(Bloomberg) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked for a March trial in the federal bribery case against him, allowing a jury to determine his fate before the June 2025 mayoral primary.
Adams said in a court filing Friday that a later schedule “raises the significant risk that the proceedings will not conclude before the primary process, including campaigning and fundraising.” Prosecutors said their proposed schedule is the shortest that “can be realistically accomplished” and would allow for a trial that would end by June 14, the day early voting for the primary starts.
Adams was charged by federal authorities late last month with accepting improper benefits, including luxury travel from wealthy Turkish businesspeople when he was Brooklyn Borough President, and secretly accepting illegal contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign. He has pleaded not guilty and vowed to fight the charges amid calls to step down and as a number of members of his inner circle have resigned.
“Voters should know the outcome of the government’s charges before heading to the polls,” Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, wrote in a letter to the court outlining the parties’ positions on a schedule for the disclosure of potential classified information.
Several Democratic public officials, including New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and State Senator Jessica Ramos, have announced they will challenge Adams in the race for mayor next year.
Earlier on Friday in a separate filing, Adams accused prosecutors of leaking information to pressure witnesses as he again sought to dismiss one of the federal bribery charges against him.
Adams asked US District Judge Dale Ho to order a hearing into whether the government leaked information to the press, saying prosecutors “had a clear motive to use leaks to support its investigation, pressure current or prospective witnesses to inculpate the mayor, and create widespread belief that the mayor had committed crimes.”
“That motive is especially strong because years of investigation had failed to turn up convincing evidence of criminal conduct by Mayor Adams in the case,” Spiro wrote in a court filing.
In a another motion Friday, Spiro renewed efforts to dismiss the charges, saying that prosecutors are trying to criminalize a routine interaction with the head of a foreign state.
The government claims Adams violated bribery law by accepting free and discounted luxury travel from a Turkish government official. In return, prosecutors say, Adams used his influence to pressure city officials to allow the opening of a new Turkish consulate building before getting a required fire safety review.
Spiro said that the charge requires a public official to agree to use their position “to effect a specific and formal exercise of governmental power,” and that the mayor never accepted travel benefits specifically in exchange for assistance with a permit for a new Turkish consulate building — “either expressly or implicitly.”
“Just as a lawmaker who accepts a campaign contribution in exchange for a promise to push for deregulatory policies is not liable when she later invokes her oversight authority to thwart a particular agency action,” Spiro said, “a general promise to assist with the operation of an important foreign nation’s diplomatic facility does not become an ex post facto bribe because the official later helps on a specific matter.”
Adams had quickly sought to throw out the bribery count after he was charged, saying that public officials get perks routinely as a part of their jobs without facing indictments. His filing on Friday was in response to prosecution arguments.
“The government has alleged no facts beyond ordinary communications among officials about an important matter — a visit by the president of a country of over 80 million people,” Spiro said.
The case is US v. Adams, 24-cr-566, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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