Donald Trump is seeking to move his Manhattan hush-money case into federal court in a last-ditch effort to delay his sentencing next month, arguing that the Supreme Court's immunity ruling nullifies the case and that its continuation will cause "direct and irreparable harm" to the Republican presidential nominee.
The former president's legal team filed papers in federal court in Manhattan late Thursday asking it to take the case over from the state court where he was found guilty in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to quiet porn star Stormy Daniels who said she had a sexual affair with him.
In the filing, Trump's lawyers said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg "violated the Presidential immunity doctrine in grand jury proceedings, and again at trial, by relying on evidence of President Trump's official acts during his first term in office."
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 18, seven weeks before election day Nov. 5.
"The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump — the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election — and voters located far beyond Manhattan," wrote Trump's lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove.
They argued that a prison sentence for Trump "would prevent him from continuing to pursue his leading campaign for the Presidency."
These "ongoing harms must be stopped. The impending election cannot be redone. The currently unaddressed harm to the Presidency resulting from this improper prosecution will adversely impact the operations of the federal government for generations," the filing said.
If the Manhattan case is moved to federal court, Trump's lawyers said they will seek to overturn the verdict and have the case dismissed because of the high court's immunity ruling.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the Manhattan case, is expected to rule September 6 on the defense's earlier motions to delay sentencing until after Election Day because of the Supreme Court's immunity decision.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling in July, said that the former president is immune from prosecution for official acts while in the White House but not from personal actions.
Trump last year failed in his efforts to have the Manhattan trial moved to federal court, seizing on the immunity claims.
District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected that argument.
"The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely personal item of the president — a cover-up of an embarrassing event," he wrote.
