By: Benyamin Davidsons

Mayor Eric Adams will stand on trial in mid-April for corruption charges against him.

As reported by the NY Times, on Friday at a hearing in Federal District Court in Manhattan, federal judge Dale E. Ho set the trial date, basically splitting the difference between the timeline requested by prosecutors and that sought by Mr. Adams’s lawyers.

The trial is scheduled for April 21. The mayor had requested that the judge throw out the bribery charge against him, and the judge responded at the hearing saying he would rule on the matter at a later date. Mayor Adam’s lawyers had wanted the trial to be moved up as much as possible, while the prosecution requested for a later date. On Friday, Alex Spiro, one of Mayor Adams’s lawyers, urged the judge to keep in mind that his client was no ordinary defendant. “In this city, with an election happening, the court should take into account that he is not just sitting here presumed innocent anymore,” Mr. Spiro said. “It doesn’t give him a realistic chance. If he still has this hanging over his head, that impacts the election, period.”

The Democratic primaries, set for next June, are already heating up with multiple well-known contenders eager to unseat Mayor Adams as the Democratic candidate. Those eyeing a bid for the seat include: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, former comptroller Scott Stringer, State Senators Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, and possibly former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Mr. Adams, who is the first sitting mayor in modern NYC history to face criminal charges, has pleaded not guilty on all five counts. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and has refused calls for his resignation. Mr. Adams has vowed to fight the accusations, but he has already used almost all the roughly $1.8 million he had raised to pay for the hefty legal expenses. With the government planning to add more charges against him, the question creeping in is whether the mayor will have the funds to continue fighting the charges against him.

Per the Times, prosecutors said at Friday’s hearing that they planned to bring more charges against Mr. Adams and his allies, in what they called a broad-ranging corruption scheme involving the mayor and his campaign fund-raisers, alongside Turkish government officials. They had similarly mentioned the plans at a hearing last month. The Prosecutors noted that the further charges would not alter the trial date set.

Lawyers for Mr. Adams have argued that the prosecution’s case falls short of making the federal definition of bribery. They refer to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that raised the bar for prosecutors to bring corruption cases. Prosecutors have countered that the criteria is met as Mr. Adams accepted luxury travel from Turkish officials in exchange

for pressuring the Fire Department to help expedite approval for the opening of the 36-story Turkish consulate building, located at 821 United Nations Plaza. Mayor Adams’s lawyer, John F. Bash, continued to argue on Friday that the alleged benefit Mr. Adams provided did not fit the legal definition of bribery. “I just don’t see how you can say the operation or regulation of that building is a specific activity in that sense,” Mr. Bash said.

Per the Times, if the bribery charges do end up getting tossed, Mr. Adams will still face charges of fraud; conspiracy to commit fraud and receive illegal foreign campaign contributions.