Judge denies Trump bid to move hush money case to federal court
Judge denies Trump bid to move hush money case to federal court
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00:00Caitlyn, what does Trump's new plea mean for this case?
00:03Well, Wolf, it's only one page, it's just a couple sentences of Donald Trump saying
00:08he doesn't want to show up at a hearing that's happening on Thursday.
00:12And at that hearing, that's when he will have to be arraigned.
00:16He will have to enter his pleading to this new indictment that the special counsel's
00:20office has brought through the court system against the former president.
00:24Now, Wolf, what's important about this is that it puts things back into trial mode,
00:30right?
00:31In the federal court, you put that not guilty pleading in and then things progress toward
00:35a trial.
00:36There are all kinds of legal arguments that have to take place before a trial, before
00:40Judge Tanya Chutkin.
00:42On Thursday, she's going to be talking about the schedule and the plan moving forward.
00:48But what this piece of paper does, it means that Donald Trump doesn't have to show up
00:51in person.
00:52The first time he was indicted in federal court related to the 2020 election, he did
00:57go to court in person, raised his right hand and told the judge he pleads not guilty to
01:02the four charges he was facing.
01:04He's facing those same four charges, a new version of the indictment.
01:08But he's saying, my lawyers are going to take care of this for me.
01:11Here's the paperwork with my signature on it.
01:13I plead not guilty.
01:15So Andrew, there's this hearing coming up next week.
01:18What do you think the timeline will look like and how the election potentially could
01:24impact things?
01:27I think, Wolf, the timeline of the review of this new indictment and the process that
01:33Judge Chutkin will set out and with the lawyers to kind of make sure that the evidence that's
01:39currently required to prove the case does not go within the scope of those matters that
01:45the Supreme Court has said can't be used against President Trump because of his presidential
01:51immunity, this newly recognized presidential immunity.
01:54There's been a lot of speculation as to what that process will look like and how long it'll
01:58take.
01:59We don't really have clear answers to those questions yet.
02:01I think it's unlikely that we'll see something like a mini trial or witnesses actually testifying,
02:07providing testimony in court.
02:09I think it's much more likely that the special counsel will try to do as much of this process
02:14and the back and forth arguments on the papers.
02:16So through motion filings, it's possible they'll have some oral arguments around those things
02:21as well.
02:22But this is Judge Chutkin.
02:23And what you're going to see from her is a very streamlined, focused, no-nonsense procedure
02:29that's designed to figure out what evidence can be used in this case as it goes forward
02:33and what evidence and potentially charges need to be left behind.
02:35And we're just being told that this next hearing will actually be taking place this coming
02:40Thursday.
02:41So we'll watch that very closely.
02:42Caitlin, I know you're also following news in Trump's New York case.
02:47Give us the latest information.
02:48Well, in that case, he is convicted and he's set to be sentenced on September 18th.
02:53But Donald Trump doesn't want that to happen.
02:55And so what he has done, especially now that the Supreme Court weighed in on presidential
02:59immunity in this case, in New York, the hush money case, he went to a federal judge and
03:05said, the Constitution should prevent me from being sentenced.
03:10You should put things on hold.
03:12You should move this out of state court in New York into federal court.
03:16And the judge, the federal judge, Alvin Hellerstein, up in New York, he said, no, not this time.
03:22You asked me once before, nothing's changed, really.
03:24I'm not taking this case into federal court.
03:27This is a case with private schemes and private actors.
03:31The state judge is going to handle it.
03:34But Wolf, we are still waiting for things in this hush money case about Donald Trump
03:39and how he was making payments to Michael Cohen to reimburse Stormy Daniels.
03:45He is convicted by a jury there.
03:47The sentencing is set, but we're waiting to see if the judge moves that date until after
03:51the election.
03:52I'm anxious to hear, Andrew, what you think.
03:53Do you expect that we will see Trump sentenced in just a few weeks?
03:59I do, Wolf.
04:00I think we're going to see that.
04:01I think that the rejection by the federal court to take this case essentially out of
04:07New York was entirely predictable.
04:09That's what they did the first time he asked them to consider that.
04:12I think Judge Mershon is very well aware of his responsibilities, having had this trial
04:19in his courtroom, seen the jury convict him.
04:21The next step in this process is a sentencing.
04:24I think there's no reason that this isn't going to go forward, despite all these constitutional
04:28arguments that Trump and his lawyers have.
04:30They can raise those arguments later.
04:33But New York state courts have their own processes and procedures, and I expect to see Judge
04:37Mershon see those through.
04:38Interesting.
04:39All right.
04:40Andrew McCabe, Caitlin Polanski, both of you, thank you very much.