Lawyers for Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday accused the Justice Department of leaking sensitive case information and asked a judge to investigate, saying the disclosures have made it impossible for the New York City official to get a fair trial.
“For nearly a year, the government has leaked grand jury material and other sensitive information to the media to aggrandize itself, further its investigation, and unfairly prejudice the defendant, Mayor Eric Adams,” Alex Spiro, the mayor’s attorney, wrote in a federal court filing obtained by Politico.
In the document, Spiro openly accused the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York of being the source of the leaks and divulging information related to charges that Adams allegedly accepted airline upgrades and illegal campaign contributions from people tied to Turkey in exchange for pushing the New York City Fire Department to rush a safety inspection for the new Turkish Consulate in Manhattan.
The conduct in question dates back to after the mayor had won the Democratic mayoral primary in 2021.
Adams was indicted on Thursday and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Friday.
If the judge would hold a hearing to pinpoint the source of the leaks, Spiro said remedies could be applied, including the suppression of certain evidence at trial or a dismissal of the case entirely.
