Trump loses bid to move hush money case to federal court and avoid NY criminal sentencing
A federal judge said Tuesday that he won't take over decision making in former President Donald Trump's New York hush money case and block his upcoming criminal sentencing.
Trump wanted federal Manhattan Judge Alvin Hellerstein to take the hush money case out of state Judge Juan Merchan's hands ahead of the Sept. 18 sentencing date, claiming Merchan is biased and a federal court should rule on his argument for tossing out his conviction.
The former president has said the trial included evidence that ran afoul of the Supreme Court's July 1 presidential immunity ruling, which limited prosecutions involving official presidential acts.
However, Hellerstein said Tuesday that arguments about a state judge's bias in a trial should be handled by state appeals courts, not a federal court. And he said it wouldn't be appropriate to let Trump move the case to federal court at this stage because Trump wasn't prosecuted for any official acts.
Hellerstein pointed to a ruling he issued before Trump's trial – during an earlier Trump federal court bid – that hush money paid to a porn star isn't related to a president's official acts.
"Nothing in the Supreme Court's opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority," Hellerstein wrote.
Trump appealed Hellerstein's ruling within hours. He posted on Truth Social that he is "fighting the GREATEST POLITICAL WITCH HUNT IN HISTORY" and that the court system "CORRUPT." He also complained about the limited gag order that restricts his comments about prosecutors and the judge's family members until sentencing.
Trump was found guilty May 30 on 34 separate felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a conspiracy to unlawfully interfere in the 2016 election. Prosecutors argued that Trump broke the law in his efforts to prevent American voters from learning about porn star Stormy Daniels' allegation – which Trump denies – that she had sex with the real estate mogul in 2006.
The business records concerned reimbursement payments to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 less than two weeks before the 2016 election to keep her quiet. A 12-person Manhattan jury unanimously determined the records were falsely labeled as payments under an attorney-client agreement for ongoing legal expenses.
The charges Trump was convicted of allow for a sentence of several years in prison, although there's no minimum sentence at all.
Trump's bid to move the case to federal court is part of a multi-pronged effort to delay or avoid the sentencing. That includes his presidential immunity argument and a separate request to Merchan to delay sentencing until after the upcoming presidential election. Merchan has said he will rule on the immunity argument Sept. 16, just two days before the scheduled sentencing.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which prosecuted the case, argued against Trump's immunity motion, but didn't take a position on his sentencing delay request.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump loses federal court bid to block hush money sentencing