New York Mayor Eric Adams IS in legal trouble…BUT?

The Feds ARE ALL over his case and into his staff….

BUT?

Ever since the Supreme ‘s narrowed down what is legal and illegal in ‘corruption’ cases?

Things are NOT so clear cut…..

Adams does NOT have the money, or statue  Donald Trump has to go up against the Feds….

 

For nearly a year, federal prosecutors have closed in on Mayor Eric Adams of New York, seizing his phones and searching the homes of his aides in moves that suggested they might take the extraordinary step of charging him while he still held office.

Last week they followed through, unveiling a 57-page indictmentthat accused Mr. Adams of bribery, conspiracy, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations from the Turkish government.

It is in some ways a straightforward case that draws on what appears to be solid evidence. But it also contains potential pitfalls that make it seem likely that the prosecutors will seek to bring additional charges in the weeks or months to come, according to interviews with a dozen former federal prosecutors, defense lawyers and law professors who reviewed the indictment….

…

“If it all comes down to a ‘he said, she said,’” Ms. Friedman Agnifilo said, “that is a little dicey.”

Still another challenge stems from a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court that narrowed the instances in which the bribery statute applies to acts by public officials, a ruling that makes the crime more difficult to prove if the government cannot show that payoffs were made with the intent to reap a quid pro quo.

Mr. Adams is accused of accepting luxury travel over a period of years before becoming the Democratic nominee for mayor and pressuring the Fire Department to sign off on the opening of a new high-rise consulate building for the Turkish government.

Mr. Adams’s defense team will likely challenge the allegation based on the limitations the Supreme Court placed on “official acts,” said Mark D. Chutkow, a former federal prosecutor who led the racketeering case that resulted in the conviction of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick….

…

Bringing charges does not mean prosecutors will win at trial, or even make it that far.

In April 2022, prosecutors with the same office that would indict Mr. Adams accused the former lieutenant governor of New York, Brian Benjamin, of planning to funnel $50,000 in state money to a developer in exchange for campaign contributions. But that December, a federal judge in Manhattan threw out the case, saying that the government had a higher burden when accusing politicians of exchanging favors for political donations, rather than for personal benefit. The dismissal was reversed by an appeals court this year.

Still, accusations of public officials abusing the public trust, especially where public money is involved, are the sorts of cases that can outrage jurors enough that they vote for conviction, said Bennett Capers, a former prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and a professor at the Fordham University School of Law.

“Everybody obviously is innocent until proven guilty,” Mr. Capers said. “But it is hard to read the indictment and not think Eric Adams is cooked.”….

More…