MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump must stand trial in New York state court over his payments of hush money to a porn star, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
"Trump has failed to show that the conduct charged by the Indictment is for or relating to any act performed by or for the President under color of the official acts of a President,” U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote in a 25-page opinion. “Trump also has failed to show that he has a colorable federal defense to the Indictment.”
The criminal case is set to go to trial in Manhattan Supreme Court on March 25, 2024, while presidential primaries are underway, about three weeks after Super Tuesday on March 5.
It will fall roughly a year after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the historic 34-count grand jury indictment that made Trump the first U.S. president to be criminally charged.
Trump is charged in the case with having falsified records at his namesake company to cover up his 2017 reimbursement and compensation of Michael Cohen, his then attorney. In the intervening years, Cohen has admitted and pleaded guilty to paying off porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal during the run-up to the 2016 election to keep both women quiet about allegations of extramarital sexual encounters with Trump.
Attorneys for Trump subsequently sought to have the case transferred to federal court, contending that the state indictment charges Trump with acts done within his official capacity as president, what they refer to as the “color of his office,” because he was president when he is accused of falsifying business records about the payments to Daniels and McDougal.
Judge Hellerstein was not persuaded by Trump's defense that the conduct amounts to "an official act" of the commander-in-chief.
"The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President-a cover-up of an embarrassing event," the opinion states. "Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President's official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President's official duties."
During an evidentiary hearing last month in the Southern District of New York, Hellerstein signaled his position.
“Sounds a little far-fetched,” the Clinton-appointed judge had said.
Trump's attorney Todd Blanche declined to comment on the ruling.
Trump, 77, has long denied affairs with either woman and pleaded not guilty in state court to the hush-money charges.
Cohen, who served for years as Trump's longtime and loyal “fixer,” admitted as part of his 2018 guilty plea that the hush money was paid “at the coordination with and the direction of Individual-1," meaning Trump.
The Southern District of New York prosecuted Cohen but never brought criminal charges against Trump, who would have been empowered through the office of the presidency to pardon himself for any federal crime.
No such pardon power exists for Trump in Florida, however, where he faces federal charges for mishandling classified documents after leaving office.
A third indictment may be imminent meanwhile after Trump revealed Tuesday that he received notice from the Justice Department that he has been targeted in the special counsel’s investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In addition to the criminal cases, Trump will potentially face two civil trials before the 2024 presidential election. The first is a civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The second is a defamation suit in New York federal court from E. Jean Carroll, who already won a multimillion civil verdict against Trump in May related to his sexual abuse of her in the 1990s.
Hellerstein's ruling against Trump is his second defeat just on Wednesday in the Southern District of New York. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Trump's bid to retry Carroll's first case.
Trump lashed out last week on social media against the Biden administration’s Justice Department after it stopped supporting his claim that the presidency shielded him from liability in the Southern District of New York against Carroll’s upcoming $10 million defamation lawsuit.
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