Justice Department lawyers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams are set to face a federal judge who is signaling that he's unlikely to rubber stamp their request to drop corruption charges weeks before an April trial.

Judge Dale E. Ho in Manhattan set the hearing in a written order Tuesday as his first response to the government's Friday request to dismiss the charges.

The mayor was charged with bribery, fraud and other counts. Legal experts questioned the Trump administration’s justification for the move, and one law enforcement official called the order “transparent corruption.