Sunday edition: " I’m not going to shoot from the hip here today"
Plus HERB(s) of the week! #114
We started last week with the news that the mayor’s four top deputy mayors would be stepping down in March, following the mayor’s deal with President Trump.
Mayor Eric Adams begged them to stay, sources told me. But they wouldn't, with Maria Torres-Springer, Anne Williams-Isom and Meera Joshi telling their colleagues and friends in a statement: “Serving as Deputy Mayors has been the greatest honor and privilege of our lives. Due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families, we have come to the difficult decision to step down from our roles.” (Chauncey Parker is also leaving and said in a separate statement said: “Serving as deputy mayor for public safety under Mayor Adams has been an honor of a lifetime.”)
The impending departure of these deputy mayors prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to convene top elected officials and other leaders at her Midtown office to figure out what she should do.
Her decision came days later. She wouldn’t yank the mayor from his position but she would instead put in some guardrails to check his power. (The mayor dislikes this.)
And it wasn’t the only bad news for Adams. Despite declaring last week that his federal trial was over, his federal trial is still not over.
The mayor took the stand this week and told Judge Dale Ho he knew what the Justice Department was calling for and he and his lawyers asked the charges be tossed out quickly.
“It’s not in anyone’s interest for this to drag on,” Ho said Wednesday. “But to exercise my discretion properly, I’m not going to shoot from the hip here today,” adding that he would make a decision in writing.
On Friday, Ho put, in writing, that he had appointed an outside counsel to help him figure out what to do. That counsel is Paul Clement, a former Solicitor General under President George W. Bush. It means this thing isn’t as over as Adams told New Yorkers it was, at least not for a while.
Also this week at THE CITY: the Department of Investigation released its report on what Tim Pearson did at a migrant shelter back in 2023, all things THE CITY had reported – he assaulted a male and female guard because he wouldn’t show his ID. The NYPD lied about what happened. He stayed in office for nearly a year, leaving only after his home got raided by feds.
Weihong Hu, an Adams fundraiser charged in a kickback scheme involving city contracts, “obtained a delay in the case in preparation for possible plea negotiations with prosecutors in the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, a court filing shows.” Her lawyer denied this and “declined to comment on the document filed in court, signed by both sides and approved by the judge, that specifically references ‘plea negotiations.’”
We wrote a guide to how to vet and understand all these campaign polls.
Upstate prison guards are charged in the beating death of Robert Brooks, and the National Guard had to help out at jails following a wildcat strike by state officers.
Other interesting stories
From quid pro quo to Cuomo, who is forging ahead [POLITICO]
NYC is suing the Trump admin for its clawback of $80 million [amNY]
The top 250 albums of this century, per these people [ROLLING STONE]
Cooking for others is also my love language and I loved this feature. [THE CUT]
Some highlights:
Has love ever changed the way you cook?
Love hasn’t changed the way I cook, but it is the reason why I cook.
How many dates before you cook for someone at home?
Cooking is my love language so it depends on how long it takes you to make me fall in love.
What’s your favorite thing to cook for someone you love?
I’d cook whatever they’d like, really. I’d learn their favorite dish and make it better than anyone else. In the end, their favorite dish becomes my favorite dish, because it’s all about making them happy.
Maybe they’re overwhelmed, maybe they’re confused, maybe they’re just not that good at their jobs. This rare Herb of the Week goes to the mayor’s “deputy mayor for communications” and his press secretary, who hate when reporters do our jobs. I guess when you work for a man who thinks reporters are liars, you have to behave in strange ways, too.
Thanks for reading!