Adams Accuses Prosecutors of Leaking Investigation Details to News Media

In a court filing Tuesday morning, lawyers for Mayor Eric Adams asked a judge to hold a hearing about what they said were grand jury secrecy violations.

Lawyers for Mayor Eric Adams accused federal prosecutors of leaking information about the investigation that led to the mayor’s indictment last week, and asked the judge presiding over the case to hold a hearing and issue sanctions, according to a Tuesday morning court filing.

In the filing, one of Mr. Adams’s lawyers, Alex Spiro, refers to several articles in The New York Times that, over the past year, have reported on the scope and progress of the investigation. The reports, Mr. Adams’s lawyers argue in the filing, prejudiced the public against the mayor.

“By the time that charges against Mayor Adams were unsealed on September 26, 2024, most of the details of the indictment and the evidence underpinning the government’s case (weak as it is) had already been widely reported in the national and local press,” the filing says.

The filing on Tuesday came five days after federal prosecutors announced the indictment against Mr. Adams and one day after his lawyers asked the court to dismiss a bribery charge against him. And it was the start of what is likely to be a long legal battle, in which a sitting mayor of New York City has been charged with crimes for the first time in modern history.

In the face of calls for his resignation by other New York politicians, Mr. Adams has been fighting for his political life — visiting churches over the weekend and holding news conferences to shore up support. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove the mayor, has not moved to do so.

The identities of the private citizens who serve on grand juries are sealed, and they, prosecutors and other court officials are legally prohibited from disclosing deliberations like those that led to the mayor’s indictment last week. The rules cover only information presented to grand jurors while they are empaneled.