MANHATTAN (CN) — Manhattan prosecutors don’t believe that Donald Trump’s recent attempt to move his hush money case from state to federal court should delay the proceedings any further, according to a letter from the district attorney’s office.
In the one-page letter dated last week but entered into the public docket on Tuesday, prosecutors urged New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan not to push off his pending rulings as they wait for a decision from a federal judge. They say federal law is clear that state proceedings don’t have to be stayed pending a federal court’s decision on a removal notice.
Trump’s complaints in the notice about timing — he has bemoaned that his planned Sept. 18 sentencing could impact his ongoing presidential campaign — are largely his own doing, the state attorneys argued.
“We note that the concerns defendant expresses about timing are a function of his own strategic and dilatory litigation tactics,” prosecutors wrote. “This second notice of removal comes nearly 10 months after defendant voluntarily abandoned his appeal from his first, unsuccessful effort to remove this case.”
In his request last week to remove the state case to the Southern District of New York, Trump claims the proceedings under Merchan are causing him “direct and irreparable harm."
“This harm includes First Amendment violations, as Justice Merchan has maintained a post-trial gag order that restricts President Trump from engaging in political advocacy based on valid criticisms of the New York County proceedings,” Trump argued. “And an entirely unjust sentencing is currently scheduled to occur on Sept. 18, 2024, which could result in President Trump’s immediate and unconstitutional incarceration and prevent him from continuing his groundbreaking campaign.”
In his filing, Trump reiterated a complaint he’s made since the start of trial in the spring: that Merchan is a prejudiced judge whose bias drove the Manhattan jury to its guilty verdict against him. He urged the federal court to give him an “unbiased forum, free from local hostilities” to fight his conviction.
The prosecutors’ response only weighed in on whether or not the state proceedings should be delayed — they did not comment on the validity of the removal request as a whole. That will be a decision for U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a Bill Clinton appointee who already shot down a 2023 removal request from Trump in this same case.
Experts are skeptical that Hellerstein will rule any differently this time around. If he does, Trump vowed to argue that the charges against him must be dismissed.
In May, Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from a hush money scheme during his 2016 presidential run. A Manhattan jury found that Trump tried to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by falsely labeling them as standard legal fees, a violation of state law.
At trial, Daniels told the jurors that she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and Trump, fearful that bad press could hurt his presidential campaign, paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about it. Trump continues to deny the encounter.
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