Federal Judge Rules Trump's Hush Money Discussion Not a Presidential Act

A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump's discussions regarding a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels do not constitute an official presidential action, thus upholding the grounds for his state criminal charges. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Trump's legal effort to have his New York state criminal hush money case moved to federal court, which could have potentially made it easier to reverse his 2024 conviction.

Hellerstein's ruling follows the landmark presidential immunity ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in July 2024, which stated that presidents are protected from criminal prosecution for official acts. The judge heard arguments from Trump's legal team and Manhattan District Attorney's office prosecutors at a hearing in February, but did not issue a ruling until this past Friday.

"The People's prosecution arises from President Trump's private conduct surrounding the reimbursement of hush money payments to an adult film star," Hellerstein wrote in his Friday ruling. He maintained that Trump's acts as charged in the state's case were private and unrelated to his federal office.

Trump's defense team immediately appealed the ruling. "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 removed to federal court, and immediately overturned and dismissed," a spokesman for Trump's legal team said in a statement.

Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records tied to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. Despite the guilty finding, he was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, meaning he faced no penalties and the conviction was essentially in name only. It made Trump the first president ever convicted of a felony.

Months after his conviction, his lawyers tried again, following the immunity decision. They argued that Trump can't be prosecuted in connection to the hush money scheme because he's protected by presidential immunity. The defense team claims Trump reimbursed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen while in office for a cover-up scheme Cohen orchestrated during the 2016 election.

In his latest ruling, Hellerstein wrote, "There is no way that discussions regarding hush money payments to cover up the President's relations with Stormy Daniels could be an official act. An affair, or a cover-up of an affair, is not within the 'outer perimeter' of the President's official responsibilities."

The debate over whether Manhattan prosecutors improperly introduced evidence involving White House staffers' actions at the hush money trial centers on whether the acts were Trump's crimes as an individual separate from his capacity as president. Hellerstein disagreed with this interpretation, stating, "A president's assistant can work on unofficial, personal matters for the president."

Last November, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kicked the case back to Hellerstein, stating that the district court must reconsider in light of the SCOTUS decision but did not weigh in on whether the landmark ruling should tip the scales for Trump.

In a strategic move, Trump's lawyers waited about two months to file the renewed request for reargument in federal court, first asking state court Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the conviction. Merchan denied the motion, and Trump's appeal of his conviction is still moving through state appellate channels. In February, Hellerstein called this a strategic decision, suggesting that Trump had "sought two bites at the apple."