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New York City Mayor Eric Adams returns to court Friday to argue for dismissal of corruption charge.

Pabio November 1, 2024

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — Mayor Eric Adams will be back in court Friday to fight to have one of the charges in his corruption case dropped.

The mayor’s team says the corruption charge has no basis because prosecutors are unable to prove any quid pro quo.

Judge Dale Ho allocated 20 minutes of oral argument to each party. He is also willing to discuss a trial date.

Adams pleaded not guilty to the bribery charges and his attorney argued that the bribery charge should be dismissed because the evidence did not support it.

“There was no quid pro quo. There was no this for that,” defense attorney Alex Spiro said.

Federal prosecutors said there was a quid pro quo in which Adams accepted a luxury trip from a foreign official in exchange for influence over city regulations regarding the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan.

“Adams’ assertion that the indictment does not say what he literally recites is erroneous on its face,” prosecutors said in a recent court filing. “Adams claims that accepting tens of thousands of dollars in benefits in exchange for lobbying a city agency is ‘routine’ and ‘common.’ But as routine as it may have been for Adams, the law allows a jury to conclude that it was nevertheless illegal.

In a separate ruling Thursday evening, a federal judge denied Mayor Adams’ request to hear evidence to explore alleged leaks by prosecutors and agents.

In an opinion, Judge Dale Ho said “Mayor Adams has not demonstrated that a government attorney (or its agents) made the alleged disclosure(s).”

Friday’s hearing will remain focused on the corruption leader.

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