Judge again rejects Trump bid to move hush-money conviction to federal court

Jurors convicted Trump, a Republican, on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

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Trump has denied Daniels' claim and defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the election.

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Merchan said that punishment, which left the conviction on the books, would avoid a disruption to Trump's second White House term, which began on January 20, 2025.

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He denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in all four cases.

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The three judges on the appeals court were appointed to the bench by Democratic presidents. Bragg is also a Democrat.

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The three judges on the appeals court were appointed to the bench by Democratic presidents. Bragg is also a Democrat.

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The matter will now head back to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

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The decision Friday was the third time Hellerstein, 92, turned down Trump’s bid to send the matter to federal courts.

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But the trial judge, Juan Merchan, ruled that testimony had too little connection to Trump’s official duties to justify throwing out the verdicts.

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In May 2024, following a high-profile trial that pulled Trump off the presidential campaign trail, a state-court jury in Manhattan found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with his payments to Daniels and the description of them in Trump organization accounts as part of a retainer paid to Cohen.

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Those verdicts came about a month before the Supreme Court issued a major decision related to presidential immunity on an appeal Trump brought in a federal criminal case special counsel Jack Smith brought over Trump’s attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

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In May 2024, following a high-profile trial that pulled Trump off the presidential campaign trail, a state-court jury in Manhattan found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with his payments to Daniels and the description of them in Trump organization accounts as part of a retainer paid to Cohen.

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A federal appeals court had ordered Hellerstein to reconsider his most recent denial of Trump's effort in light of a July 1, 2024, U.S. Supreme Court decision, in a federal criminal case in which Trump was a defendant, that said presidents had at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all their official acts, while making clear "there is no immunity for unofficial acts."

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Hellerstein, in his ruling Friday, also said Trump had no legal grounds to remove the case from state court after he was convicted and sentenced.

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Hellerstein also wrote that the evidence introduced at trial did not infringe on presidential immunity, and Trump had not demonstrated that he was prosecuted by the Manhattan district attorney's office for conduct related to his having been president.

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In July, another Manhattan federal court judge ordered the release of about $5.8 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll to satisfy a civil trial verdict holding Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.

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Hellerstein also wrote that the evidence introduced at trial did not infringe on presidential immunity, and Trump had not demonstrated that he was prosecuted by the Manhattan district attorney's office for conduct related to his having been president.

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In April, a federal appeals court declined to reconsider a decision upholding another, $83.3 million civil judgment in Carroll's favor against Trump for defaming her.

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In April, a federal judge dismissed Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, while allowing him to amend his civil complaint.

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“The People’s prosecution arises from President Trump’s private conduct surrounding the reimbursement of hush money payments to an adult film star,” Hellerstein wrote Friday.

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“That conduct, and the challenged evidence, bears no substantive relation to his position in federal office. To consider these facts to be ‘relating to’ a federal office would give the words a definition that is ‘so broad that it is meaningless.’”

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Their separate efforts to get the case moved to federal court started before the state trial, so a federal judge could interpret federal preemption and presidential immunity.

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Trump’s defense team has long argued Trump can’t be prosecuted in connection to the hush money scheme because he’s protected by presidential immunity – he reimbursed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen while in office for a cover up scheme Cohen orchestrated during the 2016 election.

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The federal track would also offer a faster route for his appeal to get to the Supreme Court.

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Hellerstein disagreed: “A president’s assistant can work on unofficial, personal matters for the president.”

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Merchan denied the motion and Trump’s appeal of his conviction is still moving through state appellate channels.

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The state appeal is also ongoing and could advance to the New York’s Court of Appeals and potentially reach the US Supreme Court if Trump is unsuccessful at the lower appellate levels.

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In the hush-money case, prosecutors claimed Trump had sought to unlawfully influence the 2016 election, which he ultimately won.

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Falsifying business records in New York is normally a misdemeanour, but it can be charged as a felony when committed in service of another crime.

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The other indictments concerned allegations that Trump illegally withheld classified documents and attempted to undermine the 2020 elections, which he lost.

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That meant he would face no jail time, nor a financial penalty, but the convictions would remain on his records.

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Those cases were ultimately dropped after Trump won re-election in 2024.

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Hellerstein also addressed the Supreme Court’s decision, ruling that Trump’s actions with regard to Daniels were not “official acts” of the presidency, even if some were taken while he was in office.

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U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said Mr. Trump's reasons for renewing his request were "neither new nor legally sufficient," particularly his claims that trial testimony by former aides and a lawyer, along with his social media statements, infringe on presidential immunity.

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The judges also instructed Hellerstein to determine if Mr. Trump had "diligently sought" to have the case moved to federal court and whether the case can even be moved to federal court now that the president has been convicted and sentenced in state court.

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State prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Normally, such a request must be made within 30 days of an arraignment, but a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has ruled that exceptions can be made if "good cause" is shown.

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The judge called that a "strategic decision" and suggested that by going to the state court first, his lawyers cost him the right to pursue remedies in federal court.

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