Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) does “not see how” New York City Eric Adams (D) “can continue governing” the city, following a string of federal probes into Adams’s administration, she said on Wednesday.
Federal agents have recently conducted multiple raids on members of the mayor’s administration, likely all related to the four pending investigations into Adams’s administration. The investigations revolve around whether Adams conspired with foreign governments to receive illegal campaign donations in 2021.
New York police commissioner, Edward Caban, and Adams’s chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, and the city’s schools chancellor, David C. Banks, have all since resigned. FBI officials have seized the phones of and have conducted searches at the homes of other high-ranking government officials, including first deputy mayor Sheena Wright, public-safety deputy mayor Philip Banks III, and senior mayoral adviser Timothy Pearson.
“The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening government function,” Ocasio-Cortez, who did not endorse Adams in his 2021 primary, said. “Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration.”
“For the good of the city,” she added, “he should resign.”
Adams rejects the classification that his office is bleeding personnel.
“We are constantly bringing in new people,” Adams said on Tuesday. “So let’s not give the image that all of a sudden, there are people saying, ‘Hey, I don’t want to be in city government.'”
Another “Squad” member, Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), has spoken in support of Adams, saying that the mayor is “working as hard as he can to be the best mayor possible.”
“We need Eric Adams to be successful as mayor because he is the mayor at this moment in time,” he said.
Adams has denied wrongdoing in the various campaign and fundraising allegations against him and has maintained that he and his office have cooperated fully with federal authorities. New York City Councilwoman Tiffany Caban and New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera have also pressed Adams to resign over similar concerns to those of Ocasio-Cortez.