Former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate April 4, 2023, in Palm Beach, Fla.A federal judge in New York on Tuesday set a hearing next month to consider whether former President Donald Trump should be allowed to move his criminal case from State Supreme Court in Manhattan to federal court."In the meantime, proceedings may continue in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County," Hellerstein's order said.
That means Trump and the Manhattan district attorney's office must, as ordered at a hearing last week, work together to pick a trial date for some time in February or March 2024. Trump has pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records related to a hush payment to adult film actress Story Daniels in the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign.
The allegations against Trump are based on reimbursement checks written to Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, who made the payment to Daniels. The reimbursements were logged as legal expenses when in fact the payment was made for campaign purposes, prosecutors said.The charges of falsifying business records were elevated to felonies because prosecutors alleged the true nature of the reimbursements to Cohen were falsified to conceal tax or election crimes.
"There has never been a prosecution under New York State law based on an alleged violation of election law pertaining to a federal election. And there are serious federal preemption issues with such a prosecution," defense attorney Susan Necheles wrote in her motion on Tuesday.