The Manhattan district attorney’s office says a federal judge should once again reject President Donald Trump’s attempt to move his criminal hush money case into federal court because the accusation of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to silence a porn actress was “based on wholly private, unofficial conduct.”
The argument came in a new court filing Wednesday.
The judge, Alvin Hellerstein, previously turned down Trump’s attempt to move the case, but was ordered in November by a federal appeals court to take a second look.
Alex Wong/Getty Images – PHOTO: President Donald Trump addresses a House Republican retreat at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, January 6, 2026 in Washington.
Timeline: Manhattan DA’s Stormy Daniels hush money case against Donald Trump
Hellerstein is the same judge assigned to the narco-terrorism conspiracy case against deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Trump was convicted in 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to Stormy Daniels meant to keep her from discussing claims of a long-denied affair before the 2016 election.
In appealing his conviction, Trump said prosecutors relied on evidence a U.S. Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity rendered off limits.
Appeals court revives Trump’s effort to remove hush money case to federal court
“Time has not improved defendant’s arguments,” assistant district attorney John Hughes wrote in the filing Wednesday. “This Court already found no good cause for defendant to remove this case a second time. It should reach the same conclusion again.”
Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge a year ago — allowing him to avoid prison, fines or probation but cementing the conviction — and prosecutors said the “advanced stage” of the case weighs against moving it into federal court.
Trump cannot pardon himself for a state conviction.
Trump’s attorney asks judges to move appeal of NY hush money conviction to federal court
Prosecutors also argued the state charges were based on private conduct before Trump was elected.
“The Second Circuit has now confirmed that federal-officer removal requires a connection between the charged criminal conduct and an act under color of office, and there was no such connection here,” Hughes said.