor’s future.
“I’m going to refrain from any comment until such time as we complete those discussions and determine the fate of the mayor of the city of New York,” she said.
It came after the acting Manhattan US Attorney, Danielle Sassoon, resigned Thursday rather than obey the orders — accusing the DOJ and Adams in a scathing resignation letter of engaging in an illegal “quid pro quo” to help Trump’s immigration agenda in exchange for the case being dropped.
Hochul’s second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, led calls for Adams to step down late-Thursday as he slung accusations that the Big Apple leader was deep in Trump’s pocket.
“New York City deserves a Mayor accountable to the people, not beholden to the President. Mayor Adams should step down,” Delgado fired off in a post on X.
Delgado stopped short of calling on Hochul to exercise her obscure power to remove a sitting mayor, telling reporters Friday, “I think the first step is to call for resignation.”
“His guilt or innocence at this point is really not the question,” he said. The question in my mind is, is he in a position to serve the best interests of the city.”
City Hall was apparently taken aback by Delgado’s fiery take, according to an insider.
The state Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Michael Gianaris, on Friday said that Adams “must step down or be removed.”
“The last thing the people of New York want is for our city to turn into an annex of the Trump administration, yet that is exactly what is happening. Eric Adams is clearly compromised and can no longer be considered the legitimate leader of our city,” the Queens pol said.
The top Democrat in the House, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, argued Thursday that Adams was in Trump’s pocket, but stopped short of calling for him to step down.
“What is clear is that the White House made a decision to dismiss the criminal charges pending against Mayor Adams without prejudice,” he said. “Translation: It is the intention of the Trump administration to keep the current mayor on a short leash.”
Meanwhile, Sharpton — who said he was “concerned” about the DOJ latest development Monday — suggested Trump was holding Adams hostage in exchange for his help with the White House’s ongoing crackdown on illegal migrants.
“It certainly sounds like President Trump is holding the Mayor hostage,” Sharpton said in a statement.
“That is simply not fair to the City of New York. I have spoken to several elected officials and clergy, whom I convened early in the mayor’s term, to meet between now and the weekend to decide where we will go. Because we have clearly crossed the Rubicon.”
Another prominent religious leader, the Rev. Johnnie Green — who heads the Mobilizing Preachers and Communities, which represents 300 houses of worship in the region — piled on, saying Adams’ warm embrace of border czar Tom Homan as Trump pushes for ICE agents to enter churches goes too far.
“If you allow this Mayor Adams and you allow the agents of Trump’s unfair anti-Black Church as refuge policies we will do whatever we must to protect G-d’s flock.”
A growing list of public officials were also threatening to pull support for Adams amid his apparent embrace of the Trump agenda.
The African American Pastors delegation urged Hizzoner not to seek reelection, arguing he was putting Trump’s “draconian policies” over the needs of 8 million Big Apple residents.
“Eric Adams had every right to prove his innocence and many of us were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but that’s not what has happened,” the group said in a statement.
“Make no mistake: Eric Adams has handed the keys of the city to Donald Trump, and if Adams doesn’t do what Trump wants, the President can just as easily reverse himself and bring new charges against him,” they continued.
“Mayor Adams has been irreparably compromised and can no longer be trusted to speak up, speak out, and fight for the black and brown communities across this city who need him most.”
The Working Families Party also rallied outside City Hall Friday with state Sen. John Liu and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who would become acting mayor in place of Adams, demanding that he step down.
“When the mayor bends the knee to a tyrant what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” the crowd chanted.
It stands in stark contrast to when Adams was indicted on federal charges in September and many — including Sharpton — fiercely rallied behind him.
Adams, who has pleaded not guilty, denied that he’d made any kind of deal with the feds to drop his case.
“I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never,” he said in a statement Friday.
“I am solely beholden to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent and I will always put this city first. Now, we must put this difficult episode behind us so that trust can be restored, New York can move forward, and we can continue delivering for the people of this city.”
Hochul — the only official in the state who has the power to boot Adams from his position — refused to rule out removing him, admitting on MSNBC Thursday that allegations that the mayor’s legal team offered a quid pro quo in hopes of seeing his federal charges dropped were “extremely concerning and serious.”
Some, though, were skeptical Hochul would move to oust Adams without first having the support from black lawmakers and voters.
“She can’t remove a black mayor,” a Dem pundit told The Post, adding there would be “blowback” if she couldn’t make a management argument.
“If the black and Latin don’t want her to move, she can’t do it. She can’t get reelected without them. It’s not about good government, it’s about electability.”
The mayor, for his part, is trying to “stay focused” and is even hosting a re-election rally on Monday — the first public event for his campaign that yet to even launch a website, a source said
— Additional reporting by Aneeta Bhole and Carl Campanile
