Eric Adams arraignment live updates: NYC mayor arrives at court after being indicted on federal corruption charges

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seated inside Manhattan federal court awaiting his arraignment, which is set to begin any moment.

The New York Times’s Editorial Board has called for New York City Mayor Eric Adams to resign amid his indictment on federal charges.

“The charges against Mr. Adams are serious, including allegations that he misappropriated more than $10 million in public funds for his 2021 campaign,” the Editorial Board wrote.

“The mayor will have his day in court and is entitled to make a vigorous defense, but that does not mean he must force New York City to wait for him to prove his innocence under the law,” the Editorial Board continued. “To serve the city that elected him, Mr. Adams should immediately resign and turn City Hall over to someone untainted by criminal charges and endless investigations.”

The social media message, which was posted in September last year, reads: “He might be the ‘bad boy’ of entertainment, but Sean Combs will forever be a New York City kid who made good.

Eric Adams will be arraigned in Manhattan federal court today at 12 p.m. ET.

Catch up on everything you need to know about the charges he’s facing ahead of the hearing from The Independent’s Justin Rohrlich:

Governor Kathy Hochul has the legal power to remove Eric Adams as mayor of New York City, The New York Times reports.

However, she did not address those powers in a statement on Thursday night about the indictment.

“I expect the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well-served by their leaders,” Hochul said, according to the Times. “We must give New Yorkers confidence that there is steady, responsible leadership at every level of government.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has arrived at Manhattan federal court ahead of his arraignment, scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.

Donald Trump appeared to suggest that Eric Adams had been indicted after criticizing the Biden administration’s policy on “illegal migrants.”

Speaking at a press conference at Trump Tower on Thursday, the former president said that although he did not know Adams well, he had been “fairly generous to me in his statements.”

He then claimed he had predicted the mayor’s arrest and subsequent indictment over a year previously.

“I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city and the federal government should pay us and we shouldn’t have to take them, and I said ‘you know what, he’ll be indicted within the year’ and I was exactly right,” he said.

Adams is no stranger to controversy, having been the subject of multiple gaffes and meme-worthy moments since he took office two years ago.

Mike Bedigan charts some of the wild and weird moments of his mayorship.

Read the full report below.

Prosecutors say Adams, who denies the charges, has been taking bribes and foreign campaign contributions since at least 2014, when he was elected Brooklyn Borough president.

Since then, the indictment alleges, Adams has continued to seek out accept, “improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”

All told, he took more than $100,000 in luxury “travel benefits” and solicited campaign contributions from straw donors, allowing him to rake in at least $10 million in public funds for his campaiang, prosecutors alleged.

Catch up on everything you need to know about the case in our report.