A day after several of his closest associates were indicted on corruption charges, Mayor Eric Adams was defiant, insisting on Friday that he was not stepping down or quitting a bid for re-election.
Instead, in a nearly 30-minute news conference, Mr. Adams praised and extended well wishes to some of the people who were now facing corruption charges from Manhattan prosecutors. He called for two former city employees accused of accepting bribes to be given due process.
At the same time, the mayor distanced himself from the allegations and used the occasion to renew attacks on his opponents in the November general election. Mayor Adams scoffed at questions that he said City Hall staff members had recently been fielding from journalists asking if these latest legal woes would drive him from office.
“Hell no,” he said. “That cannot happen.”
Mr. Adams has not been charged in relation to the new indictments. Prosecutors have said he is not a target in the investigations focused on Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s former chief adviser.
Mr. Adams is waging a long-shot bid at re-election to a second term that continues to be overshadowed by the many allegations of corruption surrounding his administration. On Thursday, Manhattan prosecutors unveiled new bribery charges against Ms. Lewis-Martin, his closest political ally and formerly the second most powerful person at City Hall.
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