A federal judge on Friday again rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to erase his New York hush‑money conviction, refusing to move the case into federal court or dismiss it on presidential‑immunity grounds. This leaves Trump’s felony conviction fully intact as he continues to challenge the case while serving as president. Hellerstein said Trump’s renewed arguments were “neither new nor legally sufficient,” adding that the president “has failed to show good cause and diligence.” It marks the third time Hellerstein has refused Trump’s bid to wrest control of the case away from the New York court where he was tried and convicted.
The judge found no basis to revisit arguments he had already rejected, including Trump’s claim that the conviction should be voided because the underlying conduct was tied to his presidency. In his order, Hellerstein wrote that Trump’s latest filing offered nothing that would alter the court’s prior conclusions. The judge’s language signals that the court views these repeated motions as attempts to relitigate settled issues rather than present new evidence or legal theory.
The decision also reinforces the separation between Trump’s federal office and the state‑level conduct at the heart of the case. Trump was convicted in New York in 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursements to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a hush‑money payment to Stormy Daniels. Hellerstein has repeatedly ruled that the acts in question were personal, not presidential, and therefore not eligible for federal removal.
The ruling does not change his sentence—an unconditional discharge handed down earlier this year—but it preserves the conviction as Trump continues to appeal. Trump’s legal team has argued that the conviction should be wiped away because the case allegedly interferes with federal authority and because Trump should be immune from prosecution for conduct connected to his political campaign. Hellerstein’s ruling shuts down that argument yet again, leaving Trump to pursue relief only through the state appellate courts.
The conviction stems from a case that began years before Trump returned to the White House. Manhattan prosecutors accused him of falsifying business records to conceal reimbursements to Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 during the 2016 campaign. A jury found Trump guilty on all counts in May 2024, making him the first U.S. president ever convicted of a felony.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Sam Wilson.
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