US judge rejects Trump’s bid to switch hush-money case to federal court

A US federal court judge, Alvin Hellerstein, has issued a significant ruling concerning former President Donald Trump's legal challenges. The judge formally rejects Trump's attempt to transfer his hush-money criminal case from New York state court to a federal court. Trump had argued that the charges of falsifying business records should be heard at the federal level, citing actions he took while serving as president.

The criminal case stems from a payment made during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Money was paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to prevent her from speaking publicly about an alleged affair. Prosecutors claimed that Trump then engaged in falsifying business records to conceal this payment as legal expenses. A jury in the state court recently found Trump guilty on all 34 counts related to these charges, marking a historic criminal conviction for a former US president.

Trump's legal team sought to move the case by arguing that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president and therefore fall under federal jurisdiction. They invoked the 'federal officer removal' statute, which allows certain cases involving federal officers to be moved to federal court. However, Judge Hellerstein determined that the acts in question – the hush-money payment and the subsequent falsification of records – were personal or campaign-related, not official presidential duties. This means the case will remain in the state court system, where Trump received his conviction and awaits sentencing.