Trump’s request was unprecedented because he’s the first former president ever charged with a crime. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, among other qualifications. He also disputed whether the legal definition of “federal officer” applies to a president or only to other members of the government. Matthew Colangelo, a senior counsel to District Attorney Alvin Bragg, argued nothing about the hush-money payments and reimbursements involved Trump’s official duties as president. Trump’s lawyers asked in May for the federal court to take control of the hush-money case, contending he couldn’t be tried in state court because some of the alleged conduct occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.įederal officers including former presidents have the right to be tried in federal court for charges arising from “conduct performed while in office,” Trump’s lawyers argued.Ī shift to federal court would’ve meant a more politically diverse jury pool - drawing not only from heavily Democratic Manhattan, where Trump is wildly unpopular, but also from suburban counties north of the city where he has more political support. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up. Trump denied having sexual encounters with either woman. Trump, a Republican, pleaded not guilty April 4 in state court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements made to Cohen for his role in paying $130,000 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.Ĭohen also arranged for the National Enquirer to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair, which the supermarket tabloid then squelched in a dubious journalism practice known as “catch-and-kill.” In his ruling, the judge said evidence strongly supported the prosecution’s contention that the money paid to Cohen was reimbursement for a hush-money payment. Prosecutors want that case to go to trial in December. Separately, Trump is charged in federal court in Florida with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and impeding investigators. Hellerstein’s decision sets the stage for Trump to stand trial in state court in Manhattan as early as next spring, overlapping with the 2024 presidential primary season in what could be a frenetic stretch of legal action as the twice-indicted Republican seeks a return to the White House. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.” “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. “The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President - a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” Hellerstein wrote in a 25-page ruling. Hellerstein found that the allegations in the Manhattan case pertained to Trump’s personal life, not presidential duties that would have merited a move to federal court. NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump ’s bid to move his hush-money criminal case from New York state court to federal court, ruling that the former president had failed to meet a high legal bar for changing jurisdiction. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)
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