Mayor Eric Adams’ lawyer took a victory lap Wednesday — hailing the Department of Justice for ordering Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop Hizzoner’s historic corruption case — and claiming New York City would be “better off.”
In a theatric press conference, attorney Alex Spiro called the case — in which Adams is charged with doing favors for Turkish diplomats in exchange for $123,000 worth of travel perk bribes — “ticky tacky,” and suggested that the threat of prison time hanging over his head hindered the mayor’s ability to run the city.
“Is this city and the government better off with the Mayor having a ticky tacky case that’s legally infirm and factually suspect hanging over his and the rest of New York’s heads?” Spiro told reporters assembled in a conference room in the ritzy Midtown office of his law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.
Spiro, speaking from a lectern, argued that the decision to bring the charges against the mayor was driven by politics — while not providing hard evidence to support his claim.
“Are we better off with a world in which that doesn’t happen?” Spiro asked. “And are we better off with a system where we don’t have to sit up at night wondering what really was the motivation?”
Spiro also declared that the feds’ case was “over,” despite the fact that prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have yet to respond to the demand from President Trump’s DOJ.
And the memo released earlier this week from interim DOJ No.2 Emil Bove raised the possibility that Manhattan prosecutors could revive the case — which also charges Adams with ripping off taxpayers by getting phony city matching funds based on tens of thousands of illegal donations from Turks — after the mayoral election in November.
But Spiro insisted Wednesday that that would not happen.
“There is no looming threat. This case is over. This case will never be brought back,” he claimed.
He derided it as the “airline upgrade corruption case,” despite the fact that the mayor is also accused of accepting travel goodies like a heavily discounted stay at the St. Regis Istanbul’s “Bentley Suite” — luxury-car-themed digs that boast a couch lined with champagne coolers.
“It wasn’t a real case in the first place,” Spiro claimed.
Bove’s memo orders the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office to drop Adams’ case for reasons “independent” of whether the evidence is strong or not — including by suggesting, without providing evidence, that the charges were retribution for the mayor ripping the Biden administration for its handling of the migrant crisis.
Spiro on Wednesday claimed that there was a separate, allegedly “political” reason that Manhattan prosecutors brought the case.
He argued that former US Attorney Damian Williams, who resigned in December, signed off on the charges to bolster his own career.
Williams published an op-ed in City & State shortly after leaving office in which he criticized New York’s “state and local governments” — without naming Adams or Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“America’s most vital city is being led with a broken ethical compass. All this while New Yorkers deal with a declining quality of life – high housing costs, a too-often-unsafe subway and a general sense of disorder,” Williams wrote.
Spiro took aim at Williams, who has since taken a job at the private law firm Paul Weiss, in his remarks Wednesday.
“Is it greed? Is it fame? Is it political office? Are they trying to impress Washington? Are they trying to update their LinkedIn profiles?” Spiro said. “I know that the level of offense versus the fervor that they went at this is suspicious.”
Reps for Williams didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
