Politics

Judge Denies Trump Request to Move NY Case to Federal Court

JUL 20 2023·Updated FEB 2 2024

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The Facts

On Wednesday, US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein denied former Pres. Donald Trump’s request to move the New York criminal case against him from state to federal court.
The Associated Press
In April, Trump was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130K payment made to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who allegedly made a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.
Reuters
Daniels alleges she had an affair with Trump, and the case is based on accusations Trump attempted to silence her with a payment.
Politico
In his ruling, Hellerstein wrote Trump, who previously pleaded not guilty, failed to show how the acts he was indicted for were “under color of the official acts of a President.”
ABC News
Trump’s lawyers, who have until late August to file any motions to dismiss the charges ahead of the March 2024 trial, argued that Trump hired Cohen because he was president and any payments made were legitimate legal expenses paid as president.
The Hill

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The Spin

Democratic narrative

With a couple of indictments already on his resume and more possibly coming, Trump is desperately trying to use his time as president as a source of immunity. But there’s no way for him to relate covering up an embarrassing event with an official act as president. The evidence in this case is clearly strong enough to move forward in state court, regardless of what Trump’s lawyers argue.

nytimes

Pro-Trump narrative

This case is slated against Trump as neither the New York state court system nor the judge overseeing this trial is impartial. At the very least, it should be moved to federal court, but Bragg and his office are afraid their politically motivated witch hunt will be exposed if the jury pool is expanded. Trump didn’t have any relationship with Daniels, so there was no alleged payoff.

Newsmax