Trump request to move hush money case to federal court rejected over ‘deficient’ filing

The latest request by former President Trump’s legal team to have his hush money case taken over by a federal court was rejected Friday, according to a notice on the docket.

The court, in its notice, claimed the filing was “deficient,” according to the docket. It has been sent back to the attorneys because they failed to attach written permission from the court or prosecutors, per the note to his attorney Emil Bove.

“The filing is deficient for the following reason(s): the PDF attached to the docket entry for the pleading is not correct; the wrong event type was used to file the pleading; Court’s leave has not been granted; the order granting permission to file the pleading was not attached,” the notice reads.

The former president’s attorneys, just a day before, asked the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to assume control of the case, set to go to sentencing next month. In the request, the lawyers argued that the state’s prosecution worked against Trump’s constitutional rights and ignored a recent decision by the Supreme Court on presidential immunity.

Trump became the first sitting or former president to be convicted in a criminal trial in May. A New York jury at the time found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide an alleged affair with an adult film actress during his 2016 campaign. 

“Contrary to the wishes of Radical Liberals, President Trump’s powerful petition to remove the Manhattan DA’s Witch Hunt to federal court has not been ruled on by a judge,” Steven Cheung, a communications director for Trump’s campaign said Friday in an emailed statement to The Hill.

“In a standard procedural move, today, the clerk’s office asked President Trump’s legal team to file in a specific format and we are working with them to make sure it is properly filed on the electronic system,” he added.

Attorney Todd Blanche pointed The Hill to the Trump campaign statement.

The team has also pushed to delay the sentencing, currently scheduled for Sept. 18 in light of the Supreme Court immunity decision. The high court ruled in early July that the core presidential powers are immune from criminal prosecution, seen as a win for the former president.

Trump asked Judge Juan Merchan — who is overseeing the hush money case — to set aside the guilty verdict in light of the court decision. He did not assert immunity from the 34 guilty counts themselves but argues that the conviction must be set aside because certain pieces of evidence were protected “official acts” that should never have been shown to the jury.

The Hill has also reached out to Bove for comment.