By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she would not use her power to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams as he tried to fight a criminal indictment charging him with corruption, but proposed new oversight mechanisms over the mayor’s office in an announcement on Thursday.

Adams, a Democrat, has faced months of mounting calls for his resignation or removal, growing louder in recent days as he pledged to help U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, with deporting immigrants while Trump’s Justice Department sought to have the federal indictment against Adams dismissed.

The state’s constitution gives the governor the power to remove a mayor, and to suspend him or her for 30 days once charges have been brought. The power has not been invoked in nearly a century, and the process has never been carried through to completion.

Hochul said she was “deeply troubled” by the accusations against Adams, but said on Thursday that she would not commence removal proceedings for now.

“My strong belief is that the will of the voters and the supremacy and sanctity of democratic elections preclude me from any action,” she said at a press conference. “I cannot deny the people of this great city the power to make this decision for themselves.”

Instead, she proposed that New York create a new state inspector general overseeing New York City and empowering other city elected officials to sue the federal government if the mayor declines to do so.

Hochul’s plans would need votes of approval from lawmakers in the state legislature and the city council, some of whom may oppose giving the state greater control over its most important city.

Adams, a 64-year-old former police captain, was indicted last September on five corruption charges, accusing him of arranging illegal foreign donations to his election campaigns and luxury travel from Turkish nationals seeking to influence him. He has pleaded not guilty and has said he did nothing wrong and so will not resign.

He has publicly courted Trump, who returned to the White House in January and has the power to pardon Adams. More than half a dozen senior prosecutors at the Department of Justice have resigned in protest over the effort by Emil Bove, Trump’s new deputy attorney general, to have the indictment against Adams dismissed, which is now being considered by a U.S. district judge in Manhattan.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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