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Donald Trump's request to move hush money case to federal court in hope of having it overturned is rejected by judge ahead of sentencing in two weeks
A federal judge on Tuesday swiftly rejected Donald Trump's request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, spurning the former president's bid to overturn his conviction ahead of his sentencing in two weeks time.
Echoing his denial of Trump's pretrial bid to move the case, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the defence failed to meet the high burden of proof for changing jurisdiction and that Trump's conviction for falsifying business records involved his personal life, not official actions that the Supreme Court ruled are immune from prosecution.
In a four-page ruling, the judge wrote that nothing about the high court's July 1 ruling affected his previous conclusion that hush money payments at issue in Trump's case 'were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.'
Hellerstein sidestepped a defence complaint that Trump's state court trial had been plagued by 'bias, conflicts of interest, and appearances of impropriety,' writing that he 'does not have jurisdiction to hear Trump's arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial.'
The judge's ruling comes after Trump's lawyers had asked the court in Manhattan to seize the case from the state court where it was tried late Thursday.
Pictured: Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump greets supporters following a town hall campaign event on August 29, 2024 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. A federal judge on Tuesday rejected Trump's request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case
They argued the historic prosecution violated their client's constitutional rights and went against the Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity ruling.
Separately, on Tuesday, the office sent a letter to the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan objecting to Trump's effort to delay post-trial decisions in the case while he was seeking to have the U.S. District Court in Manhattan step in.
Merchan is expected to rule soon on two key defence requests: Trump's call for the judge to delay his Sept. 18 sentencing until after the November election, and his request that the judge overturn his conviction and dismiss the case in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling.
Merchan has said he will rule Sept. 16 on Trump's motion to overturn the verdict. His decision on delaying sentencing has been expected in the coming days.
Trump's lawyers contend that sentencing Trump as scheduled, just two days after Merchan's expected immunity decision, wouldn't give him enough time to weigh next steps, including a possible appeal, if the judge rules to uphold the verdict.
They also argued a Sept. 18 sentencing, about seven weeks before Election Day, would be election interference. In a court filing last week, they raised the specter that Trump could be sent to jail just as early voting is getting underway.
Prosecutors have not staked a position on whether to delay sentencing, deferring to Merchan on an 'appropriate post-trial schedule.' In their letter Tuesday, they said they were open to a schedule that allows 'adequate time' to adjudicate Trump's motion to overturn the verdict while also sentencing him 'without unreasonable delay.'
Trump's lawyers first asked the federal court to intervene last week, but their paperwork was kicked back because they hadn't gotten the required clearance from Hellerstein to file it.
ormer President Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings on the second day of jury selection at Manhattan criminal court, April 16, 2024, in New York
Former US President Donald Trump (C) gestures to the media and the crowd outside of Trump Tower after a jury found him guilty on all 34 counts in his criminal trial in New York
Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels (pictured)
Hours after they submitted papers Tuesday requesting Hellerstein's permission to proceed, he issued his ruling denying it.
Before dissecting Trump's immunity claims, Hellerstein dispatched quickly of the defense's oft-repeated claims that Merchan had treated Trump unfairly - subjecting him to a gag order and refusing to delay the trial until after the Supreme Court ruled - because Merchan's daughter is a Democratic political consultant.
Merchan last month rejected Trump's latest request that he step aside from the case, saying Trump's demand was a rehash 'rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims' about his ability to remain impartial. A state appeals court recently upheld the gag order.
'It would be highly improper for this Court to evaluate the issues of bias, unfairness or error in the state trial,' Hellerstein wrote. 'Those are issues for the state appellate courts.'
Instead, he noted, Trump can pursue a state appeal or seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court, whose immunity ruling reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president's unofficial actions were illegal.
Trump's lawyers have argued that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, and that prosecutors erred by showing jurors evidence that should not have been allowed under the ruling, such as former White House staffers describing how Trump reacted to news coverage of the hush money deal and tweets he sent while president in 2018.
Demonstrators hold placards and flags outside the Manhattan criminal court in May
Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to disrupt his 2016 presidential run.
Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.
The former president maintains that the stories were false, that reimbursements were for legal work and logged correctly, and that the case against him was part of a politically motivated 'witch hunt' aimed at damaging his current presidential campaign.
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation or a fine.
Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime.