Mayor Eric Adams went to church Sunday in Queens amid mounting pressure to resign or be removed from office and made one thing clear to congregants: “I am going nowhere.”
Adams paid a visit to the Sunday service at Maranatha Baptist Church in Queens Village on Feb. 16 as calls for him to quit his post — or be removed from it by Gov. Kathy Hochul — increased steadily in the past week after the Trump Justice Department moved to dismiss his criminal indictment “without prejudice.”
But on Sunday, Hizzoner assured the faithful that he was “not going to step down, [but] I’m going to step up.” As he has done before, he leaned in on his Christian faith, saying that God had told him to “rise up” and fight back against the various trials he has faced since taking office in January 2022.
“God has fortified me, and no matter what you read in the headlines, no matter what you hear, they want to fight me; I’m going to fight for you,” Adams told the congregation Sunday. “They danced on my grave when I was indicted. … And God said, ‘Eric, rise up.’ They’re dancing on my grave now.”
Hizzoner told churchgoers that they “have a man of God at City Hall” and that he would “continuously live out the purpose that He has given you at every level.”
The church appearance marked the start of what might be the most pivotal week in Adams’ political life. Numerous high-ranking elected officials across the city have called for his resignation or removal from office out of concern over an alleged “quid pro quo” with the Trump administration.
Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general appointed by Trump, ordered U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Danielle Sassoon on Feb. 10 to drop the election fraud case against Mayor Adams “without prejudice” over alleged concerns about political retribution during the Biden administration and that the impending trial may interfere with Adams’ ability to assist the Trump administration in its crackdown on illegal immigration.
Two days later, on Feb. 12, Sassoon told U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi her unwillingness to comply with Bove’s order, adding that Adams’ attorneys offered what she saw as an unethical “quid pro quo”: An agreement to cooperate with the Trump regime on countering illegal immigration in exchange for dropping the case. The next day, Sassoon resigned, as did seven other federal prosecutors who refused to execute Bove’s order.
Late on Friday, a Justice Department official filed a motion to dismiss the Adams case “without prejudice” — meaning that federal prosecutors could resurrect it at any time. This left many city elected officials and Adams critics fearful that the mayor is being coerced into compliance with Trump on his immigration goals.
Amid these developments, Governor Hochul — who has the authority in the City Charter to suspend and/or remove a sitting mayor from office on charges — said Thursday she was mulling her next steps and not ruling out taking such action against Adams.
