NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams federal corruption trial will start in April next year, a judge decided on Friday, right in the middle of the promised campaign for re-election.

U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho set the trial date as Adams returned to federal court in Manhattan for a hearing on his bid to drop a key charge in the indictment that threatens his political future.

Ho said he was confident the April 21, 2025 date would hold, “assuming nothing unexpected comes up.”

At the same time, prosecutors said they have yet to discover a potentially crucial piece of evidence: Adams’ personal cell phone. According to his indictment, Adams changed his password just before giving the phone to authorities, then claimed to have forgotten it.

Adams’ lawyers are fighting to drop the bribery charge, one of five counts against the first-term Democrat.

They argued that the charge does not meet the recently narrowed U.S. Supreme Court threshold for murder and should not apply to Adams because it involves allegations that date back to before he became mayor.

“The United States Attorney had trouble defining what the ‘quo’ is here,” argued Adams’ attorney, John Bash, referring to “quid pro quo,” a Latin phrase meaning “something for something.”

Prosecutors countered that Adams’ lawyers were splitting hairs because, they argued, Adams was taking bribes and wielding influence while holding previous elected office and as he anticipated becoming mayor.

Ho said he would take the arguments “under advisement and try to rule soon”.

indictmentwhich also includes wire fraud and conspiracy charges, accuses Adams of accepting flight upgrades and other luxury travel perks valued at $100,000, along with illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals who want to buy his influence.

Instead, prosecutors say, Adams did favors for the Turkish government, including pressuring firefighters in 2021 to approve the opening of a consulate he considered unsafe.

Adams held another elected office at the time, Brooklyn borough president, but by then it was clear he would become mayor.

Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges and vowed to remain in office while he mounts his legal defense.

Bash argued that the alleged perks do not meet the legal definition of bribery because they predate his time as mayor and “have nothing to do with his government position.”

Adams’ lawyers say prosecutors are trying to criminalize “normal and perfectly legal acts” that Adams undertook as Brooklyn borough president before he was elected mayor.

Under the law, prosecutors must show that Adams took bribes in exchange for using his official office to exert influence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten argued that Adams knew he was “entering into a transactional relationship” with his Turkish benefactors and that his role as district chairman “puts him, as it were, in the room with the fire marshal.”

Ho wondered if, rather than Adams’ job as district president, it was Adams’ impending move to City Hall that gave him the power to pressure firefighters.

“It seems a little strange when the jurisdictional connection here is that he was the Brooklyn borough president, but his ability to exert pressure extends from something else,” Ho said.

Scotten stood firm, arguing that “if Margot Robbie called him and was really convincing,” the “Barbie” actor and producer still couldn’t influence the fire department without also holding elected office.

“He probably would have taken that call,” Ho joked, drawing laughter from the courtroom.

Addressing the law’s inconsistency — campaign contributions are legal, but bribes are not — Bash argued that it would be perfectly fine for a public official to lobby the casino licensing board on behalf of a campaign donor.

“A blanket aid agreement is not a federal crime,” Bash argued.

Adams sat stoically for most of the two-hour hearing, but perked up just before Ho set the trial date — nodding vigorously as another of his lawyers, Alex Spiro, warned that a trial which overlaps with the Democratic primary next June will be a “tomb.” , serious democratic concern.”

Scotten said at a hearing last month that prosecutors were pursuing “several related investigations” and that it was “very likely” they would seek a superseding indictment charging Adams with additional crimes. Scotten also said it was “likely” additional defendants would be charged.

Prosecutors revealed Friday that they have searched through nearly two dozen electronic devices seized in the investigation, but have not yet been able to access Adams’ cellphone and are not sure they will.

Late Thursday, Ho rejected another defense attempt to scuttle the case, rejecting Adams’ request for a hearing on the mayor’s claims that the government leaked information about the investigation to the news media.

The judge ruled that Adams and his lawyers had not substantiated those claims and that if any leaks occurred, the government was to blame.

In court filings outlining their arguments, Adams’ lawyers said the years of flight upgrades and other perks the mayor received were at most “classic gratuities,” which a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling found that they were not covered by the bribery statute if they were given for past acts, according to the file.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors countered that Adam’s actions were simply criminal.

“It should be clear from the indictment that there is nothing routine about a public official accepting more than $100,000 in benefits from a foreign diplomat, which he went to great lengths to conceal — including by fabricating false paper trails for to create the illusion of payment. “, the prosecutors wrote.

Several of Adams’ closest aides — including his police commissioner, schools chancellor and several deputy mayors — resigned in recent months after federal investigators executed coordinated raids on their homes in early September.

Adams has argued that he can continue to run the city effectively while fighting the charges.

But his political future remains fraught, and several opponents have announced plans to challenge him in next year’s primary.

Earlier this week, Adams raised eyebrows after repeatedly refusing to criticize former President Donald Trump, declined to say when he last spoke with the Republican nominee or whether he wants a pardon if Trump wins re-election.