A federal judge on Tuesday quickly overturned former President Donald Trump’s decision request interfere with it New York Hush Money Criminal CaseA final run around the state court rejected the former president’s attempt where he was convicted and is due to be sentenced in two weeks.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s ruling – just hours after Trump’s lawyers asked him to weigh the move – supports the Republican presidential candidate’s plan to move his case to federal court so he can overturn his conviction following the US Supreme Court. Presidential Immunity Ruling.
Hellerstein, rejecting Trump’s pre-trial bid to move the case, said the defense failed to meet the high burden of proof to change jurisdiction and that Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records involved his personal life, which the Supreme Court ruled were not official actions. . Immunity from action.
In a four-page ruling, Hellerstein wrote that nothing about the high court’s July 1 ruling affected its earlier conclusion that the hush money payments at issue in Trump’s case were “private, unofficial acts outside the bounds of executive authority.”
Trump’s lawyers first asked a federal court to intervene last week, but their paperwork was withdrawn because they didn’t get the necessary approval from Hellerstein to file. Hours after Hellerstein submitted papers Tuesday requesting permission to proceed, he issued a ruling denying it.
Before dissecting Trump’s immunity claims, Hellerstein quickly dismissed the defense’s oft-repeated claims that trial judge Juan M. Murchan treated Trump unfairly — subjecting him to a gag order and refusing to delay the trial pending a Supreme Court ruling — because Murchan’s daughter is a Democratic political consultant.
Hellerstein brushed aside defense complaints that Trump’s state court trial was framed “by the appearance of bias, conflicts of interest and impropriety,” writing that he “does not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments regarding the merits of a New York trial.”
A Trump campaign spokeswoman indicated he would try to appeal Tuesday’s ruling. Spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that Trump and his lawyers “will continue to fight to move this hawk to federal court where he can be put out of his misery once and for all.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Trump’s case, declined to comment. Earlier Tuesday, the office sent a letter to Merchan objecting to Trump’s attempt to delay post-trial decisions in the case while he sought to move it to US District Court in Manhattan.
Merchan is expected to rule soon on two key defense requests: Trump’s call for a judge His sept. 18 to delay sentence After the November election, and his request that A judge overturned his conviction And dismiss the case following the Supreme Court judgment.
Murchan has said he will rule on Trump’s motion to overturn the ruling on Sept. 16. His decision on delaying the sentencing is expected in the coming days.
Trump was indicted in May on 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 derail his 2016 presidential run. Trump has denied the claims and said he did nothing wrong. His attorneys argued that the case was tainted by violations of Trump’s constitutional rights and that the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling made the verdict worse.
False business records are punishable by up to four years in prison. Other possible sentences include probation or a fine.
Trump’s lawyers argue that sentencing Trump as scheduled, just two days after Merchan’s expected immunity decision, would not give him enough time to weigh next steps, including a possible appeal, if the judge rules to uphold the ruling.
They also argued that Sept. A sentence of 18, about seven weeks before election day, would be election interference. In court filings last week, they raised the specter that Trump could be jailed as early voting gets underway.
Adjourning Merchan to an “appropriate post-trial schedule,” prosecutors have not made a position on whether to delay sentencing. In their letter Tuesday, they said they are open to a schedule that allows “sufficient time” to decide Trump’s motion to overturn the ruling while also punishing him “without unreasonable delay.”
Murchan last month dismissed Trump’s latest request that he recuse himself from the case, saying Trump’s demand was “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims” about his ability to remain impartial. State Court of Appeals Recently upheld a gag order.
“It would be grossly inappropriate for this court to assess issues of bias, impropriety or error at the state’s trial,” Hellerstein wrote. “Those are issues for state appellate courts.”
Instead, he noted, Trump could pursue a state appeal or seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court, whose immunity ruling curbs prosecutions of former presidents for official acts and points to official acts as evidence that the president’s unofficial actions are illegal. Prohibits prosecutors from drawing .
Trump’s lawyers argued that the lawyers rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, and that prosecutors erred by showing the jury evidence that should not have been allowed under the ruling, as former White House staffers described how Trump spoke on the news. reacted. Coverage of the hush money deal and tweets he sent as president in 2018.
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