US President Donald Trump’s bid to wipe out his New York hush money conviction has hit another roadblock, with a federal judge ruling that the case cannot be moved from state to federal court. Manhattan-based US district judge Alvin Hellerstein on Friday rejected Trump’s latest attempt to shift the case, saying the conduct involved was personal and not part of his official duties as president.The ruling came after a three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals asked Hellerstein to take a closer look at how a July 2024 Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity applied to Trump’s case.At the centre of the dispute is Trump’s conviction over a $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump was found guilty in May 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.Daniels had claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump, which could have affected his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has denied the claim and has said the case was politically motivated.
Judge rejects Trump’s immunity argument
Trump’s lawyers argued that the Supreme Court’s July 2024 ruling should help overturn his conviction. In Trump v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts. It also said prosecutors cannot use evidence of official acts in criminal cases involving private conduct.Trump argued that the ruling applied to his case because jurors heard evidence from his first term in the White House, including testimony from former White House communications director Hope Hicks.Hellerstein, however, said the case was about Trump’s personal conduct rather than his presidential actions.“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.Hellerstein, who was appointed by former Democratic president Bill Clinton, had already rejected Trump’s attempt to move the case to federal court twice. The appeals court later asked him to examine whether the evidence in question “relates to acts taken under color of the Presidency.”
Trump to appeal latest setback
Trump has also asked a New York state appeals court to throw out his conviction. His lawyers notified the court on Friday 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 cited by Reuters.Trump did not receive jail time or a fine for the conviction. On January 10, 2025, trial judge Juan Merchan sentenced him to an unconditional discharge, leaving the conviction in place.Merchan said the punishment would avoid disrupting Trump’s second term as president, which began on January 20, 2025.Trump faced four criminal cases and denied wrongdoing in all of them. The case brought by Bragg was the only one that went to trial.The three judges on the appeals court were appointed by Democratic presidents, while Bragg is also a Democrat.
