A federal judge blocked the president on Friday Donald Trump‘s latest attempt to move his criminal conviction in a New York hush money case from state to federal court, rejecting a move that would have made it easier to have his conviction overturned.
It’s the third time Trump has tried and failed to move the case out of state court.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that the president’s latest request was neither “novel nor legally sufficient” to justify the move, adding that Trump “has failed to demonstrate good reason and diligence.”
He was even more blunt about what the case actually entails.
“There is no way that discussions about hush money payments can obscure the president’s dealings Stormy Daniels could be an official act,” Hellerstein wrote.
“An affair, or the cover-up of an affair, does not fall within the ‘outer perimeter’ of the president’s official responsibilities.”
Trump’s lawyers had argued that the accuser was tainted by evidence relating to his time in the United States White Houseincluding testimonies and documents related to his presidential role.
They wanted to use the Supreme Court‘s landmark 2024 immunity ruling to overturn the conviction and shift the fight to federal court, where they believed dismissal would be easier.
Trump sits in a courtroom next to his lawyer Todd Blanche in Manhattan in 2024
Trump sits in a courtroom next to his lawyer Todd Blanche in 2024
Trump leaves after addressing members of the media following the verdict in his hush money trial at Trump Tower in New York City
Friday’s defeat followed an order from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals last year ordering Hellerstein to reconsider his earlier denial.
The appeals court did not say that Trump was entitled to this step.
It said only that the judge failed to fully address whether some of the evidence used by Manhattan prosecutors could have related to official presidential actions.
Hellerstein also accused Trump’s team of playing the clock, saying the president made a strategic choice to litigate his immunity claims in New York courts first and only pursued a federal venue when that failed.
A litigant, he wrote, cannot “seek victory in one court and then, when it becomes clear that the court will rule against him, seek to transfer his case to another court.”
A Manhattan jury convicted Trump in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying company records after prosecutors accused him of disguising refunds to his former lawyer Michael Cohen as legal fees.
Cohen had paid Daniels $130,000 in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign to bury her claim about a sexual encounter with Trump, which he denies.
Trump is still fighting the conviction in New York state appeals courts. Friday’s ruling leaves the guilty verdict standing and keeps the fight where prosecutors want it.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
