Trump Loses Again In Bid To Erase His Hush Money Conviction
US President Donald Trump suffered another legal setback after a federal judge on Friday rejected his latest attempt to move his New York hush money case to federal court and overturn his 34 felony convictions on presidential immunity grounds.
US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein said Trump’s renewed arguments were “neither new nor legally sufficient” and that he had failed to show “good cause and diligence” in seeking the transfer. It was the third time Hellerstein rejected Trump’s efforts to shift the case from New York state court.
Hellerstein also rejected Trump’s reliance on the US Supreme Court’s July 2024 ruling granting presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts. The judge said the conduct at the heart of Trump’s case was personal, not presidential, and that paying hush money to adult film actor Stormy Daniels or concealing an alleged affair could not be considered an official presidential act.
Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records linked to a USD 130,000 payment to Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors alleged Trump falsified records describing reimbursements to his former lawyer Michael Cohen as legal expenses as part of an effort to conceal the payment and influence the election. Trump has denied Daniels’ allegation of a sexual encounter and maintains he did nothing wrong.
The payment itself was not the crime. Rather, prosecutors focused on how the reimbursements were recorded and their alleged connection to an unlawful effort to influence the election.
Trump was sentenced in January 2025 to an unconditional discharge, leaving the convictions intact but imposing no prison time, fine or probation. He remains the first former and current US president convicted of a crime.
The latest ruling followed a directive from the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals last year ordering Hellerstein to reconsider his earlier rejection of Trump’s federal removal request. The appeals court asked him to examine whether evidence cited by Trump involved official acts and whether he had acted diligently.
During February arguments, Hellerstein criticised Trump’s lawyers for first seeking relief in state court after the Supreme Court immunity ruling rather than immediately pursuing federal removal. He called it a “strategic decision” and accused the defence of seeking a “second bite at the apple.”
Trump’s legal team called Friday’s ruling “baseless and lawless” and said it would appeal. Trump is also separately challenging his conviction through New York’s state appellate courts. For now, his 34 convictions remain intact.