### Federal Judge Upholds Decision to Keep Trump's Hush Money Case in State Court

A federal judge has once again rejected President Donald Trump's legal bid to have his New York state criminal hush money case moved to federal court. The decision could have significant implications for the case, which centers around allegations that Trump paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.

District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that Trump's arguments for moving the case were "neither new nor legally sufficient." Hellerstein has previously denied Trump's request to move the case, but a federal appellate court ruled last fall that the district court judge must reconsider in light of the landmark presidential immunity ruling from the US Supreme Court in July 2024.

The judge heard arguments from lawyers for Trump and prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's office at a hearing in February but did not issue a ruling until now. On Friday, Hellerstein maintained his position that Trump's acts as charged in the state's case against him were private and unrelated to his federal office.

"The People's prosecution arises from President Trump's private conduct surrounding the reimbursement of hush money payments to an adult film star," Hellerstein wrote Friday. "That conduct, and the challenged evidence, bears no substantive relation to his position in federal office. To consider these facts to be 'relating to' a federal office would give the words a definition that is 'so broad that it is meaningless.'"

Trump immediately appealed Friday's ruling. "The Supreme Court's historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that the Witch Hunt perpetrated by the Manhattan DA be removed to federal court, and immediately overturned and dismissed," a spokesman for Trump's legal team said in a statement.

Trump's defense team has long argued that Trump can't be prosecuted in connection to the hush money scheme because he's protected by presidential immunity – he reimbursed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen while in office for a cover-up scheme Cohen orchestrated during the 2016 election.

In his latest ruling, the judge wrote, "There is no way that discussions regarding hush money payments to cover up the President's relations with Stormy Daniels could be an official act. An affair, or a cover-up of an affair, is not within the "'outer perimeter' of the President's official responsibilities."

For Trump, the debate is whether Manhattan prosecutors improperly introduced evidence involving White House staffers' actions at the hush money trial that they allege was Trump's crimes as an individual separate from his capacity as president. Hellerstein disagreed: "A president's assistant can work on unofficial, personal matters for the president."

Last November, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals kicked the case back to Hellerstein and said the district court must reconsider but didn't weigh in on whether the SCOTUS decision should tip the scales for Trump.

Trump's lawyers also waited about two months to file that renewed request in federal court, first asking the state court Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the conviction. Merchan denied the motion and Trump's appeal of his conviction is still moving through state appellate channels.

In February, Hellerstein called it a strategic decision to petition Merchan before the federal court. "You made a choice. You sought two bites at the apple," he said, signaling Friday's ruling back then.

In his order Friday, Hellerstein said Trump waited too long to file the renewed request for re

The case has garnered significant attention and has become a focal point of the ongoing debate over presidential immunity and the separation of powers. As the legal battle continues, the outcome could have far-reaching implications for both Trump and the broader interpretation of presidential immunity.