New York Mayor Eric Adams asked a judge Monday to set an earlier trial date in his federal corruption case next year, arguing the current date would impede his participation in his re-election campaign, according to court documents.
In a letter to the court, Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, requested that the trial begin weeks earlier, on April 1, rather than later that month.
Spiro said that under the current schedule, the trial would conclude in late May just one month before ballots are cast in the Democratic primary, which would sideline Adams “for the vast majority of his remaining reelection campaign, during many of the most important moments.”
- “An earlier trial date will ensure that Mayor Adams’s speedy trial rights are upheld, that the Mayor will be able to fully participate in his reelection campaign and that this City’s voters can be rid of the distraction of this misguided indictment as they hear from and evaluate the Democratic candidates for Mayor on their merits,” Spiro said.
He added that the prosecution will “cast a cloud” over Adams’ campaign until a New York jury resolves the case at trial.
Adams, a tough-on-crime former New York police captain, pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges in September after he was hit with five criminal counts, including bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
Adams pledged to fight the charges and stay on as mayor.
Prosecutors alleged in the indictment that Adams accepted illegal campaign contributions, airline upgrades and luxury hotel stays from Turkish nationals and at least one government official in exchange for political favors, according to court filings.
“This was a multiyear scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference in September.
Adams — who is the first sitting mayor of New York City to face criminal charges in the modern era — asked the court in late September to dismiss the bribery charge, saying the government’s allegations were “extraordinarily vague.”
Federal prosecutors pushed back against his motion to dismiss the bribery charge, saying that even though Adams “claims that accepting tens of thousand of dollars’ worth of benefits in exchange for pressuring a City agency is ‘routine’ and ‘common.’ But however routine that may have been for Adams, the law permits a jury to conclude that it was nonetheless illegal.”
The court has yet to respond to Adams’ request for a rescheduled trial date, which for now is April 21.