Judge Signals Skepticism Toward Trump Plea To Move Stormy Daniels Case to Federal Court

The apparent hesitation of a federal district court judge, Alvin Hellerstein, to grant President Trump’s plea to move his criminal prosecution at New York to federal court means that it looks increasingly likely that Mr. Trump will be tried by a state tribunal. “There is no relationship to any official act,” Judge Hellerstein said during a marathon court hearing Tuesday at a Southern District of New York courtroom. “There is no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice couldn’t be rendered by the state court.”The nearly three-hour hearing — the room was packed with summer interns — was long on oral arguments, and featured a surprise witness: The Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, Alan Garten.Mr. Trump is being prosecuted at New York by District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He’s charged in a 34-count indictment with falsifying business records tied to a hush money payment made to a porn star, Stormy Daniels.Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case. His legal team alleges that the “indictment is politically motivated and was brought because a local politician” — Mr. Bragg — “disfavored President’s Trump’s acts and policies as President of the United States.” Because the alleged crimes occurred while Mr. Trump was president, the “charges relate to acts performed under color of office.”Left unsaid was the fact that if the case were moved to federal court, jurors would be drawn from New York City’s suburbs, which tend to lean more Republican than those from the city, a Democratic stronghold. Any appeal in federal court would go before courts with judges he appointed when Mr. Trump was president, including the Supreme Court. Judge Hellerstein was skeptical that just because he was president, Mr. Trump’s alleged cover-up was an official presidential act. He told Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, “Even if I become a judge I can still write checks for my milk delivery. The court is capable of private acts as is the president.” Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to paying hush money to Ms. Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep her from exposing an affair she allegedly had with Mr. Trump. Cohen went to federal prison in 2019. It was Judge Hellerstein who decided that Cohen be released and placed under home confinement. Following Department of Justice protocol, federal prosecutors did not pursue Mr. Trump at the time because he was president. Mr. Bragg’s charges allege Mr. Trump falsified business records to cover up the payout to Ms. Daniels and the reimbursement to Cohen. “Writing personal checks, even if he did it in the Oval Office, is not an official act,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued.Mr. Blanche, Mr. Trump’s attorney, countered that the checks sent to Cohen were part of Mr. Trump’s effort to separate his presidential affairs from his private business. He had hired Mr. Cohen as his personal attorney specifically to solve the intricate challenges of running a global business while serving as president. The 89-year-old judge intervened, noting, “I don’t see any evidence” for this theory. For receiving monthly payments of $35,000, Cohen sent invoices that did not specify “what if any services were rendered.” That’s when Mr. Blanche called Mr. Garten as a witness. This came as a surprise, as both parties had agreed last week not to call any witnesses. The prosecution, caught off-guard, asked to move the cross examination to the following day. But Judge Hellerstein insisted the witness be heard in full right then and there. “My understanding of the agreement” between Cohen and Mr. Trump, Mr. Garten testified, “was to reimburse him for the payments that he had made as part of the Clifford settlement agreement and also to compensate him for the work in the role that he was playing as counsel.”But when Judge Hellerstein asked Mr. Blanche whether there was a standard “retainer” agreement, Mr. Blanche and the witness confirmed that there was none, only the invoices Cohen had written for Mr. Trump. Now the hearing took on trial-like characteristics, as the parties engaged in arguments over the retainer agreement, whether such agreements are standard procedure at the Trump Organization, and how legal payments are recorded in the company’s ledger books. Judge Hellerstein demanded that all submitted evidence be unsealed and made public, mandating, “I want a public record since this is a public hearing.” He asked to see one of the checks Mr. Trump signed and paid to Cohen in 2017. That’s when a bank statement from a First Republic Bank transfer of $135,000 to Ms. Daniels on October 28, 2016, was disclosed. It includes a handwritten note on the left side of a statement, relating a conversation about a total payment to Cohen of $420,000 to be paid in monthly $35,000 installments. Mr. Trump was not present in the Manhattan courtroom for Tuesday’s hearing. “The act for which the president has been indicted does not relate to anything under the color of his office,” Judge Hellerstein said at the end of the hearing, telegraphing his read of the case. “Cohen was hired as a private matter to take care of a private matter. The fact that it was a president who made that private hiring does not change the facts or the legal principle to be derived from the facts,” the judge added.Judge Hellerstein plans to issue a written ruling. He explained that his statements in court represent his “present attitude” of the case, subject to deliberation. “I intend to write and issue a decision within two weeks,” the judge said.If Judge Hellerstein sticks to his first impression, the case will live in state court, with a trial date of March 25, 2024, a date set by an acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Juan Merchan.Lawyers for both sides declined to comment after the hearing.

Judge Signals Skepticism Toward Trump Plea To Move Stormy Daniels Case to Federal Court

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