A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday rejected an effort by former President Donald Trump to remove his criminal hush money case to the federal courts, saying there is “nothing” in the Supreme Court‘s recent immunity decision that should allow for such a move.
“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,” wrote U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Bill Clinton appointee who denied Trump’s effort to move the case to federal court before it was adjudicated.
Toward the end of May, a jury convicted the former president on 34 counts of falsifying the Trump Organization’s record to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, who threatened to go public with her alleged affair with him. Judge Juan Merchan, a state judge, is weighing whether to move forward with a Sept. 18 sentencing after Trump asked for a delay until following the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Hellerstein noted in his four-page decision Tuesday evening that “hush-money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” adding that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear arguments about the propriety of Merchan’s trial.
Merchan is weighing a motion by Trump’s legal team, led by Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, that seeks to use the Supreme Court’s July 1 decision in Trump v. United States to toss the jury’s verdict outright.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told the Washington Examiner, “There should be no sentencing in this Election Interference Witch Hunt,” arguing that since it was “mandated by the United States Supreme Court, this case, along with all of the other Harris-Biden Hoaxes, should be dismissed.
“President Trump and his legal team will continue to fight to move this Hoax into federal court where it should be put out of its misery once and for all,” Cheung added.
Supreme Court immunity in the spotlight
The Supreme Court’s immunity decision has already begun to have an impact on the former president’s cases as he battles four indictments, including a recent superseding indictment filed in the 2020 election subversion case that aims to clarify aggravating offenses where the government believes the immunity decision cannot apply.
For example, Trump’s Rose Garden video from Jan. 6, 2021, when he told rioters to leave the U.S. Capitol grounds, has been removed from the indictment. Smith, however, has added new details about Congress’s certification process and what role then-Vice President Mike Pence was playing in it, an attempt to bolster other aspects of the indictment.
Conversely, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon clung to a footnote written solely by Justice Clarence Thomas in the immunity decision in order to dismiss his classified documents case in Florida, which is on appeal.
Trump entered a plea of not guilty to the new indictment via court records on Tuesday.
More decisions for Merchan
Meanwhile, Merchan is slated to decide whether the Supreme Court’s immunity decision affects the hush money conviction on Sept. 16, just two days before Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 18.
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has said he does not oppose a delay in the sentencing date in response to Trump’s motion.
Prosecutors with Bragg’s office did object to Trump’s attempt to refile his motion to move to federal court in a filing on Tuesday.
