NYC Mayor Eric Adams requests pause in corruption case until Jan. 20, same day as Trump's inauguration

Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Dec 18, 2024

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NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams’ legal team has requested that his federal corruption case be put on ice until Jan. 20, the day Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated as the nation’s next president.

The request, filed in Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday night, comes after Trump said earlier this week he’s considering pardoning Adams as the mayor continues to battle a five-count criminal indictment alleging he solicited bribes and illegal campaign cash, mostly from Turkish government operatives, in exchange for political favors.

Adams, who has pleaded not guilty, is due back in court Friday for a status hearing in his case.

But Alex Spiro, his lead defense lawyer, wrote in the new filing that Adams doesn’t have “additional issues to raise” at this time, given that Manhattan Federal Court Judge Dale Ho earlier this week rejected his request to dismiss the bribery count in the indictment.

“As a result, and because counsel for Mayor Adams is currently out of state and actively engaged on other matters, the mayor respectfully requests that the conference be adjourned until after January 20, 2025,” Spiro wrote.

Ho had yet to rule on Spiro’s request for a delay as of Wednesday night.

Spiro didn’t make any mention in his filing that Trump’s inauguration falls on that date. He wrote that an adjournment until Jan. 20 makes sense as the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office is supposed to submit a filing by Jan. 17 related to classified national security information that has surfaced as part of the case.

Spiro didn’t respond to emailed questions about his latest filing.

On Wednesday evening, prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office filed a letter informing the judge they do have an issue they want to raise at Friday’s conference.

“Should the conference be held, the Government anticipates raising an issue relating to extrajudicial statements that (Adams’ legal team) has made relating to the case,” the prosecutors wrote.

It’s unclear what out-of-court comments by the Adams team the prosecutors want to discuss with the judge, but they wrote they will likely submit a filing elaborating on that before Friday.

Spiro, a high-priced celebrity attorney known for representing the likes of Elon Musk and Jay-Z, has been vociferous in blasting the case against the mayor, even mocking prosecutors for holding a “little” press conference about the indictment when it was first unsealed in September.

Prior to Tuesday night’s filing, Spiro had pushed for expediting the mayor’s case as much as possible, requesting shorter timelines and pushing for his trial to start as early as March.

After the judge recently set an April 21 trial start, Spiro protested, saying it should be moved up until at least April 1 so the mayor can have more time to campaign for reelection ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary in which he faces multiple challengers. Also on Tuesday night, Ho struck down that request, ruling that the trial should proceed with an April 21 start date.

After Trump said Monday he will “certainly look” into pardoning Adams of his federal crimes, the mayor told reporters when asked for a reaction: “I have an attorney that is going to look at every avenue to ensure I get justice. I did nothing wrong, should not have been charged.”

Adams has for months come under fire from fellow Democrats for defending Trump. The mayor notably said during the campaign the Republican president-elect was not a fascist despite that characterization being a campaign key talking point of Vice President Kamala Harris.