Trump loses bid to transfer New York hush money case to federal court

JUST IN: A federal judge rejects Trump's bid to move his New York hush money case to federal court, keeping his conviction in the state system.

Trump's hush money conviction is staying exactly where it is, in New York state court.

Federal judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected the president's bid to move the case, and this is his second time saying no. The reasoning was blunt. Trump waited too long after his May 2024 conviction, and you can't shop for a friendlier courtroom once the first one rules against you. His exact words, he cannot play one court against another.

The legal team wanted the case in federal court to argue presidential immunity should have kept aides' testimony out of the trial. Hellerstein wasn't buying it. Paying hush money to an adult film star, he wrote, is not an official act of the presidency.

Trump's spokesman called it baseless and lawless and promised a powerful appeal to the Second Circuit. The state appeal is running separately. So the conviction stands tonight, thirty four felony counts, still on the books, still in New York.

This is Dave King, reporting for HIT.