HUSH MONEY CONVICTION STAYS PUT IN NEW YORK STATE COURT

🔴 The hush money conviction stays in New York state court.

A federal judge on Friday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to transfer the New York state criminal case to U.S. District Court in Manhattan, CNBC reports.

It was the second time Judge Alvin Hellerstein has denied that request.

The case ended in a conviction in Manhattan state Supreme Court on charges of falsifying business records, tied to a hush money payment made to keep adult film star Stormy Daniels quiet before the 2016 election about her claims of having had sex with him.

Hellerstein's core reason was timing. He said Trump waited too long after the May 2024 conviction to seek removal, and had no legal grounds to move the case out of state court after being convicted and sentenced.

His words in the ruling: a defendant "cannot play one court against another; he cannot seek victory in one court, and then, when it becomes apparent that the court will rule against him, seek to remove his case to another court."

The judge went further. He wrote that the evidence introduced at trial did not infringe on presidential immunity, and that Trump had not shown he was prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for conduct related to being president.

"Paying hush money to an adult film star or engaging in a cover-up of an embarrassment are not subsumed in presidential immunity," Hellerstein wrote.

The conviction was for records offenses. Paperwork is where this case lives.

Should a convicted defendant ever be allowed to switch courts after sentencing?

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