Senior House Dem joins calls for Eric Adams to resign

Rep. Jerry Nadler called for New York City Mayor Eric Adams to resign after he was charged with accepting illegal foreign contributions and engaging in wire fraud and bribery.

"[T]here are questions of whether the Mayor can continue to effectively lead our City as Mayor at this time. My belief is that the Mayor has lost the ability to effectively lead the City of New York, and therefore, he must resign," Nadler wrote in a Friday social media post that said Adams was also entitled to his due process rights.

Nadler, the dean of the New York Democratic House delegation, joins Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the only two Democratic members of the delegation to unequivocally call for Adams to step down.

Notably, Nadler is close with former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who is exploring a run for mayor next year. Another New York Democrat, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, told Spectrum News that if she were in Adams' shoes, "I would have resigned today." But she added that the decision was up to him.

Other Democratic lawmakers have held back. Some purple-district Democratic candidates in New York called for Adams to resign, but members of Congress have mostly alluded to Adams' right to due process.

The two top congressional Democratic leaders, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, stopped short of calling for his resignation, though Schumer said the "charges are serious." And Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) called the news a "sad and solemn time for our city" but also didn't call for him to step down.