New York City Mayor Eric Adams compared growing calls for his resignation over Donald Trump’s Justice Department bid to drop his corruption indictment to “a modern day ‘Mein Kampf.’”
Adams made the comment in a speech to a group of about 50 supporters at the Rehoboth Cathedral on Monday.
“I was listening to some of Dr. King’s teachings, and he talked about the book ‘Mein Kampf,’” Adams said. “He said if you repeat a lie long enough, loud enough people will believe it is true, and that’s what you’re seeing right now. This is a modern day ‘Mein Kampf.’”
Critics swiftly denounced Adams’ comments calling them offensive.
“To invoke Hitler here is shande,” City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is Jewish and running against Adams in June’s primary told New York Daily News. “As the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in New York City government, I condemn the mayor’s language in the strongest terms.”
Ex-Comptroller Scott Stringer, who is also Jewish and challenging Adams, called the comments “unacceptable,” “offensive,” and “nonsensical.”
“The mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population should not be comparing the situation that his own unethical conduct put him in to anything to do with Hitler or the Holocaust,” Stringer said.
Last week, Trump’s DOJ ordered prosecutors in New York to drop their criminal case against Adams. More than half a dozen senior Justice Department officials, including Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, have chosen to resign instead of complying with the order.
In Sassoon’s letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, she alleged that during a meeting with Justice Department officials last month, Adams’ attorneys “urged what amounted to a quid pro quo,” allegedly offering the mayor’s cooperation with Trump administration priorities in exchange for the dismissal of the charges.
Adams comments on Monday come as news broke that four of his deputy mayors submitted their resignations.
In a joint statement the deputies said they were stepping down “due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families.”
