United States President Donald Trump has once again lost a bid to transfer his criminal hush-money case from state to federal court, in a bid to have his felony conviction dropped. On Friday, Judge Alvin Hellerstein declined Trump’s petition for a third time, ruling that the president’s arguments were “neither new nor legally sufficient”. Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime in 2024, when a New York City jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors had argued that Trump attempted to conceal hush-money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, to avoid negative attention during his 2016 presidential bid. Trump, however, has maintained that his conviction should be tossed, given a 2024 Supreme Court decision expanding presidential immunity. But Hellerstein once again rejected that argument.
Trump’s lawyers have already announced they would appeal, denouncing Hellerstein’s judgement as “baseless and lawless”. The case centres on a $130,000 payment Trump allegedly made through his fixer, Michael Cohen, to buy Daniels’s silence, after she claimed she had an affair with the Republican leader while he was married. Trump has denied any sexual liaison with Daniels.
Falsifying business records in New York is normally a misdemeanour, but it can be charged as a felony when committed in service of another crime. In the hush-money case, prosecutors claimed Trump had sought to unlawfully influence the 2016 election, which he ultimately won. The New York indictment was one of four Trump faced in 2023, between his two terms as president.
The other indictments concerned allegations that Trump illegally withheld classified documents and attempted to undermine the 2020 elections, which he lost. Those cases were ultimately dropped after Trump won re-election in 2024. Of the four indictments, only the New York case reached trial.
While the felony convictions made Trump eligible for incarceration or a fine, Judge Juan Merchan ultimately sentenced the Republican leader to an unconditional discharge. That meant he would face no jail time, nor a financial penalty, but the convictions would remain on his records. The sentencing came on January 10, 2025, just days before Trump’s second inauguration.
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