Run Eric Adams Out Of Office
The mayor of New York can't be hostage to a man who wants revenge against the city.
If you live in New York (city or state) and feel helpless as the rule of law unravels, here’s something you can do: force Mayor Eric Adams out of office. Or try. Really, really try.
It would be a small blow for the rule of law, a huge bullet dodged for New York, and—even if the effort did not ultimately succeed—a straightforward way to draw national public attention to Donald Trump’s corruption. It would also put languid Democratic leaders on notice: we’re tired of fucking around.
Adams should have resigned last year upon his federal bribery indictment, which detailed his corrupt relationship with the Turkish government. When he didn’t, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) would have been on solid ground invoking her unique authority to remove him. But at least back then, Adams would have had a reasonable due-process rejoinder—he’d pleaded not guilty to the allegations, and maintained his innocence. How would Hochul defend her decision in hindsight if she removed him unilaterally and he went on to beat the rap?
But now, his continued service is untenable.
On Monday, Donald Trump’s loyalists at the U.S. Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors in New York to dismiss the charges against Adams, and to do so “without prejudice.” That technical legal jargon is meant to convey that Trump’s DOJ doesn’t view case against him as fatally undermined by abuse or incompetence. In effect, though, it means DOJ reserves the right to refile its charges in the future.
Meantime, DOJ expects Adams's full cooperation with Trump administration immigration policy. He’s thus auditioning for his permanent freedom, and all the lines he recites must please Trump.
The Trump side of this arrangement is unspeakably corrupt. If we weren’t numb, we’d see it as a Watergate-level subversion of Justice Department independence. (Imagine Joe Biden had ordered federal prosecutors to let Robert Menendez off the hook, in exchange for Menendez’s better cooperation with Biden’s foreign policy objectives, and the corrupt nature of the deal becomes clear).
Unfortunately for those of us who still care about Trump accountability, little can be done at the moment about his half of the quid pro quo. Democratic leaders in Washington can and should make a ruckus about it; they could insist on hearings and be more rigorous about slowing things down in the Senate; their silence is conspicuous and demoralizing.
But congressional Republicans won’t conduct hearings, let alone impeachment proceedings, and future prosecutors will find their hands tied, thanks to the majority opinion in Trump v. United States. That 2024 decision gave presidents presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for all official acts, and forbids prosecutors from introducing most evidence obtained from executive-branch officials. So for instance: Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove signed the deferred-prosecution order outlining the extortionate arrangement between the administration and Adams. If four years from now Bove admits he did it on Trump’s orders—that’s inadmissible in court. Thanks John Roberts!
Adams’s situation is different, and he isn’t so lucky. His willingness to accept this leniency (or, more likely, his active solicitation of it) leaves him unacceptably compromised. If Trump had simply pardoned him, Adams could claim no improper influence. Pardons can’t be rescinded.
But Trump conspicuously didn’t pardon Adams, even as he’s spree-pardoned other corrupt public officials. He instead deferred final judgment on Adams’s fate, with a plain eye toward disciplining the mayor, testing his loyalty. If Trump decides he’s unsatisfied with Adams’s cooperation with federal immigration policy, Adams goes back in the dock. But even if Adams complies, Trump could decide he’s unsatisfied with Adams’s subservience more broadly. What’s to stop Trump now from asking Adams for other policy concessions—ones that might enhance Trump’s wealth, or punish his enemies within the city? And with his freedom on the line, why wouldn’t Adams oblige?
Trump is suddenly not just president, but the de facto mayor of New York City. Adams is suddenly a figurehead who no longer serves the interests of New Yorkers, so much as the whims of a vindictive president. Trump accountability might have to wait, but his aims here can be thwarted. New Yorkers would simply have to blow up the deal by running Adams out of office.
CORTEZ THE PILLAR
I can think of three compatible ways to go about this.