Top NY Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins calls on Mayor Eric Adams to resign
A top Albany official is calling on Mayor Adams to resign, The Post has learned.
'It's probably time that he move aside,' State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) exclusively told The Post Saturday while attending a political conference in the state Capitol.
The ongoing drama surrounding charges of corruption against the Mayor and allegations of a quid pro quo arrangement with the Trump administration's Department of Justice are an unnecessary distraction, said Stewart-Cousins.
'We really are spending more time on the mayor in his plight. It's distracting and we have a job to do. We're in the middle of a budget,' Stewart-Cousins added.
The Westchester Democrat also suggested she would back Gov. Hochul if the governor chose to remove Adams from office.
'I would certainly support the governor looking at her options seriously,' Stewart-Cousins said.
City Hall insisted Adams is staying put.
'The mayor has been clear, he's not stepping down, he's stepping up,' Adams spokesperson Fabien Levy told The Post.
'As he said yesterday, we must put this difficult episode behind us so that trust can be restored, New York can move forward, and we can continue delivering for the people of this city,' Levy added.
City hall didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stewart-Cousins is one of the most senior Democrats so far who has called for Adams to quit.
She joins Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who sent shockwaves around Albany and the Big Apple Thursday when he publicly broke from Hochul and called for Adams to step down.
'I think the first step is to call for resignation,' Delgado told reporters in the state capitol Friday.
'His guilt or innocence at this point is really not the question. The question in my mind is, is he in a position to serve the best interests of the city,' the former Hudson Valley congressman added.
The growing calls come a day after prosecutors with the Department of Justice officially moved to dismiss its case.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), the top Dem in the lower chamber of the legislature, told reporters Saturday he has serious concerns about DOJ's handling of the case, but stopped short of calling for Adams' resignation.
'This is very concerning for me. I don't like the idea that the city could possibly be held hostage according to what we've read. It's a serious situation,' Heastie said.
'The Justice Department should be apolitical and shouldn't be transactional and I think that's the larger concern that I have,' the speaker added.
The dismissal only came after seven prosecutors resigned in protest as they were ordered by Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to move for the dismissal.
At least 30 other city, state and federal Democratic elected officials in New York have called on Adams to resign.
Adams, 64, had pleaded not guilty to charges that he fast-tracked the opening of the Turkish Consulate in Manhattan in exchange for $123,000 worth of bribes.
He was also charged with soliciting illegal donations from Turks who poured tens of thousands in illegal funds into his 2021 mayoral campaign.
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