A judge tossed out Eric Adams’ claim that the feds leaked secret grand jury information leading up to his historic indictment — dealing a blow to the mayor’s case ahead of a highly anticipated court hearing Friday.
Adams’ lawyers offered no clear evidence that a bevy of news stories detailing the corruption investigation into the mayor contained illegally leaked material from federal agents and prosecutors, Manhattan federal Judge Dale Ho wrote in an order issued late Thursday.
“In sum, there is no article in the record that contains information that could have been disclosed only by the Government, and the Court cannot credit Mayor Adams’s arguments to the contrary,” Ho wrote.
The decision rejected Adams’ request for a court hearing to investigate the supposed leaks and for sanctions to be filed against the feds.
The order came a day after Adams’ defense team claimed in court documents to have a smoking gun proving the feds under Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams had leaked information to the press — however, the alleged damming evidence was redacted from the filing.
Adams’ lawyers have argued since September — when a grand jury handed down a five-count indictment against the mayor, accusing him of taking bribes and defrauding the city out of $10 million in public campaign funds — that federal authorities long tried to besmirch their client by leaking details about the probe.
They offered up a laundry list of stories, largely from the New York Times, that they argued showed the feds had leaked confidential grand jury information.
“A cascade of critical articles based on one-sided, misleading leaks by the government has eroded public support for the Mayor long before he was ever charged with a crime and able to defend himself in court,” Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro wrote in a filing.
But Ho, after delving into the stories, found no evidence of improper leaks.
And, even assuming, “that a matter before the grand jury has been improperly disclosed, Mayor Adams has not made a showing that an attorney for the Government (or their agents) made the alleged disclosure(s),” Ho wrote.
He noted Adams’ accusations are similar to those rejected in other federal cases.
“To be clear, this Court makes no findings as to the factual accuracy of the newspaper articles that Mayor Adams claims to characterize grand jury witness testimony, as to what was actually said in the grand jury room, or even as to whether the individuals Mayor Adams identifies in his motion actually testified before the grand jury,” Ho wrote.
“Nevertheless, the parties are cautioned that this case is to be tried in the courtroom and not in the press,” he added.
Adams was scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court Friday at 2 p.m. for a hearing on his lawyers’ attempt to have his bribery count tossed.
— Additional reporting by Ben Kochman
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