Ingrid Lewis-Martin resigns from role as top adviser to NYC Mayor Adams

Josephine Stratman and Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Dec 15, 2024

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Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Eric Adams’ top adviser and confidante, has resigned from City Hall.

Her last day is Sunday, Fabian Levy, Deputy Mayor for Communications, said.

“Ingrid has not been just a friend, a confidant, and trusted advisor, but also a sister,” Adams said in a statement. “We’ve always talked about when this day would come, and while we’ve long planned for it, it is still hard to know that Ingrid won’t be right next door every day. I, and every New Yorker, owe her a debt of gratitude for her decades of service to our city.”

The sudden resignation comes after investigators from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and the Southern District of New York seized Lewis-Martin’s phones and raided her home in September, right after she got off a flight back to New York from a trip to Japan with city officials and a lobbyist.

It also comes as Adams is headed into a a battle for reelection and a trial for his five-count federal indictment in April.

In a statement, Lewis-Martin thanked Adams and said she is retiring and will focus on her family.

“I thank you for seeing in me things that I did not see in myself,” she wrote. “I extend humble gratitude to you for encouraging me to be my authentic self and for having my back during some trying times. As you would say, this has been a good ride; I will use author’s license and say that this has been an amazing ride.”

Lewis-Martin’s departure, which was first reported by Politico, comes after two sources familiar with the matter said tensions emerged between her and the mayor when she went on her attorney’s radio show in the wake of the raid at her home.

In the appearance on Arthur Aidala’s show, Lewis-Martin said she believes the public will see “we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us,” a comment that angered the mayor as it intimated there might have been some criminal activity, according to the sources.

One of the sources said the mayor and Lewis-Martin hadn’t spoken in weeks prior to Sunday’s announcement.

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