NEW YORK — Mayor Adams moved to dismiss a bribery count against him in his federal corruption indictment Monday, describing the allegations as “extraordinarily vague” and claiming the sweeping case brought by Manhattan prosecutors is based largely on the word of a disgruntled ex-staffer.

The request came four days after the feds announced a five-count indictment against Adams that alleges he put a price on his political influence for almost a decade, abusing his power for wealthy businessmen and at least one Turkish government official in exchange for worldwide trips, illegal campaign contributions and other lavish perks — collectively valued at more than $100,000.

In the motion filed Monday morning and later at a press conference, defense attorney Alex Spiro said prosecutors had demonstrated no proof Adams agreed to do anything in exchange for benefits.

“This is just a mayor who went to the outer boroughs and met with people in this city that more people should meet with and had donations from lots of different members of the community across lots of different ethnic groups,” Spiro said at the press conference.

“And so there is no scheme, there is no foreign interference. This is all nonsense that is spun into this to try to turn a conflict of interest question or disclosure question into a federal criminal case.”

In his legal arguments, Spiro leaned on a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that made winning convictions in public corruption cases far more difficult. In a 6-3 ruling, the court’s conservative supermajority on June 24 differentiated between bribes and “gratuities” — finding it was not illegal for local and state officials to accept the latter after an official act, which “may be given as a token of appreciation.”

The bribery count against Adams, a Democrat, Spiro argued, “alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President not Mayor, or even Mayor-elect he agreed generally to assist with the‘operation’ or ‘regulation’ of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever, in exchange for travel benefits.”

“That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that many City officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation,” Spiro wrote.

The feds allege Adams pressured Fire Department brass to open the building despite identifying multiple safety violations.

Spiro said the three text messages cited in the indictment, filed Thursday, that the mayor sent to former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, in which he said the consulate needed to be opened in time for the Turkish president’s visit, do not show him agreeing to take specific actions, nor meet the federal standard for bribery.

Adams’s lawyer said any benefits he allegedly received after the permit matter was resolved, like flight upgrades to business class, “could at most amount to gratuities, which fall outside the compass of” the Supreme Court ruling. He said there was no evidence Adams knew, as the indictment alleges, that high-ranking FDNY brass threatened staffers’ jobs.

“The indictment contains no allegation that Adams was even aware of that threat, let alone that he himself threatened anyone or directed the FDNY Commissioner to do so. If the government’s implication is that the officials were worried that Adams would be elected Mayor and then decline to retain them, that is not enough to show that Adams exerted pressure,” Spiro wrote.

At the press conference, Spiro accused the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office of leaking details of the indictment before it was unsealed. It was widely reported last Wednesday that charges were imminent ahead of the indictment being unsealed Thursday morning.

He also reiterated an argument he made in Monday’s filing, where he wrote that the indictment’s remaining claims — wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting donations from foreign nationals — rely on “a host of false claims evidently attributable to a self-interested staffer with an axe to grind.”

The thinly veiled reference concerned Adams’s former longtime aide and Turkish community liaison, Rana Abbasova, who’s cooperating in the investigation.

Spiro pointed to part of the indictment where Abbasova is described as going to the bathroom during a meeting with FBI agents to delete encrypted messaging apps she used to communicate with Adams and his alleged benefactors.

“There’s another even bigger lie that they haven’t told you about,” Spiro said, declining to go into detail. “And then there’s more lies.”

A lawyer for Abbasova declined to comment on the defense attorney’s allegations.

Asked why the mayor declined to report freebies he allegedly got from Turkish nationals on his annual ethics disclosure forms, Spiro said Adams wasn’t required to, though later acknowledged he wasn’t “an expert in Conflicts of Interest Board law.”

Adams, 64, the first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges, has rebuffed calls to step down.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Friday and is expected to appear for the first time before the judge assigned to the case, Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho, on Wednesday, when Spiro said he expected to file a full dismissal motion.

The charges against Adams carry up to 45 years in prison, though he would be unlikely to face such a severe sentence.

Still, a conviction on any count could likely result in some prison time, said Michael Weinstein, a former Justice Department trial attorney in Washington, D.C., with extensive experience prosecuting white-collar criminal cases.

“Especially since he is in a position of public trust, oversight and length and scope of alleged activity,” Weinstein said.

“Corruption and public officials are an ugly spectacle to witness, and possibly Mayor Adams has genuine explanations for his actions, but at present, he’s in a deep hole with limited chances to get out.”

A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is handling the case, did not respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors are expected to respond to Spiro’s motion in court filings.

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