A New York federal judge on Wednesday rejected former President Donald Trump's efforts to move his New York criminal case to federal court.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1998, said the former president failed two main components needed to justify his move of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case from state to federal court.
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"Trump has failed to show that the conduct charged by the Indictment is for or relating to any act performed by or for the President under color of the official acts of a President. Trump also has failed to show that he has a colorable federal defense to the Indictment," Hellerstein wrote.
The case was remanded back to the New York Supreme Court, keeping it on track for a March 25 trial.
Trump and his legal team traveled to New York City in early April for his arraignment on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. He pleaded not guilty, denied any wrongdoing, and decried Bragg’s prosecution as a political witch hunt.
The former president's counsel argued in June that “the facts and the law all point to” the Southern District of New York federal court “being the appropriate jurisdiction for this case, one which was brought solely due to the political motivation of the Manhattan District Attorney.”
As part of Bragg's case, he accused Trump of making a series of false entries as he reimbursed his attorney, Michael Cohen, in part to shroud a $130,000 hush payment that Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Citing the context surrounding the charges, Hellerstein described Trump's request as a "personal item" of the former president, in essence a "cover-up of an embarrassing event."
"Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties,” Hellerstein wrote in his 25-page decision.
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Cohen paid Daniels to keep her lips sealed about the claim of having had sex with Trump a decade before, months after Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron Trump. The former president denies the affair with Daniels.
The Washington Examiner contacted an attorney for the former president.