Gov. Kathy Hochul held her own security briefing Monday separate from Mayor Eric Adams, as she bides her time about making a decision to remove Adams from office.

“We expect changes, that’s not a secret, and changes are beginning,” Hochul said during a press conference from her Midtown Manhattan government office.

She’s lending the embattled mayor time by not joining a chorus of critics who say Adams should resign, based on allegations laid out in a five-count indictment against the mayor.

But according to sources, she set terms for Adams: fire problematic top aides or lose my confidence.

.@GovKathyHochul & @NYCMayor talked on the phone Thursday, before she released the statement on his indictment, per a source briefed.

-gov wants to give Adams a few days to “regain the confidence of New Yorkers” including to begin “significant staff departures” in his admin.

— Bernadette Hogan (@bern_hogan) September 28, 2024

“I’m just letting him know that we’re monitoring the situation,” she said.

Senior adviser Tim Pearson announced he’s stepping down Friday.

Federal investigators executed a search warrant on his home last month. But neither Pearson nor any other City Hall aide has been indicted nor named in the federal case against Adams.

“This departure is a good first step,” she emphasized.

Hochul says there’s still many steps Adams must take to redeem himself.

“I’m working to make sure that the key positions, working with the mayor, are filled with people that are going to be responsible, but it’s ultimately his decision to make those,” she said.

The governor has the power to remove Adams from office under the state Constitution and New York City charter.

She’s being pressured to use that authority, and to be patient.

On Saturday in Harlem, powerful Black civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton said Hochul “should not be pressured into removing Eric Adams from being the mayor.”

She could be keeping her distance. The pair met on a virtual security briefing on Tuesday, but Hochul didn’t join Adams publicly at NYPD headquarters Wednesday.

And with the November election a month away, Democrats are worried that New Yorkers might not turn out for them, as some Republicans are already using Adams’ scandal to their advantage in vulnerable congressional races.

“I’m not anticipating this to bleed over in any significant way, but I’m not gonna be speculating on individual races,” she said. “People say all kinds of things: I believe that Mayor Adams is a strong Democrat,” she argued when asked what she thinks about Adams’ recently welcoming support from Republican former President Donald Trump.