President Trump’s hush money conviction is being reconsidered after an appeals panel took action to attempt to move the case to federal court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s three-judge panel ruled that the District Court “does not appear to have considered important issues relevant to the removability of the underlying state prosecution.”
“We leave it to the able and experienced District Judge to decide whether to solicit further briefing from the parties or hold a hearing to help it resolve these issues,” the panel wrote.
The panel urged the lower court to “resolve Trump’s motion for leave to file a second removal notice in any particular way” and said it must also “consider the motion anew in light of our opinion.”
“President Trump continues to win in his fight against Radical Democrat Lawfare,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that the Witch Hunt perpetrated by the Manhattan DA be immediately overturned and dismissed.” They added, “President Trump will keep defeating Democrat weaponization at every turn as he focuses on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.”
In October, President Trump filed an appeal in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against him, demanding that it be tossed out. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in April 2023.
“Targeting alleged conduct that has never been found to violate any New York law, the DA concocted a purported felony by stacking time barred misdemeanors under a convoluted legal theory, which the DA then improperly obscured until the charge conference,” the document states. “This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction.”
