Mayor Eric Adams’ criminal defense lawyer Monday ripped the federal indictment charging his client with doing favors for the Turkish government in exchange for illegal campaign donations and free or discounted travel perks as meritless — because, he claimed, prosecutors have not documented Adams’ promising specific favors for specific bribes.

“There was no quid pro quo. There was no this for that,” attorney Alex Spiro said, describing the $124,000 free or discounted business class airline tickets, luxury hotels, high-end meals and other perks prosecutors allege Adams received as “nothing more than the basic courtesies that happen with of Congress every day.”

Early Monday Spiro filed a motion to dismiss the bribery charge, one of five counts alleged in the indictment unsealed last week by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Speaking to reporters later in the day, Spiro promised to make the same dismissal motions for the other four counts in the coming weeks.

Spiro zeroed in on perhaps the most damning allegation: in September 2021, a Turkish official who had previously directly interacted with Adams on his travel requests now asked then-Borough President Adams to intervene with the fire commissioner to let the Turkish government open a Manhattan building housing the new Turkish consulate that fire inspectors had deemed “unsafe.”

Months earlier Adams himself had created a text thread between himself and this same Turkish official to arrange transportation and a hotel for his campaign fundraiser in Istanbul, according to the indictment. When Adams offered to pay, the official waved him off, writing, “It was set through Turkish Hospitality Services. I hoped she enjoyed her stay.”

Adams did not object, responding, “It was amazing. Thanks for all the coordination and attention.”

That same Turkish official who had worked with Adams and an Adams staffer on travel arrangements in early September 2021 was now communicating directly with Adams and the staffer about the FDNY issue.

The staffer at one point said the Turkish official had told her that because Turkey had ed the mayor, it was now “his turn” to Turkey, according to the indictment. When the staffer informed Adams of this, he allegedly responded, “I know.” Two days later Adams began communicating by text with the commissioner, seeking a letter that would green-light the building to open in time for a visit by Turkey’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan. 

Days later the fire prevention unit issued a “conditional letter of no objection,” greenlighting the building to open. When Adams informed the Turkish official of this, the official responded, “You are Great Eric, we are so happy to hear that. You are a true friend of Turkey.”

On Monday Spiro did not address these specific communications outlined in the indictment, but instead attacked the credibility of the staffer, Rana Abbasova, who is cooperating with federal authorities, calling her a liar.

“They know she’s lying. They’re holding that from you,” he said, hinting at a “big lie” prosecutors are aware of but have yet to reveal. He declined to provide specifics.

Spiro argued in court papers that the bribery count “does not allege any specific exchanges or conversations in which Adams and the Turkish official entered into this purported quid pro quo agreement.”

Spiro noted that federal bribery charges require that prosecutors prove the public official performed an “official act” with the expectation that they would receive some form of bribe in return. 

He argued that Adams’ interaction with the fire commissioner was not an “official act,” stating that at the time as Brooklyn borough president, Adams had no jurisdiction in Manhattan and describing Adams’ query to the commissioner for assistance on the Turkish consulate building as a common request by elected officials.

Spiro did not mention that at the time Adams was interacting with the commissioner, he was far more than the Brooklyn borough president. He had just won the Democratic primary for mayor and was widely expected to win the general election against Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. And two weeks earlier, the commissioner he was seeking a favor from had asked Adams if he would keep him on as commissioner.

Spiro cited the 2016 Supreme Court case that nullified the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who had accepted more than $160,000 in gifts — including a Rolex watch and a $20,000 shopping spree for his wife — from a wealthy businessman in exchange, prosecutors alleged, for using his official position to promote the businessman’s health supplements.

In that case, a unanimous court found that while McDonnell’s interactions with the businessman were “tawdry,” they were not illegal because there was no explicit agreement between the two for the governor to promote the product in exchange for the gifts.

Spiro also took aim at the notion that the travel perks Adams received could be considered bribes — dubbing them “gratuities” instead. While city public servants are barred from accepting any “valuable gift” worth more than $50 from “any person or firm which such public servant knows is or intends to become engaged in business dealings with the city,” it’s a different matter under federal law.

In a recent Supreme Court decision Snyder v. United States, the court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that payments made “with a nonspecific intent to ‘curry favor’ with the public official” are considered legal “gratuities.” That ruling effectively means “gratuities” are legal under federal law, Spiro stated. In the Snyder case, the former Republican mayor of Portage, Ind., got a $13,000 check from a trucking company that had earlier won a $1.1 million city contract while he was mayor.

Spiro’s attack on the indictment comes as the mayor and his top deputies find themselves enmeshed in at least four separate federal investigations and one ongoing probe by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Several of Adams’ top appointees — including now ex-Police Commissioner Edward Caban, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and her schools chancellor husband, David Banks, and his brother, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks — have all had their electronic devices seized by federal authorities. Adams’ closest aide, Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin, on Friday had her phone seized by Bragg and was also handed a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury sitting in Manhattan.