Donald Trump’s New York hush money case will stay in state court after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that “good cause has not been shown” to remove the case to the Southern District of New York, Courthouse News reports. “Removal should not be permitted,” U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote Tuesday in a four-page decision. “Good cause has not been shown, and leave to remove the case is not granted.” Last week, Trump filed a notice of removal to get the Manhattan criminal case moved to federal court, where he vowed to argue against his May conviction and try to delay his Sept. 18 sentencing. The former president argued he had suffered “direct and irreparable harm” in the state proceedings under New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. His removal request last week was quickly denied by Hellerstein on a technicality — Trump needed permission before filing a notice of removal since the trial had already taken place. Trump refiled Tuesday, only to be denied once again for lack of cause.
Hellerstein has rejected a similar request before, well before the trial was underway. Hellerstein ruled then that the case should continue in state court because the crux of the allegations against Trump were based on his behavior before he was president. Trump argued that the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on broad presidential immunity gives him new standing to try again. Hellerstein was unconvinced. “Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” the judge wrote Tuesday. Hellerstein also rejected Trump’s argument that Merchan was biased against the former president, finding that “this court does not have the jurisdiction to hear Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial.” Hellerstein’s ruling puts to rest the latest effort from Trump to overturn his criminal conviction and delay his sentencing. Trump also has motions pending with Merchan to toss the case on presidential immunity grounds and postpone the sentencing until after the November presidential election. Merchan has yet to rule on either issue.
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