Governor Hochul met with top New York City leaders on Tuesday as she decides whether to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office — but don’t expect a decision until after the mayor’s court hearing Wednesday.

Ms. Hochul summoned New York leaders — including the Reverend Al Sharpton, City Comptroller Brad Lander, City Council President Adrienne Adams, and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards — to one-on-one meetings in her Manhattan office. She issued a statement late Monday announcing the meetings, saying she is considering using her constitutional power to remove the mayor but that it would be “a serious step that should not be taken lightly.”

Mr. Sharpton — historically an ally of Mr. Adams though he’s been critical recently of Mr. Adams’ cozy relationship with Mr. Trump — arrived at Ms. Hochul’s office shortly before noon. A handful of protesters stood outside, calling for Mr. Adams’ resignation. 

“This is just a show. This is all a circus for the benefit of the usual gang of politicians and the members of the political industrial complex who can somehow believe that they can get rid of the people’s will by dumping a mayor that was legally elected,” a Democratic strategist, Hank Sheinkopf, tells The New York Sun. “It’s all about stopping Andrew Cuomo. It’s not about anything else.”

Mr. Cuomo has yet to enter the mayor’s race, but all recent polls show him winning the primary in June by large margins. Democrats are reportedly recruiting Ms. Adams, who has no relation to the mayor, to challenge Messrs. Cuomo and Adams and the field of progressive candidates who are already in the race.

As Ms. Hochul was preparing for her meetings Tuesday morning, Judge Dale Ho, who is presiding over the Adams corruption, campaign finance, and bribery case, called a Wednesday afternoon hearing — his first move as he weighs whether to comply with the Trump administration order to drop the charges against Mr. Adams “without prejudice.” 

Mr. Adams denies the charges against him and allegations that he entered into a quid pro quo with the Trump administration to cooperate with its deportation orders and other directives in exchange for the five federal charges against him being dropped. Four of his deputy mayors resigned Monday. Calls from Democratic leaders for him to resign are growing louder.

Democratic mayoral candidates, Brad Lander and Scott Stringer, are both calling for Ms. Hochul to remove Mr. Adams from office. A slew of other top Democratic officials, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congressman Ritchie Torres, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins have called on the mayor to step aside. Mr. Adams is refusing.

After Mr. Sharpton’s meeting and a photo op with the governor, he told reporters that Ms. Hochul will not make a decision until after she hears from Judge Ho on Wednesday.

“The faith of the city people has been shaken and there needs to be a resolve,” Mr. Sharpton said. “The governor said to me that she is going to see what the judge decides tomorrow and keep deliberating with other leaders.”

Ms. Adams tried to sneak past reporters by using a side door after her meeting with Ms. Hochul. Her only comment when approached was that it was a “productive meeting.”

“They’re trying to get Adrienne Adams in place to make sure that Andrew Cuomo can’t be mayor,” Mr. Sheinkopf says. “Letitia James would rather have Quasimodo rather than Andrew Cuomo.”

“Tish James wants to stop Andrew, period. She did it once before. She’d like to finish the job,” Mr. Sheinkopf says, referring to Ms. James’ role in forcing Mr. Cuomo to resign from the governorship in 2021 amid a slew of sexual misconduct accusations.

Mr. Cuomo has not formally entered the mayor’s race, but he is taking steps to prepare for a run. He scored the endorsement of former black New York State Comptroller Carl McCall over the weekend. He’s made the rounds of black churches for months. He is conspicuously silent on whether Mr. Adams should resign.  

Mr. Cuomo is pitching himself as a moderate with managerial expertise. Every other Democratic candidate is running to the left of Mr. Adams, even as polls show New York voters’ biggest concerns are crime and public safety. A recent Siena College poll also shows nearly 70 percent of Democrats statewide favor deporting criminal illegal immigrants. 

Mr. Cuomo is unlikely to formally jump in the race until close to the April 3 deadline to submit petitions. The longer he waits, the less time his critics have to attack him on his Covid record regarding nursing home deaths and the sexual misconduct allegations that forced him to resign from the governorship.

Mr. Cuomo got his own dose of bad news on Tuesday. New York’s highest court rejected Mr. Cuomo’s suit to dismantle a state ethics commission that is investigating the $5 million dollar book deal he received while in office during Covid.

“This split ruling is a complete reversal from the unanimous opinion of six judges sitting on two levels of our court system. We intend to file for reconsideration -as is our right,” Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, tells the Sun in a statement. “But it is disturbing that any judge of NY’s highest court would countenance flagrant violations of the constitution when it conflicts with what is most convenient to the political class.”

Mr. Azzopardi would not comment on Mr. Adams or Ms. Hochul.

Ms. Hochul could face backlash from black and city voters when she runs for reelection next year if she tries to remove Mr. Adams, the city’s second black mayor. The court hearing Wednesday could change the calculation, but there’s not much upside for her from removing Mr. Adams from office. She previously said that removing him “does not feel like something that is very democratic.”

Mr. Lander — the leading progressive Democratic mayoral candidate, according to polls — celebrated the Cuomo court loss on X. “Bad news for @andrewcuomo, good news for New Yorkers,” Mr. Lander posted. Ms. James also celebrated, saying it would ensure the state has a “strong, independent ethics watchdog.”

Mr. Lander sent an open letter to Mr. Adams on Monday asking for a “detailed contingency plan” by Friday on how he plans to govern after the resignation of his deputy mayors or Mr. Lander will call an “Inability Committee” to weigh removing the mayor from office. This “inability committee,” made up of five city officials, including Mr. Lander and Ms. Adams, could determine whether the mayor is fit to serve.

Critics on X pounced about potential conflicts of interest. This untested “inability committee” provision was added to the City Charter in the late 1980s, after Mayor Ed Koch, had a stroke. A removal would also require a two-thirds vote from the City Council.

“It’s disappointing but not surprising that the ‘our democracy’ crowd is considering invalidating the decision voters made over three years ago,” a Republican consultant and president of the New York Young Republican Club, Gavin Wax, tells the Sun. “The timing of it, with mere months before the voters weigh in again, tells you all you need to know. This has always been about illegal immigration.” 

Mr. Sheinkopf is cynical as well. “This is the Democrats eating their own for breakfast,” he says. “They will create more Republicans in New York City than they’ve ever had.”