Donald Trump has requested the intervention of a federal court to take over his hush money criminal case and potentially overturn his conviction. The former president’s lawyers filed a request with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to assert that the New York City criminal prosecution violated Trump’s constitutional rights and clashed with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. Trump was convicted in a state court in Manhattan of falsifying business records linked to a payment aimed at concealing affair allegations during his 2016 presidential campaign. Despite Trump’s prior unsuccessful attempt to move the case to federal court last year, a federal judge allowed his trial to proceed in state court, where he was ultimately convicted.
In the recent filing on Thursday, Trump’s legal team argued that transferring the case to federal court after his conviction would provide a fairer and less biased platform to address the legal matters. If the case is successfully moved to federal court, Trump’s lawyers plan to seek the overturning of the verdict and the dismissal of the case altogether. They emphasized that the ongoing legal proceedings are causing direct and irreparable harm to Trump, who they described as a prominent candidate in the 2024 Presidential election, as well as voters across the country.
A request for comment was made to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, responsible for prosecuting the case against Trump, but no immediate response was provided.
