BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has resigned amid an intensifying scandal and multiple investigations into the lucrative sales of her self-published children’s books.
Steven Silverman is Pugh’s attorney. He announced Pugh’s resignation at a news conference Thursday afternoon. He said it will take effect immediately.
Reading from a written statement from Pugh, Silverman quoted her as saying, “Baltimore deserves a mayor who can move our great city forward.”
The decision comes exactly one week after FBI and IRS agents raided the mayor’s home and City Hall offices.
Republican Gov. Larry and numerous Democrats have pressed for Pugh’s resignation.
Pugh has been in self-imposed seclusion for a month. She initially announced that she was taking a leave of absence to recover from pneumonia.
At issue is the roughly $800,000 Pugh received through the years from a hospital network, insurance carriers that did business with the city and a financier for bulk copies of her “Healthy Holly” children’s books.
The first-term Democrat became mayor in late 2016.
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The lawyer for Baltimore’s mayor is making an announcement amid growing pressure for the city’s top leader to resign over a scandal involving her self-published children’s books.
Mayor Catherine Pugh has been in self-imposed seclusion for a month with what attorney Steven Silverman has said is “deteriorating health after a bout of pneumonia. Silverman has said that Pugh was too ill to make any decisions about her future, even as the governor and the state and city’s other top leaders have said her career is finished.
Silverman announced a news conference for Thursday afternoon to discuss the mayor’s future.
At issue is the roughly $800,000 Pugh received from a hospital network and others that did business with the city for copies of her “Healthy Holly” children’s books.
The first-term Democrat became mayor in late 2016.