A federal judge on Tuesday swiftly rejected Donald Trumpās request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, spurning the former presidentās attempt at an end-run around the state court where he was convicted and is set to be sentenced in two weeks.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellersteinās ruling ā just hours after Trumpās lawyers asked him to weigh the move ā upends the Republican presidential nomineeās plan to move the case to federal court so that he could seek to have his conviction overturned in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courtās presidential immunity ruling.
Hellerstein, echoing his denial of Trumpās pretrial bid to move the case, said the defense failed to meet the high burden of proof for changing jurisdiction and that Trumpās conviction for falsifying business records involved his personal life, not official actions that the Supreme Court ruled are immune from prosecution.
My girlfriend is a law processor and said nothing about what has gone on is normal and the judge absolutely would be doing exactly as you describe if it were literally anyone else.
Heās been a complete wild card. I have no idea what his motivations are.
My understanding is that the judge is proceeding the slow, careful way he is to prevent the inevitable appeal from having any chance of succeeding.