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MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump’s New York hush money case will stay in state court after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that “good cause has not been shown” to remove the case to the Southern District of New York.
“Removal should not be permitted,” U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote Tuesday in a four-page decision. “Good cause has not been shown, and leave to remove the case is not granted.”
Last week, Trump filed a notice of removal to get the Manhattan criminal case moved to federal court, where he vowed to argue against his May conviction and try to delay his Sept. 18 sentencing. The former president argued he had suffered “direct and irreparable harm” in the state proceedings under New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
“This harm includes First Amendment violations, as Justice Merchan has maintained a posttrial gag order that restricts President Trump from engaging in political advocacy based on valid criticisms of the New York County proceedings,” Trump claimed. “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.”
Trump sought an “unbiased forum, free from local hostilities” to fight the case. His removal request last week was quickly denied by Hellerstein on a technicality — Trump needed permission before filing a notice of removal since the trial had already taken place.
Trump refiled Tuesday, only to be denied once again for lack of cause. Such a ruling was not unexpected; a former New York judge told Courthouse News last week that he would be “stunned” if Hellerstein ruled differently.
Hellerstein has rejected a similar request before, well before the trial was underway. Hellerstein ruled then that the case should continue in state court because the crux of the allegations against Trump were based on his behavior before he was president.
Trump argued in his latest effort that the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on broad presidential immunity gives him new standing to try again. Hellerstein was unconvinced.
“Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” the judge wrote Tuesday.
Hellerstein also rejected Trump’s argument that Merchan was biased against the former president, finding that “this court does not have the jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial.”
Trump has made a number of baseless claims challenging Merchan’s impartiality, most notably bemoaning Merchan’s daughter’s work as a political consultant for Democrats — a relationship that a New York judicial ethics panel ruled last year has no bearing on Merchan’s fairness as a judge.
Hellerstein’s ruling puts to rest the latest effort from Trump to overturn his criminal conviction and delay his sentencing. Trump also has motions pending with Merchan to toss the case on presidential immunity grounds and postpone the sentencing until after the November presidential election.
Merchan has yet to rule on either issue.
Earlier Tuesday, Manhattan prosecutors urged Merchan not to delay his rulings on those requests while Trump is seeking federal court intervention. As it stands, Merchan is set to rule on the presidential immunity issue on Sept. 16 — two days before he’s set to be sentenced.
A Manhattan jury in May convicted Trump on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which were part of an illicit hush money scheme tied to his 2016 presidential run. The jury found Trump ordered his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about a tryst she had with Trump 10 years prior.
The jury ruled that Trump then forged business records to repay Cohen, falsely labeling invoices, ledger entries and checks as payments for standard legal fees.
Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing, or that he had sex with Daniels at all. He’s the first president, current or former, to be convicted of a felony.
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