Even before his weekly news conference began Tuesday morning, it was clear that the administration of Mayor Eric Adams had entered a less blustery era.
Gone was City Hall’s aptly named Blue Room, whose blue walls normally set the backdrop for the mayor’s media availabilities. Gone was the long blue table from which the mayor would usually hold court before the press, flanked by as many as 10 of his senior aides.
And gone was the walkout music that traditionally accompanied the mayor’s entry into an event — Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind,” with the layover of the mayor’s voice intoning, “There are only two types of Americans: those who live in New York and those who wish they could.”
In their place was a far starker stage.
The mayor stood alone, beneath City Hall’s majestic rotunda, flanked only by a cantilevered marble staircase and poster boards on easels proclaiming his achievements: “Protecting Our Water.” “Keeping NYC the Safest City in America.” “Investing in Our Kids.”
Seats for reporters were few. Cameras abounded. And the mayor bristled with confidence.
New York City, he said, was getting a front-row seat to the mayor’s resiliency.
His typical retinue of deputy mayors were absent because they were focused on running the city, he said, leaving unmentioned, at least temporarily, the parade of top administration officials who had recently resigned.
Most of the questions would be about the investigations enveloping his administration, and Mr. Adams was alone to answer them, within the bounds established by his lawyers.
Mr. Adams and his team are now facing four federal investigations that have touched much of his senior leadership. On Sept. 4, federal agents seized the phones of his police commissioner, his first deputy mayor, his schools chancellor, his deputy mayor for public safety and a senior adviser.
Last week, federal officials unsealed a five-count corruption indictment against the mayor. He was arraigned in federal court on Friday, the same day both federal and state investigators met his chief adviser at the airport upon her return from Japan. Her phones were taken and her house was searched.
The last three weeks have seen the resignations of the schools chancellor, the police commissioner and the senior adviser, as well as Mr. Adams’s chief counsel and health commissioner.
Amid the chaos, Mr. Adams has sought to project an image of control.
He addressed reports that Iran would imminently launch missiles at Israel, an issue of significant concern to New York, a city that houses the largest population of Jews outside of Israel. The High Holy Days are about to begin, and the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel draws closer.
“We are taking every necessary step to ensure the safety of everyone in this city,” Mr. Adams said.
He announced that he would nominate Muriel Goode-Trufant, the acting corporation counsel, to take the job permanently, following Mr. Adams’s hard-fought, but failed bid to convince the City Council to confirm Randy Mastro, a former deputy to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, instead.
Mr. Adams said that he had elevated Allison Stoddart, the chief of staff in the Office of the Chief Counsel, to chief counsel, following the resignation of his former counsel, who was upset about his unwillingness to clean house.
Then the reporters got their turn, and they focused, as expected, almost entirely on the investigations enveloping the mayor’s orbit, and the turbulence that has ensued.
The level of turnover in his administration, he said, is normal: “There’s always movement, in and out, in and out of administrations. And those of us who have been around, we know that.”
He declared his administration “successful” and said repeatedly, “I did nothing wrong.”
He deflected growing calls for him to resign, asserting that “there is confidence in our administration.”
He evinced no concern about his legacy, which will now inevitably include his status as the first sitting mayor in modern New York City history to face criminal indictment.
The real story of his eventful tenure, he suggested, will come from the book he says he is writing.
“I’m not worried about my legacy,” Mr. Adams said. “My legacy is going to be strong.”
He thanked the New Yorkers who had contributed to his legal defense fund, and responded positively to news that former President Donald J. Trump had come to his defense.
“I welcome support from every American,” Mr. Adams said.
At one point, the mayor’s chief spokesman passed him a note that missiles had been launched at Israel.
“I am praying for the people of Israel,” Mr. Adams said.
Then, at the insistence of reporters, he returned to the topic at hand.
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