Trump tries once again to get NY hush-money case moved to federal court on immunity grounds

• Lawyers for Trump on Monday night again sought to move his hush-money case to federal court.
• An appellate brief reprises arguments from two failed attempts to move the case out of state court.
• It’s unclear if there will be a decision before the November 5 election.

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have filed a 99-page appellate brief seeking again to transfer his hush-money case to federal court.

The brief filed Monday night to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan is Trump’s second attempt to move the case out of New York’s state court system into a venue where, if elected president, he could try to pardon himself.

Trump’s first attempt at what is called “removal” to federal court was made in May during his Manhattan trial. The brief argued that his state-level prosecution on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records was politically motivated, tainted by a biased judge, and based on his official acts as president. Trump lost that effort and quickly abandoned an appeal.

“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts,” US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote in rejecting removal in July.

Trump’s second attempt at removal, made after his conviction in a brief filed in August, was tersely denied — again by Hellerstein — days later, though the effort did lead to a sentencing delay.

On Monday, Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove reprised their May and August arguments in appealing Hellerstein’s decision, calling the hush-money case “an unprecedented and baseless prosecution.”

Trump’s lawyers argue that he is entitled to have the case heard in a “federal forum” because so much of his defense is “rooted in structural protections for the institution of the presidency and the supremacy clause,” which states that federal law takes precedence over any conflicting state rules.

Trump maintains his innocence in the historic case, which is the first-ever conviction of a former or sitting president. He faces anywhere from probation to four years in prison after a jury found he conspired to falsify Trump Organization records to hide a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels aimed at silencing her days before voters went to the polls in the 2016 election.

His sentencing date is November 26, three weeks after the November 5 election.

Manhattan prosecutors now have a chance to respond to Monday’s brief; they did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night. It is unclear if the Second Circuit will decide on removal before or after the election.

Read Trump’s appellate brief here.