Mayor Eric Adams continued to defend his ongoing resistance to calls to resign amid his ongoing legal case and upheaval in his administration.

“Isn’t our democracy based on the people we elect? Why are we trying to disrupt and take the power away from the people of this city who elected me to be mayor?" he asked after an intense exchange with Fox 5 anchor Curt Menefee Wednesday morning.

What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Eric Adams pushed past the doubt and controversy surrounding his administration on Wednesday to hold media interviews and meet with everyday New Yorkers 

  • In one of those interviews, Adams was questioned over his comments about a lack of Black support 

  • The mayor's defense lawyer Alex Spiro filed a letter on Wednesday looking to get his case permanently dismissed citing prosecutorial misconduct 

On Tuesday night at a Black History Month event at Gracie Mansion, Adams made these comments, “All these negroes who are asking me to step down, God forgive them.” 

To which Menefee asked the mayor,  “Are you implying that if you’re Black, you have to support you?"

"No, not at all. I’m asking for all New Yorkers to support me," the mayor replied.

Adams didn’t provide any names of Black leaders he felt needed religious help, but insisted that only voters can decide his fate. 

“I have not been convicted of a crime. I moved the city forward. I've done the job New Yorkers have asked me to do. And so when you have those that are trying to usurp the power of the voting rights of the people, that is not democracy and God forgive them.” 

It wasn’t just Adams defending himself on Wednesday, his attorney Alex Spiro filed a letter with a Manhattan federal court asking that his federal case be permanently dismissed claiming prosecutorial misconduct. 

Spiro alleges in his letter that a series of leaks that included the resignation letters of the former head prosecutor in the case and the ex-interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has tainted the ability for Adams to get a fair trial. 

Both officials resigned in protest earlier this month but not before firing off letters to the Justice Department that allege the federal case against Adams was strong, a superseding indictment was imminent, and that they were confident in the charges.  

In the letter, Spiro states, “Simply put, the government’s conduct has destroyed whatever presumption of innocence Mayor Adams had left. The most appropriate recourse is to dismiss this case now and do so with prejudice.”

Adams has insisted he didn’t break the law. 

Trying to brush the controversy aside, Adams later in the day held a town hall meeting with older New Yorkers in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. 

“This is how you get on the ground and this is how you get past just all that noise. I enjoy being out here among people. And no one is going to outwork me.”