Mayor Eric Adams faces mounting calls to resign amid federal investigations

NEW YORK – New York Mayor Eric Adams is facing increasing calls to resign.

“The mayor needs to resign,” said City Councilor Tiffany Caban.

Councilwoman Caban is the first City Council member to call on Adams to resign following the multiple federal investigations into Adams and his team.

The mayor has not been charged in any of those federal investigations, but Caban said there are patterns to his mismanagement of the city government.

“It’s not just that more than 15 of his associates are under investigation,” Caban said. “It’s also the culmination of his other leadership failures.”

State Sen. Jessica Ramos and state Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher also called on the mayor to resign this weekend, saying it was time to rebuild trust in city government.

“Eric Adams is failing in his duties,” said Assemblywoman Gallagher. “His administration is rife with serious scandals, and that is a sign of mismanagement.”

There are believed to be at least four ongoing federal investigations into the mayor and his top aides.

That includes the investigation that prompted former NYPD Commissioner Edward Cabana to resign last week. Federal investigators are reportedly looking into whether Cabana’s twin brother sold police protection to nightlife businesses. Several NYPD executives and Adams’ top assistant, Tim Pearson, were also caught up in the investigation and had to turn over their phones to the FBI.

Additionally, federal prosecutors are also reportedly investigating the three Banks brothers: Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, Schools Chancellor David Banks and their brother, former MTA official Terence Banks.

Investigators are reportedly looking into whether David Banks and Phil Banks helped steer city contracts to their brother Terence Banks’ consulting firm and whether Terence Banks acted as an unregistered lobbyist.

Phones belonging to Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, David Banks’ fiancée, were also seized as part of the investigation, although it is unclear whether she is also being targeted.

Separately, federal investigators are also reportedly looking into whether Adams and his campaign received illegal donations from the federal government. Adams’ phones were seized by the FBI as part of that investigation, and his top campaign fundraiser had his home searched.

And finally, in February, federal agents searched the home of another of Adams’ top aides, Winnie Greco. Investigators are reportedly looking for emails and records from Adams’s trips to China while he was Brooklyn borough president.

In a surprise move over the weekend, Adams’ top legal adviser, Lisa Zornberg, abruptly resigned, writing in a very brief letter to the mayor: “I have concluded that I can no longer effectively serve in my role.”

According to multiple sources, Zornberg resigned from his position because he was disappointed that the mayor did not fire some of his aides who were caught up in federal investigations.

“She was a great advisor, she advised me on a lot of things,” Adams said Monday of Zornberg. “I’m not going to get into a private conversation.”

If the mayor were to resign — which he says he will not do — public advocate Jumaane Williams would become interim mayor.

Williams says that’s not something he’s focused on, but he called the growing investigation surrounding Adams “exhausting.”

“I don’t think any of us in our lives, or our parents’ lives, have seen anything like this,” Williams said. “It’s shocking, it’s mind-blowing. And I don’t think we’re getting an adequate response to how hard this is.”

News reports last week revealed that Adams’ assistant, Ray Martin, allegedly ordered bar owners to pay the former police commissioner’s twin brother to get out of trouble with the NYPD.

After that report came out, Martin was fired, and today Adams says they have reported the matter to the Detective Inspectorate, which is looking into the matter.

When Fox 5 News reached out to DOI for confirmation, they responded with “no comment.”