Trump's ongoing push to erase his criminal conviction lands in federal appeals court

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Source: NPR

POLITICS
Trump's ongoing push to erase his criminal conviction lands in federal appeals court

UPDATED JUNE 11, 2025 1:58 PM ET
By Kat Lonsdorf


President Trump, shown at Manhattan criminal court in New York, May 28, 2024, before he was re-elected, reacts as he walks back into the courtroom after a break during closing arguments in his hush money trial.
Spencer Platt/AP/Pool Getty North America

NEW YORK -- An appeal hearing for President Trump's criminal conviction and sentencing was held in a federal appeals court in Manhattan Wednesday morning. It's the latest attempt by the president's legal team to ultimately overturn his conviction in his hush money case, arguing that it should be moved to federal court.

Trump and his lawyers have long fought for the case to be moved from the New York state system and into the federal one, where he could then try to have the verdict thrown out on the grounds of presidential immunity. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting the case, maintains it falls within state jurisdiction.

A three-judge panel overheard the arguments, which were scheduled to take about 20 minutes total and instead went over an hour, centered largely around the interpretation of a specific law that allows federal officials facing charges to move a case from state to federal court if the case involves conduct while in office. Trump's lawyers argue the law applies since evidence presented during the trial was from Trump's first term -- even though the actual crime was committed in 2016, when Trump was still a candidate. In an unusual move, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus brief last month in support of the president's request.

The president was represented in court by Jeffrey Wall, a private lawyer and Supreme Court litigator who also served as acting solicitor general during Trump's first term in office. Trump did not appear in court for the appeal. ... "Everything about this cries out for a federal court room," Wall told the judges, arguing that testimony from former Trump officials during his first term like Hope Hicks made the case relevant to the president's official duties.

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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/06/11/nx-s1-5428246/trump-continues-to-appeal-historic-criminal-case-hush-money-stormy-daniels