On Friday, former President Donald Trump appealed the decision to have his hush money criminal case tried in a New York state court.
Last week, Clinton appointed U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, ruled that the hush money case did not relate in any capacity to Trump’s time serving in the White House, and as such rejected the former President’s attempts to have the case moved to federal court. Prosecutors had objected to the potential change in the court.
On Friday afternoon, Susan Necheles and Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorneys filed a notice of appeal which will allow them to bring their appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump is intending with this move to help move the case from state to federal court, arguing that it is necessary for the case to be in a federal court as many federal questions are going to be addressed. These include questions about whether he should be charged in a case connected to alleged crimes that occurred while he was the U.S. President.
Trump’s lawyers in the nine-page appeal notice noted that the case against Trump is unprecedented, and that never before has a local prosecutor filed charges against a defendant who was serving as the U.S. president during the time of the alleged crime.
Hellerstein disagreed with that claim in his ruling, arguing that this case is completely personal in the case of the former President as he was trying to cover up an incident by paying off the adult film star in this case. He further noted that this case does not in any way relate to Trump’s time in office.
