Trump’s Lawyers Attempt to Transfer Criminal Case to Federal Court

New York (CNN) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump said Thursday that they will try to transfer the criminal case facing the former president in New York to a federal court.

At the end of a due process hearing Thursday, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told Judge Juan Merchán of New York that the legal team would file a motion that day to try to move the case to federal court.

The attempt to take the case to federal court appears to be a long shot to try to undermine Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump, who pleaded not guilty last month to charges of falsifying business records with intended to conceal illegal conduct related to his 2016 presidential campaign.

Still, the measure could add another issue that would have to be litigated before a trial next year.

Elie Honig, a senior legal analyst for CNN and a former federal and state prosecutor, said the move by Trump’s lawyers was unlikely to succeed.

“While Trump can try to move a criminal charge from the state level to federal court, he would have to establish that the conduct somehow involved the performance of his official duties as president, which seems unlikely given that the money payments for silence were related to his previous candidacy for the presidency,” Honig said.

Merchán told the prosecution and Trump’s lawyers on Thursday that he wanted them to decide on a trial date for sometime in February or March 2024, which would mean the trial would take place in the middle of the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.

Once the date is set, Merchán warned, the lawyers involved — and Trump himself — could not accept any commitment that could delay the trial.

Thursday’s hearing is the first since Trump appeared in court for his arraignment last month. At the hearing, Merchán tried to iron out differences between the two parties over a protection order that would limit the former president’s ability to make public information about evidence from the investigation.

Merchán indicated Thursday that he intended to uphold most of the protection order proposed by the district attorney’s office, saying that limiting the former president’s ability to speak about evidence turned over by prosecutors in the discovery process would not restrict his ability to speak on the case or defend himself while running for president in 2024.

“This is not a gag order,” Merchán said.

Trump’s lawyers objected to language in the protective order that limits what he could say about the case, arguing that his First Amendment rights should not be restricted while he campaigns for president in 2024.

Throughout the proceedings, Trump’s social media tendencies loomed over the arguments, along with his presidential bid.

The district attorney’s office responded that Trump has an “extensive history of making inflammatory comments” about those who are investigating him, including Bragg, and said the former president would not be restricted from discussing facts that are already on the public record.

Trump’s lawyers also opposed restrictions proposed by the district attorney that would limit the evidence that could be shared directly with his client from the cell phones of witnesses included in the evidence, such as former Trump attorney and adjuster Michael Cohen, a key witness for the prosecution.

Merchán went through the language line by line with the lawyers to try to find a middle ground on how the personal material on the phones would remain isolated, while the evidence relevant to the case could be shared. The judge urged the prosecutors and defense attorneys to reach an agreement.

Once the protection order was drawn up, Merchán agreed that Trump, as the defendant, should be officially informed of its content. Defense attorneys and the district attorney’s office agreed that it could be done virtually at a future court hearing, in order to avoid the massive police presence that was required in lower Manhattan for Trump’s initial court appearance last month. .