(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Wednesday is set to consider moving President Donald Trump’s conviction in his criminal hush money case in New York to federal court, where Trump could try to overturn it.
Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office will argue before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein over the immunity the U.S. Supreme Court granted Trump for his official acts.
The Supreme Court decided in July 2024 that presidents are entitled to presumptive immunity for acts taken in their official capacity. Trump’s attorneys have argued that ruling means his Manhattan criminal case belongs in federal court.
Hellerstein has already denied them twice, deciding that falsifying business records before the 2016 election in order to conceal a long-denied affair with Stormy Daniels had nothing to do with the presidency.
After Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts, his attorneys went back to Hellerstein, who was still not convinced, writing that “hush-money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Hellerstein to take another look.
New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump last year to an unconditional discharge without prison, fines or probation. Prosecutors have argued that the “advanced stage” of the case weighs against moving it into federal court.
Trump was found guilty of orchestrating an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by directing his personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, to pay $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to prevent her from publicly revealing a long-denied sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump is separately pursuing an appeal through the state court system.
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