Donald Trumps legal team and Manhattan prosecutors clash over where to try him – WISH-TV | Indianapolis News | Indiana weather

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NEW YORK (AP) Ten months before Donald Trump is scheduled to stand trial in his historic criminal case in New York City, Manhattan prosecutors are turning the words of former presidents against him in a tug of war in which he will be tried.

Trump’s lawyers spent weeks angling to move the hush suit to federal court. The Manhattan district attorney’s office responded Tuesday that the case should stay in the state court where it originated, citing Trump’s old tweets that they say undermine his lawyers’ jurisdictional challenge.

Trump, a Republican, pleaded not guilty in state court last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to money paid to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for arranging hush money payments during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital affairs.

Prosecutors say the Trumps’ company, the Trump Organization, falsely logged payments to Cohen as being for a legal retainer that didn’t exist.

Trump, the leading contender for next years Republican presidential nomination, is scheduled to go on trial in state court on March 25, 2024, in the heat of the primaries.

Trump’s lawyers argue that he cannot be tried in state court because some of the alleged conduct occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he allegedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office . They argue that the case belongs in federal court because it involves important federal questions including alleged violations of federal election law.

The DA’s office, in its response, pointed to tweets from 2018 in which Trump said he was paying Cohen a monthly retainer and that Cohen was being paid for a $130,000 private settlement made by the porn actor’s lawyer. Stormy Daniels to stop him from talking about an alleged affair.

Trump tweeted that the payments had nothing to do” with his campaign. Prosecutors also cited a statement in which Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney at the time, said Daniels made the payment to settle a personal and false allegation to protect Trump’s family.

Ultimately, Manhattan federal judge Alvin Hellerstein will decide whether to take control of the case or keep it in state court. likely after the two sides aired it at a hearing on the issue on June 27.

Such extradition requests are rarely granted, although Trump is unprecedented because he is the first former president to be charged with a crime. In the meantime, the case will continue in state court.

Matthew Colangelo, a senior counsel to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, urged Hellerstein to keep the case as it is, arguing in court papers Tuesday that Trump’s lawyers failed to meet a high legal standard. bars.

Trump’s lawyers argue that he should be tried in federal court because, as commander-in-chief, he is a federal officer. Colangelo contended that the Trumps’ legal team did not satisfy any of the three grounds for moving the case under that standard and questioned whether it would even apply to Trump.

Over the years, he wrote, courts have debated whether the legal definition of federal officer applies to a president or only to other members of the government.

Trump’s charges relate to efforts to cover up criminal behavior that occurred well before his inauguration,” Colangelo wrote. That includes alleged violations of New York laws governing custody. of record on private enterprise laws that have no federal equivalent, he added.

Trump’s alleged criminal conduct had no connection to his official duties and responsibilities” but instead “arising from his unofficial actions in connection with his private businesses and conduct before the election,” Colangelo wrote in a 40-page filing.

The inability of Trump’s legal team to connect his conduct to his official duties nullifies any potential defenses he could use, such as presidential immunity, Colangelo wrote.

In addition to Trump and Giulianis’ public statements, prosecutors on Tuesday cited secret grand jury material including unclassified exhibits, a court order and a document obtained by a grand jury subpoena. That evidence was filed under seal.

Manhattans state and federal courthouses are only a block apart, but where Trumps trial is held could affect how it plays out.

The Manhattan DA’s office, which conducts most of its business in state court, would still prosecute either way, but Trump could gain an advantage in federal court with a larger and more politically diverse jury. pool drawn from the suburbs of New York City in addition to heavy. Democratic Manhattan.

Manhattan federal prosecutors previously investigated and charged only Cohen, who pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with hush money payments and is a key witness in the state’s case against Trump.

Trump sued Cohen last month, accusing him of substantial reputational damage for speaking publicly about the payments.

The Cohens’ attorney, Lanny Davis, accused Trump of using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation and said the case would not prevent the Cohens from cooperating with prosecutors.

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