NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge will hear arguments Wednesday after an appeals court ordered him to take a fresh look at President Donald Trump’s bid to overturn his hush money conviction.
The second U.S. Court of Appeals in November ordered U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to reconsider his decision to keep the case in state court instead of moving it to federal court, where Trump could seek to be dismissed on grounds of presidential immunity.
A three-judge panel ruled that Hellerstein erred by failing to consider “important issues relevant” to Trump’s request to bring the New York case to federal court. They said they “express no opinion” on how he should rule.
Trump, a Republican, is not expected to attend Wednesday’s arguments in federal court in New York City, which were preceded by lengthy written submissions from Trump’s lawyers and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case and wants it to remain in state court.
Hellerstein, who was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, has twice rejected Trump’s requests to lead the case.
The first was after Trump’s impeachment in March 2023; the second followed Trump’s conviction in May 2024 and a subsequent ruling by the United States Supreme Court that presidents and former presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts.
In the later ruling, at issue in the 2nd Circuit decision, Hellerstein said that Trump’s lawyers failed to meet the high burden of proof for changing jurisdiction and that Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records involved his personal life, not official actions that the Supreme Court has ruled are immune from prosecution.
The 2nd Circuit panel said Hellerstein’s decision, which repeated its earlier denial, “did not consider whether certain evidence admitted at the state court trial related to immunized official acts or, if so, whether evidentiary immunity transformed” the hush money case into one related to official acts.
All three judges said Hellerstein should closely review evidence that Trump’s claims are related to official acts.
If Hellerstein finds that the prosecution relied on evidence of official acts, the judges said, he must weigh whether Trump can argue that those actions were taken as part of his White House duties, whether Trump “diligently sought” to have the case moved to federal court and whether the case can even be moved to federal court now that Trump has been convicted and sentenced in court. of the state.
Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, whose alleged affair with Trump threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign. He was sentenced to unconditional release, leaving his conviction intact but freed from any punishment.
Trump denies Daniels’ claim and said he did nothing wrong. He asked a state appeals court to overturn the conviction.