Former President Donald Trump asked a federal court late Thursday to intervene in his case New York “hush money” criminal casesfind a way to reverse it his crime conviction and indefinitely delay his sentence next month.
Lawyers for the Republican candidate are now asking a federal court in Manhattan to wrest the case from the state court where he was tried, arguing that the historic prosecution violates constitutional rights and violates a recent presidential immunity ruling from the US Supreme Court.
Trump’s lawyers, who failed last year in a pretrial bid to have the case transferred to federal court, said the move would now provide an “unbiased forum, free from local animosity” to address the issue. In state courts, he said, Trump has been the victim of “bias, conflicts of interest, and improper appearances.”
If the case moves to federal court, Trump’s attorneys said they would seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed on immunity grounds.
If the case remains in state court and Trump’s sentencing is carried out as scheduled on September 18 – about seven weeks before Election Day – it will be a disruption of the election, his lawyer said, adding to speculation that Trump could be sent to jail as early as early voting. they are walking.
Trump’s request Thursday was poised to be ruled on by the same Manhattan federal judge who rejected an earlier bid to move the case — a decision that cleared the way for a trial in state court.
“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause immediate and irreparable harm to President Trump – the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election – and voters far from Manhattan,” Trump’s lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in the 64th US District Court filing. glass. .
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting Trump’s case and has fought previous efforts to move the case out of state court, declined to comment. A message seeking comment was left with a spokeswoman for the New York state court system.
Trump convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hiding $130,000 in hush money payments to pornographic actor Stormy Daniels, whose alleged relationship threatened to disrupt his 2016 presidential run.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose firm listed the reimbursements as legal fees. Trump maintains that the stories are false, that he paid compensation for his legal work and was properly documented, and that the case is part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” to damage the current presidential campaign.
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation or fines.
Even if Trump’s case is not moved to federal court, the legal wrangling could force it his sentence was suspendedgiving him a critical reprieve as he navigates his post-criminal conviction and homestretch of his White House run. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Separately, the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, considered Trump’s request to delay sentencing until after Election Day, November 5, and reversed the verdict and dismissed the case after the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.
The July 1 high court ruling curbed the prosecution of former presidents for official acts and limited prosecutors to point to official acts as evidence that the president’s unofficial acts were illegal.
Trump’s lawyers argued that prosecutors rushed to court instead of waiting for the president’s immunity decision from the Supreme Court, and that the court was “tainted” by evidence that should not have been allowed under the decision, such as former White House staff who described his reaction. for news coverage of the money deal and tweets he sent during his presidency in 2018.
Trump’s lawyers previously sought presidential immunity in a failed bid last year to have the money case moved from state court to federal court.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein rejected Trump’s claim that the charges in the money indictment were related to official duties, writing in July 2023, “The evidence shows that these matters are nothing more than the president’s personal belongings — a cover-up for an embarrassing event.”
“The hush money paid to adult movie stars has nothing to do with the president’s official actions. It does not reflect in any way the color of the president’s official duties,” Hellerstein added.
Trump appealed the decision, but declined to fight before a November 2023 deadline to submit documents explaining why he felt Hellerstein should be overturned.
Trump’s lawyers argued in a filing Thursday that circumstances have changed since they initially tried to have the case moved to federal court. Among other things, he said state prosecutors had misled the court by saying earlier that the court would not be involved in Trump’s official duties or actions as president.
There was also testimony, he said, from Cohen about the potential use of Trump’s pardon power and his response to various investigations into his conduct. All of that testimony, he wrote, was related to Trump’s actions as president.
“President Trump is entitled to a federal forum to invoke Presidential immunity based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States,” Blanche and Bove wrote. “Once this case is properly cleared, President Trump will determine whether the charges should be dismissed.”
Blanche and Bove also repeated the claim that Merchan had considered Trump unfair because Merchan’s daughter is a Democratic political consultant, and they argued that the judge was wrong in muzzling Trump with a gag order that was kept in place after the verdict.
Merchan this month rejected Trump’s latest request if he gets rid of the casesaid Trump’s request is a rehash “full of inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims” about his ability to remain impartial. A state appeals court recently upheld the gag order.
Merchan “is ready to arrest President Trump in the final weeks of the campaign, and he has retained previous illegal and unconstitutional restrictions on President Trump’s ability to respond to political attacks by criticizing the New York County process,” said Blanche and Bove.
