President's Conviction Survives A Third Federal Rescue Attempt

NEW YORK—A federal judge rejected President Donald Trump’s third effort to move his New York criminal case into federal court and erase the conviction, preserving the state verdict after another complete tour of the same legal exit.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the renewed arguments were “neither new nor legally sufficient.” Trump contended that testimony from former aides, a former lawyer, and evidence involving presidential communications made the prosecution vulnerable under the Supreme Court’s immunity doctrine. Hellerstein concluded that a payment made to prevent a private embarrassment from reaching voters was not an official act.

A Manhattan jury convicted Trump in May 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to a $130,000 payment to adult-film actor Stormy Daniels. Hellerstein first returned the case to state court after the indictment and rejected another removal request after the verdict. A federal appeals court later instructed him to reconsider the immunity question, providing the case with a third federal hearing and the same federal address.

The president’s lawyers argued that the Constitution and the Supreme Court required immediate dismissal. Hellerstein wrote that conversations about the payment did not acquire official status merely because some occurred in the White House or involved presidential employees. Trump’s separate appeal remains pending in the New York courts, where the conviction began and has continued to reside.

Presidential immunity protects official presidential conduct. Friday’s order leaves one bookkeeping problem outside that perimeter, despite the institutional effort required to carry it around the perimeter three times.