Judge denies Trump bid to move hush money case to federal court

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that former President Trump may not request to move his hush money criminal case to federal court after failing to show "good cause," meaning the case will remain in New York state court.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in a four-page order that the two reasons Trump offered as to why his case should be removed — that New York courts were biased against him and that his trial judge did not adequately review the issue of presidential immunity — fall short.

Hellerstein said that district courts do not have jurisdiction to consider alleged bias against Trump in New York state courts, contending that's an issue for state appellate courts to consider. That means Trump's second argument, on presidential immunity, is the only one that "deserves attention," he said.

On that matter, Hellerstein previously ruled that "hush money paid to an adult film star is not 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," the judge said Tuesday.

Trump's request to move his New York state criminal case to federal court last week suggested that pushing ahead with the “purely political” state prosecution would cause him “direct and irreparable harm” in the 2024 presidential election.

He asked Judge Juan Merchan, the trial judge, in a letter Thursday to refrain from ruling on outstanding motions, which include his presidential immunity motion and a motion to push back his Sept. 18 sentencing, until after the removal proceeding concluded.

The Manhattan district attorney's office urged Merchan not to wait on the district court's ruling on removal to make his own on the other matters, suggesting that Trump’s concerns over timing as November nears are a result of his “own strategic and dilatory litigation tactics." However, the state prosecutors said they would defer to the judge on whether to delay Trump's sentencing.

Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his ex-fixer made to an adult film actress to keep her story of an alleged affair with Trump, which he denies, a secret ahead of the 2016 presidential election.