Judge rejects Trump attempt to move Manhattan hush money case to federal court

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A federal judge has shot down Donald Trump’s attempt to move his Manhattan criminal charges into US District Court, sending the case stemming from hush money payments back to state court in New York City.

In June, Manhattan prosecutors charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records, alleging an effort to silence news of Mr Trump’s alleged affairs as campaigned for the presidency in 2016. He has pleaded not guilty.

The order from US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein on 19 July argued that the former president failed to show that any of the conduct in the indictment related to his actions as president and remanded the case back to state court.

Evidence presented by prosecutors from Alvin Bragg’s office “overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President-a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” according to the judge’s ruling.

“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the president’s official duties,” he added.

Judge Hellerstein also rejected Mr Trump’s claims of immunity and his argument that the indictment is politically motivated.

He wrote that “there is no reason to believe that the New York judicial system would not be fair and give Trump equal justice under the law,” and that “Trump fails to make a case of protective jurisdiction” in this case.

The next appearance in that case is scheduled for 4 January, 2024.

The judge’s decision marks the latest blow for the former president’s multiple legal battles, including what appear to be imminent charges connected to a sprawling federal investigation into his attempts to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election.

On Monday, Mr Trump announced that he received a target letter from US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith related to that grand jury probe, indicating that he is the subject of an investigation and likely could be accused of a crime.

That investigation is separate from an investigation in Atlanta into his attempts to reject the results of that election in Georgia.

Last month, he surrendered to authorities in Miami on 37 federal charges stemming from his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information at his Mar-a-Lago property.

Earlier on Wednesday, another judge in New York rejected his request for a new trial after he was found liable of sexual abuse in the wake of a lawsuit from Elle columnist E Jean Carroll.