NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams returned to court Friday, sitting stoically as his lawyers fought to eliminate a key charge in the federal corruption indictment that threatens his political future. The Democrat is fighting to throw out a bribery charge, one of five counts in a case that US District Judge Dale E Ho said will go to trial April 21, 2025, in the thick of Adams' promised re-election campaign. The mayor's lawyers argued at a Manhattan federal court hearing that the bribery charge doesn't meet the federal standard of a crime and is "insufficiently specific," particularly after recent US Supreme Court decisions redefined how it is prosecuted.
"The prosecutor for the United States had trouble defining what the 'quo' is here," Adams' lawyer John Bash argued, referring to the concept of a "quid pro quo," a Latin phrase that essentially means "something for something." Prosecutors countered that Adams' lawyers were splitting hairs because, they allege, Adams was taking bribes and exerting influence while holding a prior elected office and as he anticipated becoming mayor. Ho said he would take the arguments "under advisement and attempt to rule shortly.
" Prosecutors also disclosed Friday that they've searched through nearly two-dozen electronic devices seized in the investigation but still haven't been able to access Adams' personal cellphone and weren't sure they would. According to his indictment, Adams changed his password just before giving the phone.
