Former President Trump on Thursday asked a federal court to intervene in his hush money case as he seeks to overturn his conviction and further push back his sentencing slated for next month.
In a filing late Thursday, Trump’s attorneys requested the U.S. District Court in Manhattan take over the criminal hush money case, arguing the state’s prosecution went against his constitutional rights and contradicted the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
The former president was convicted earlier this year on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, becoming the first former U.S. president to become a convicted felon. The charges stemmed from reimbursements made to Trump’s onetime fixer and attorney Michael Cohen, for a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Months later, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling for his presidential immunity argument in another case, granting broad immunity protections to presidents, while also restricting prosecutors from citing any official acts as evidence in trying to prove a president’s unofficial actions violated the law.
The high court held that former presidents are absolutely immune from prosecution for actions that fall within their core constitutional duties, such as interacting with the Justice Department, and at least presumptively immune for all other official acts. The justices left intact the longstanding principle that no immunity exists for purely personal acts.
A federal judge already rejected Trump’s first attempt at moving the hush money case to federal court last summer, ruling the case did not have to do with his official duties as president, but rather a “personal item.”
It remains unclear how the immunity decision could impact another attempt to move the case.
Trump and his legal team have repeatedly claimed the case was politically motivated, and argued in Thursday’s filing that moving to federal court will give him an “unbiased forum, free from local hostilities.”
“Immediate access to such a forum is imperative and of the utmost urgency,” wrote Trump’s attorneys, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove. “Federal institutional interests associated with the Presidency, Congressional and FEC regulation of federal elections, and the integrity of the upcoming 2024 Presidential election are at stake.”
Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment is currently pending before Judge Juan Merchan, whom his team has alleged has a conflict of interest due to his daughter’s work with top Democrats.
“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump—the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election—and voters located far beyond Manhattan,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
His attorneys argued Trump’s First Amendment rights are being violated by the court in the wake of a continued gag order imposed on his public statements about many of those involved in the case.
That request remains pending with Merchan, and the district attorney’s office has opposed lifting the restrictions at least until after Trump’s sentencing.
Should the case move to federal court, Trump’s attorneys signaled they would move to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed.
Trump was initially expected to be sentenced in July for his hush money case, but Merchan pushed back the sentencing to Sept. 18 at the earliest.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, declined to comment on the filing.
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