NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for New York Mayor Eric Adams on Monday urged a federal judge to dismiss a bribery charge filed last week, accusing “zealous prosecutors” of a ” extremely vague accusation that did not rise to the level of a federal crime.
Adams, a Democrat, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he accepted lavish travel benefits and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreigners in exchange for political favors, including pushing to open a Turkish consulate building.
He has vowed to continue serving as mayor while fighting the allegations “with all my strength and my mind.”
In a motion filed Monday, the mayor’s lawyers described the bribery charge — one of five charges he faces — as meritless, arguing that “zealous prosecutors” had failed to find an explicit quid pro quo between Adams and Turkish officials.
Rather, defense attorneys wrote, Adams was simply helping an important foreign nation cut through the city’s red tape.
According to the indictment, Adams sent three messages to the fire commissioner in September 2021 urging him to expedite the opening of the 36-story consulate building in Manhattan, which fire safety inspectors said was not safe to occupy, ahead of a major state visit by the police. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Those messages came after Adams accepted flight upgrades and luxury hotel stays worth tens of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said. Before asking Adams for help at the consulate, the Turkish official reportedly told an employee of Adams that it was “his turn” to help Turkey.
At the time, Adams was still Brooklyn borough president, but he had already won the primaries and was widely expected to become mayor.
Even if Turkish officials tried to curry Adams’ favor, lawyers say his conduct would not violate federal bribery laws.
“This extraordinarily vague allegation covers a wide range of normal and perfectly lawful actions that many city officials would take for the consulate of a major foreign nation,” they wrote, adding that the indictment “does not allege that Mayor Adams consented to any official act to feed. act at the time he received a benefit.”
The motion points to a recent Supreme Court decision that narrows the scope of the federal corruption law, which requires gifts given to government officials to be tied to a specific demand or official act.
The attorneys argue that the additional charges against Adams — that he solicited and accepted foreign donations and manipulated the city’s matching fund program — are “equally meritless.”
Those allegations, they wrote, would be exposed through lawsuits as the false claims of a “self-interested staffer with an ax to grind.”
Adams is due back in court for a conference on Wednesday.
