A US judge said Trump’s criminal case in New York is likely in state court

[ad_1]

[1/4]Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends the Oakland County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner in Novi, Michigan, US June 25, 2023. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

June 27 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Tuesday said he is likely to reject former U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to move from state to federal court a criminal case stemming from hush money payments to a porn star. star.

Trump’s lawyers said federal court was the proper venue for the case, arguing that his actions were related to his presidency. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which filed the charges, said the case had nothing to do with any action by the president and should remain in state court.

US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said he wanted to side with prosecutors.

“The argument is very clear that the act of which the president is accused is not related to anything under the color of his office,” Hellerstein said at the end of a hearing in Manhattan federal court, expressing his “current thoughts ” towards the case before the written decision within two weeks.

Both sides declined to comment after the hearing.

Trump, front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, pleaded not guilty in April to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal 2017 reimbursements to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen for $130,000 paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. .

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she had a sexual encounter with Trump. He denies it.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued that the former president’s payments to Cohen were part of a retainer agreement for legal services. Blanche said Trump hired Cohen because he was president-elect and needed to ensure his business dealings were kept separate from his official duties.

When Hellerstein pressed whether Trump and Cohen had a retainer agreement, Blanche admitted she didn’t know one had been signed.

Prosecutors said the payments were personal.

“Writing personal checks, even if he did it in the Oval Office, was not an official act,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said at the hearing. “These payments are personal payments from personal accounts to a personal attorney handling personal affairs.”

Hellerstein said Cohen was clearly hired “to take care of private matters.”

Blanche also argued that the former president was charged with reimbursing Cohen for a payment made to influence the presidential election, and that federal law trumps state law for federal elections.

“Determining whether there is a violation of federal election law is something for this court to do and not the state,” Blanche said.

But Hellerstein noted that Trump has not been prosecuted for violating election law, and that the purpose of his alleged “fraud” is irrelevant.

“There’s no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice can’t be served by a state court,” Hellerstein said.

Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Luc Cohen; Editing by Howard Goller and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Luc Cohen

Thomson Reuters

Reports in the federal courts of New York. Previously worked as a correspondent in Venezuela and Argentina.

[ad_2]