Trump bid to move hush money criminal case to federal court declined

13/9/2024 6:14

        A U.S. appeals court on Thursday declined to interfere with a
        lower court decision to keep Donald Trump's already-decided
        criminal case over hush money paid to a porn star in state
        court, dealing another blow to the former U.S. president's bid
        to move the case to federal court.
        
        On Aug. 29, nearly three months after he was convicted in
        the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president, Trump asked
        U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to move the case from New
        York state court in Manhattan to federal court, arguing the
        trial violated his constitutional rights.
        
        Trump, the Republican nominee for president in the Nov. 5
        election, said that if the case were moved, he would ask the
        federal court to dismiss it altogether because jurors at trial
        saw evidence of his official acts as president.
        
        He said that violated the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark
        decision finding presidents have broad immunity from prosecution
        for official acts.
        
        Hellerstein denied that request on Sept. 3, finding that the
        case dealt with "private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of
        executive authority." Trump asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
        Appeals to put that decision on hold while it considered the
        merits of his appeal.
        
        A three-judge panel at the 2nd Circuit denied Trump's
        request, citing Justice Juan Merchan's delay of Trump's
        sentencing date to Nov. 26 from Sept. 18. Merchan wrote that he
        wanted to avoid the unwarranted perception of a political
        motive.
        
        Merchan is now set to decide on Nov. 12 whether the case
        should be dismissed because of the Supreme Court's immunity
        decision, which stemmed from a separate criminal case Trump
        faces over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to
        Democratic President Joe Biden.
        
        Trump has pleaded not guilty in that case.
        
        In the New York state case, a jury on May 30 found Trump
        guilty of 34 counts of felony falsification of business records
        to hide his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to
        adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the
        2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with
        Trump.
        
        Trump denies having sex with Daniels, and has vowed to
        appeal his conviction once he is sentenced.