Hochul noted that removing Adams would be “a serious step that should not be taken lightly.” The governor’s meeting came after four of Adams’s top aides and deputy mayors announced their resignation after many have alleged Adams and the Justice Department engaged in a quid pro quo to drop the federal charges he is facing. 

“I recognize the immense responsibility I hold as governor and the constitutional powers granted to this office,” Hochul said in a statement late Monday night. 

“That said, the alleged conduct at City Hall that has been reported over the past two weeks is troubling and cannot be ignored,” she added.

Should Hochul exercise this power, it would be the first time a New York governor removed a sitting mayor from office. In the statement, she said her “most urgent concern is the well-being of my 8.3 million constituents who live in New York City.”

Calls from city officials for Adams to resign have grown in recent weeks, including before the mayor’s senior aides resigned. 

First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom, Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi, and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Chauncey Parker all announced their departures on Monday.

“To stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers … we have come to the difficult decision to step down from our roles,” three of the officials said in a joint statement.

Regarding their departures, Hochul said, “If they feel unable to serve in City Hall at this time, that raises serious questions about the long-term future of this mayoral administration.”

Adams, however, has remained firm that he is not stepping down from his post. 

“The most sanctified among us are calling for me to step down,” Adams said during an appearance at a Baptist church over the weekend. “I’m not going to step down. I’m going to step up.”

The last line was something he said when he was indicted on five federal charges, including bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.

Last week, the Justice Department’s Emil Bove requested that the corruption case against the mayor be dropped, arguing it was hindering Adams’s ability to cooperate with the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration. 

The conservative prosecutor in charge of the case alleged Adams engaged in a quid pro quo and resigned over the matter. Multiple other prosecutors have resigned after Bove’s request. 

“I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached, in seeming collaboration with Adams’s counsel and without my direct input on the ultimate stated rationales for dismissal,” former acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon wrote. “Mr. Bove admonished me to be mindful of my obligation to zealously defend the interests of the United States and to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Administration.”