Left: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg walks in the hallway outside a courtroom where former President Donald Trump is attending a hearing in his criminal case on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star in New York, Monday, March 25, 2024 (Brendan McDermid/Pool Photo via AP). Right: Former President Donald Trump speaks during news conference Monday, March 25, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II).
Former President Donald Trump has been handed another legal defeat — this time in connection with his effort to get his criminal hush-money case removed from New York state court.
In a two-sentence order issued Thursday, a three-judge appellate panel announced that Trump’s case would stay in state court, thanks largely to the decision by the state judge to delay sentencing.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Trump has repeatedly attempted to move his hush-money case to federal court. Lawyers for the ex-president argue that New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s criminal falsification of business documents trial, must recuse himself from the case due to “asserted conflicts and appearances of impropriety,” including Merchan’s daughter’s job as a political consultant for the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who will face off against Trump at the polls in November.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has maintained that the case belongs in state court. Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a payout to adult content creator Stormy Daniels.
Senior U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected the removal request twice — first for being procedurally “deficient” and then again for failing to show good cause. Trump appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking for a stay of Hellerstein’s denial.
The judges cited Merchan’s delayed sentencing as the reason underlying their decision.
“In light of the state court’s adjournment of sentencing until November 26, 2024, it is hereby ORDERED that the motion for an emergency administrative stay is DENIED,” the filing said.
Trump was originally set to be sentenced on Sept. 18, but last week, Merchan decided to push Trump’s sentencing to after the election. Merchan also indicated that he would release his decision on whether the case was affected by the Supreme Court’s broad grant of presidential immunity on Nov. 12.
The ruling was handed down by U.S. Circuit Judges John M. Walker Jr., a George H.W. appointee; Raymond J. Lohier Jr., a Barack Obama appointee; and Michael H. Park, a Trump appointee.
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