A judge rejected Eric Adams’ claim that federal government leaked secret grand jury information leading to his historic indictment – ​​dealing a major blow to the mayor’s case ahead of a highly anticipated court hearing on Friday.

Adams’ lawyers provided no clear evidence that a slew of articles detailing the mayor’s corruption investigation contained illegal leaks from federal agents and prosecutors, Manhattan federal judge Dale wrote Ho, in an order issued Thursday evening.

“In summary, there is no article in the record containing information that could have been disclosed solely by the Government, and the Court cannot credit Mayor Adams’ arguments to the contrary,” Ho wrote.

The ruling denied Adams’ request for a court hearing to investigate the alleged leaks and for sanctions to be filed against the federal government.

The order came a day after Adams’ defense team claimed in court papers that it had compelling evidence that the federal government, under Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, leaked information to the press – however, the allegedly damning evidence was removed from the file.

Adams’ lawyers have been arguing since September — when a grand jury handed down a five-count indictment against the mayor, accusing him of accepting bribes and defrauding the city ​​on $10 million in public campaign funds – which the feds have long tried to smear on their client. by disclosing details about the probe.

They presented a long list of articles, largely from the New York Times, that they claimed demonstrated that the federal government had leaked classified grand jury information.

“A cascade of critical articles based on one-sided and misleading government leaks eroded public support for the mayor long before he was charged with a crime and could defend himself in court,” said Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, wrote in a statement. deposit.

But Ho, after looking into these stories, found no evidence of inappropriate leaks.

And even assuming “that a matter before the grand jury was improperly disclosed, Mayor Adams has not demonstrated that a government attorney (or its agents) made the alleged disclosure(s),” a writes Ho.

He noted that Adams’ charges are similar to those dismissed in other federal cases.

“To be clear, this Court makes no conclusions as to the factual accuracy of the newspaper articles that Mayor Adams purports to characterize the testimony of the grand jury witnesses, as to what was actually said in the grand jury room, or even as to whether the individuals, Mayor Adams identifies in his motion that he actually testified before the grand jury,” Ho wrote.

“Nevertheless, the parties are cautioned that this matter must be tried in the courtroom and not in the press,” he added.

Adams was scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court at 2 p.m. Friday for a hearing on his attorneys’ attempt. see his corruption account dismissed.

Additional reporting by Ben Kochman