Trump’s team appeals after judge rules hush money payments weren’t official presidential acts

WASHINGTON, DC: On Friday, Aug 28, a federal judge shot down President Trump’s latest attempt to overturn his hush money conviction.

Trump wanted to shift the state case into federal court and get it thrown out, arguing presidential immunity should protect him. But US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein wasn’t buying it. He said Trump didn’t offer any new or valid reasons. The judge made it clear: testimony from ex-aides, a lawyer, and Trump’s own social media posts don’t violate presidential immunity. The case stays put.

Third rejection and appeal

This marked the third time Hellerstein has blocked Trump from having the case moved from New York state court to federal court in Manhattan.

At one point, Hellerstein noted that the president's lawyers thought it was his job to merely certify the record in the state trial court to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Federal district courts are not certifying clerks," the judge wrote.

By midafternoon Friday, Mr Trump's legal team had notified the lower court it was appealing the ruling, which a spokesperson for the team called "baseless and lawless."

"The Supreme Court's historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that the Witch Hunt perpetrated by the Manhattan DA be removed to federal court, and immediately overturned and dismissed," read a statement issued on behalf of the legal team to The Associated Press. "President Trump will be filing a powerful appeal, and will continue defeating Democrat weaponization at every turn."

Court's reasoning and prior rulings

Hellerstein turned down requests to move the case forward, right after Trump’s March 2023 indictment, and again following his trial once the Supreme Court ruled in July 2024 that presidents can’t be prosecuted for what they do officially.

Trump appealed that second denial. Last November, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in, telling Hellerstein to take another look because he hadn’t dealt with some key issues in Trump’s argument.

On Friday, Hellerstein made his position clear again: talks about hush money payments to cover up a personal action don’t count as part of a president’s official duties.

The judge pointed out that Trump’s lawyers took their time; they started in state court and only tried federal court about two months later.

Hellerstein saw this as a deliberate move, not a mistake. By choosing that order, Trump boxed himself in. “He’s trying to get a second bite at the apple,” the judge wrote, and the law doesn’t look kindly on that sort of tactic.

The judge added that "Trump's delay in filing for removal constitutes a 'quintessential strategic decision,' and the 'fact that he later came to view that decision as a poor one is not sufficient, by itself, to establish cause.'"