Calls for NYC Mayor Eric Adams to resign are growing louder

New York City Mayor Eric Adams faced a wave of calls to resign Wednesday evening following reports that he is expected to face federal charges as soon as Thursday.

It is not clear what Adams will be charged with, and spokespeople for the FBI and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

Adams quickly pushed back and denied any wrongdoing.

“If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit," the mayor said in a statement.

But his defense did little to quell calls for his resignation from leading New York politicians and political groups.

“The mayor needs to resign for the good of the city. His legal fight is not our fight,” said Scott Stringer, the former New York City comptroller and 2021 mayoral candidate, in a statement. “While the mayor focuses on proving his innocence, the rest of us need to focus on the business of the city — building affordable housing, educating our kids, and keeping this city safe.”

Stringer launched an exploratory committee in January for next year's mayoral election.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie, who are both officially running for mayor next year, also called on Adams to resign.

"The hardworking people of New York City deserve a city government and leadership they can trust," Lander said on X. "Right now, they don’t have it."

The influential progressive state group, the New York Working Families Party, also quickly weighed in on the matter saying in a statement that “Adams can no longer govern."

"He has lost the trust of the everyday New Yorkers he was elected to serve," the group said.

Earlier Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called for Adams to resign.

Ocasio-Cortez said on X that the multiple federal investigations into the Adams' administration is rendering his government ineffective.

"I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City," Ocasio-Cortez said. "The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening gov function. Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration. For the good of the city, he should resign."

She is the sole member of Congress to call on Adams to resign.

Adams responded in a statement earlier on Wednesday that Ocasio-Cortez was being hypocritical and that he will not step down.

“For anyone who self-righteously claims people charged with serious crimes should not be in jail to now say that the second Black mayor of New York should resign because of rumors and innuendo — without even a single charge being filed — is the height of hypocrisy," Adams said. "I am leading this city to protect it from exactly that kind of phony politics. The people of this city elected me to fight for them, and I will stay and fight no matter what.”

Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned this month amid a federal investigation into the department’s nightclub enforcement, according to sources familiar with the matter. Caban, the city's first Latino commissioner, took over the department in July 2023.

“The news around recent developments has created a distraction for our department, and I am unwilling to let my attention be on anything other than our important work, or the safety of the men and women of the NYPD,” Caban said in an email to members of the NYPD, which was obtained by NBC News.

In a separate investigation, the FBI searched the homes of at least two senior officials in Adams' administration.

Also this month,federal prosecutors indicted two former high-ranking city fire department chiefs on charges of taking bribes to expedite fire safety reviews.