By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, Aug 28 (Reuters) – A federal judge denied Donald Trump’s attempt to move his already decided New York state hush money case to federal court, in a setback on Friday for the U.S. president’s effort to erase his criminal conviction.
Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s ruling came after a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directed him to review more closely how the Supreme Court’s decision in July 2024 giving Trump broad immunity from prosecution affected the New York case.
In denying Trump’s effort to move the case to federal court, Hellerstein wrote that the case concerned the president’s personal conduct, not his official acts. Trump was convicted in May 2024 for concealing a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose claim to have had a sexual encounter with him could have upended his 2016 presidential campaign.
“Paying hush money to an adult film star or engaging in a cover-up of an embarrassment are not subsumed in presidential immunity,” Hellerstein wrote.
Jurors convicted Trump, a Republican, on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump has denied Daniels’ claim and defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the election. He has also asked a New York state appeals court to void his conviction, and has said the case was brought for political reasons.
His lawyers filed a notification with the court on Friday indicating that they would appeal Hellerstein’s decision.
“President Trump will be filing a powerful appeal, and will continue defeating Democrat weaponization at every turn,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement.
TRUMP ASSERTS PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY
The Supreme Court decision, Trump v. United States, said presidents are immune from prosecution over official acts, and prosecutors cannot use evidence of official acts even in criminal cases involving private behavior.
Trump said that should doom his hush money conviction because jurors heard evidence from his first White House term, including testimony from former White House communications director Hope Hicks.
Hellerstein, who was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, had twice previously rejected Trump’s attempt to move the case, agreeing with Bragg that it involved private behavior.
But the appeals court said Hellerstein should review whether the disputed evidence “relates to acts taken under color of the Presidency.”
TRUMP RECEIVED NO JAIL TIME
The trial judge in the hush money case, Juan Merchan, sentenced Trump on January 10, 2025, to an unconditional discharge, with no jail time or fine.
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.
Trump faced four criminal cases, and Bragg’s was the only one that went to trial. He denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in all four cases.
The three judges on the appeals court were appointed to the bench by Democratic presidents. Bragg is also a Democrat.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil and Susan Heavey; editing by Lisa Shumaker, Rod Nickel and Deepa Babington)
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