Ahead of his sentencing later this month, the legal team for Donald Trump requested that his hush money case be moved out of state court and into federal court. On Tuesday, however, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied such a request, just as he has done previously.
As the Associated Press reported:
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Trump's lawyers permission to file paperwork asking the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to take control of the case. He said they had failed to satisfy the burden of proof required for a federal court to seize the case from the state court where Trump was convicted in May.
The ruling leaves Trump's case in state court, where he is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18.
Trump's lawyers had sought to move the case to federal court so they could then seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling granting ex-presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts.
Hellerstein, who denied Trump’s request last year to move the case to federal court, said nothing about the Supreme Court's July 1 ruling affected his “previous conclusion that the hush money payments” at issue in Trump's case “were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”
This newer request came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that the office of the president was immune from criminal prosecution when it comes to official acts.
Trump's team also raised concerns about the judge involved in the case, Judge Juan Merchan, though Hellerstein was unwilling to get involved in such a pressing issue, pointing to how it's a matter for other courts:
Hellerstein sidestepped a defense argument that Trump had been the victim of “bias, conflicts of interest, and appearances of impropriety” at the hands of the judge who presided over the trial in state court, Juan M. Merchan.
“This Court does not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial,” Hellerstein wrote in a four-page decision.
Instead, Hellerstein noted, Trump can pursue a state appeal or, after exhausting that path, seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court
“It would be highly improper for this Court to evaluate the issues of bias, unfairness or error in the state trial,” Hellerstein wrote. “Those are issues for the state appellate courts.”
From the start, there have been plenty of concerns about Merchan and his conflicts of interest through his political donations and most pressingly his adult daughter, Loren Merchan with her connections to Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris. The judge has still stubbornly resisted such charges and has repeatedly rejected calls to recuse. In addition to the bias involved, Merchan's jury instructions also made a "guilty" verdict, which was handed down on May 30 on all 34 felony charges, that much more likely.
Damning details have continued to come out against Merchan and such connections even after the verdict. Congressional Republicans continue to look to get to the bottom of such concerns. Last week, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed Michael Nellis, the founder and CEO of Authentic Campaigns, where Loren Merchan works.
Merchan is expected to sentence Trump on September 18, with former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy having warned people to prepare for Trump to be sentenced to jail.
McCarthy and other legal experts have also raised concerns at length about the hush money case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, with Matthew Colangelo, formerly a top member of the Biden-Harris administration's Department of Justice working on the case. Bragg charged Trump with felonies in the case when he could have brought the charges as misdemeanors, was using an untested legal theory, and after the statute of limitations had expired. Others had also previously declined to bring such charges against Trump.
Legal experts widely believe that the "guilty" verdict will be overturned on appeal, especially if Trump is sentenced to jail.