Religious leaders from across the city embraced Mayor Eric Adams on the steps of City Hall Tuesday during a prayerful demonstration on the eve of his next court appearance on a historic federal corruption indictment.
Scores of clergy members supported the embattled mayor, who has seen numerous ongoing probes tear his administration asunder and lead to numerous resignations at City Hall. They implored New Yorkers not to rush to judge the mayor on the indictment but rather focus more on his record of service.
“It will be unjust to deny due process to the individual who deemed it necessary to appoint the first female Police Commissioner. It will be unjust to not allow due process to the man who appointed the first Latino Police Commissioner of the City of New York,” said Patrick Gordon, president of New York Police Department Guardians Association to a gathered crowd. “The man who appointed the first female to run a New York City Fire Department.”
Gordon referred to former Police Commissioner Edward Caban, who resigned last month amid an ongoing federal probe in which his phones were seized; and former Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, who stepped down in August.
In addition to touting Adams’ achievements as mayor, such as dropping crime, speakers also pointed to his tenure in the NYPD as a cop as a demonstration of the mayor’s life-long commitment to public service.
Both Mayor Adams and his closest adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, emerged from City Hall during the rally, earning the crowd’s support and backslaps of support. Many attendees held signs reading, “Eric Adams we still believe,” and “We heart Eric Adams.”
Hizzoner himself welcomed the gestures.
“What I want through your prayer is to continue to lift me up and this administration and to move forward,” Adams said. “Your presence here today is stating, Eric, stay the course. Those are the tweets I get, those are emails I receive.”
The religious rally occurred the night before the mayor’s scheduled appearance in federal court on Wednesday morning.
“We are going to send him to court with a halo around his head,” one attendee said.
Some put their hands on his shoulders, while others lifted their arms skyward, as they prayed to a higher power on the City Hall steps, asking for guidance and to see the mayor through this crisis.
Adams faces corruption, bribery, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and wire fraud. According to the indictment, Adams accepted gifts and foreign campaign donations from Turkey government officials in exchange for building approvals for their Midtown Manhattan consulate.
