NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge on Tuesday signaled he would not rule in Donald Trump’s favor and let the Stormy Daniels hush money case proceed in federal court.
After hearing lengthy arguments from lawyers for Trump and the prosecutors for District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Manhattan federal court Judge Alvin Hellerstein declined to issue a ruling but let the parties know how he felt.
Hellerstein said it appeared to be “very clear” that the conduct Bragg has alleged against Trump did “not relate to anything” under Trump’s presidential duties, as Trump claims.
The district attorney has accused Trump of concealing the nature of payments to former fixer Michael Cohen during his first year in office to hide that he was reimbursing him for illegally paying Daniels into silence about an alleged extramarital encounter to better his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election.
Hellerstein said there was “no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice could not be rendered” in the Manhattan state courts.
In their effort to transfer the case, Trump’s lawyers have argued he’s immune from state criminal prosecution, that the alleged conduct did relate to his presidential duties, and that the case should be tried federally because it relates to federal election laws, not state.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche argued that the payments to Cohen related to Trump’s official duties because of his “unique position” as a U.S. president dealing with challenges to his legal affairs, among other arguments.
The DA’s lawyers say the conduct had nothing to do with Trump’s White House duties, did violate state election laws, and that state prosecutors have a right to prosecute local criminal conduct.
“Writing personal checks — even if he did it in the Oval Office — is not an official act,” Matthew Colangelo said at the hearing.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, each representing a check to Cohen, who was federally convicted in 2018 of paying off Daniels, served prison time, and has cooperated extensively in the case.
In federal court, the twice-indicted Republican presidential front-runner could try to get the case dismissed on immunity grounds. He would also have access to a broader jury pool and could potentially pardon himself if he won the election.
Hellerstein said, assuming the indictment is accurate for the purposes of ruling on the arguments, he had seen no evidence showing the payments related to an official presidential act or that Cohen had been compensated for anything other than the hush money scheme.
“It is said that the president hired Cohen to make sure that his private affairs were not mixed with his public affairs. That very definition suggests that Cohen was hired privately — not under color of any presidential office or relating to it,” the judge said.
“The fact that it was a president who made that private hiring does not change the facts.”
Hellerstein’s comments did not represent an official ruling. He told the parties he would issue a written decision in the next two weeks.
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