Donald
Trump’s
lawyers
were
comin’
in
hot
last
night
at
the
Second
Circuit.
The
underlying
proceedings
arise
from
a
politically
motivated
investigation
by
the
Manhattan
District
Attorney’s
Office
(“DANY”),
dubbed
the
“zombie
case”
by
former
Special
Assistant
District
Attorney
Mark
Pomerantz
because
DANY
refused
to
abandon
efforts
to
target
President
Trump
until
star
witness,
felon,
and
serial
perjurer
Michael
Cohen-bolstered
by
other
financially
motivated
witnesses
such
as
Stormy
Daniels-concocted
the
type
of
false
and
implausible
story
President
Trump’s
political
opponents
wanted
to
hear.
If
they
have
a
non-insane
argument,
Trump’s
lawyers
Todd
Blanche
and
Emil
Bove
risk
burying
it
under
a
steaming
pile
of
unrelated
invective
in
a
brief
that
runs
to
79
pages,
with
four
appendices.
If
they
don’t
have
a
non-insane
argument,
well
…
this
is
exactly
how
they’d
proceed,
right?
What
they
want
is
for
the
Circuit
Court
to
swoop
in
and
remove
the
case
to
federal
court,
despite
the
fact
that
a
jury
found
Trump
guilty
in
May
of
creating
false
business
records
to
cover
up
the
hush
money
payment
to
Stormy
Daniels,
and
the
federal
removal
statute
requires
notice
of
removal
within
30
days
of
arraignment.
Indeed,
Trump
did
try
to
remove
the
case
to
the
Southern
District
of
New
York
in
timely
fashion
back
in
2023,
only
to
be
unceremoniously
booted
by
Judge
Alvin
Hellerstein,
who
found
that
making
false
“retainer”
payments
to
a
lawyer
to
reimburse
him
for
money
fronted
to
a
porn
star
prior
to
election
was
not
part
of
his
official
presidential
duties.
The
law
does
allow
a
criminal
defendant
to
move
for
removal
at
a
later
date
“for
good
cause
shown,”
but
in
a
desperate
bid
to
fend
off
sentencing,
Trump
simply
docketed
a
second
removal
notice
in
August
without
leave
of
the
court.
After
the
clerk
removed
the
notice,
Blanche
and
Bove
restyled
their
motion
as
a
petition.
They
argued
that
Justice
Merchan
was
biased,
that
he
had
improperly
allowed
the
use
of
impermissible
evidence
under
Trump
v.
US,
and
that
the
conduct
at
issue
was
part
of
his
official
presidential
duties,
and
thus
immune
from
prosecution.
In
fact,
these
arguments
are
all
being
considered
by
state
appellate
courts
in
New
York,
as
Judge
Hellerstein
noted
a
day
later
when
he
summarily
dismissed
their
motion.
But
this
did
not
deter
Trump’s
lawyers,
who
gamely
repeated
them
last
night,
while
complaining
about
the
trial
judge’s
“rushed
and
conclusory
summary
remand
order
issued
without
adversarial
briefing
or
a
required
hearing.”
Not
to
put
too
fine
a
point
on
it,
but
that
is
BULLSHIT.
Under
28
USC
§
1455(b)(2):
A
notice
of
removal
of
a
criminal
prosecution
shall
include
all
grounds
for
such
removal.
A
failure
to state grounds
that
exist
at
the
time
of
the
filing
of
the
notice
shall
constitute
a
waiver
of
such
grounds,
and
a
second
notice
may
be
filed
only
on
grounds
not
existing
at
the
time
of
the
original
notice.
For
good
cause
shown,
the
United States district
court
may
grant
relief
from
the
limitations
of
this
paragraph.
Trump
was
entitled
to
and
got
a
hearing
and
full
briefing
on
his
original
removal
petition
back
in
2023,
and
he
lost.
The
Supreme
Court’s
intervening
immunity
ruling
may
yet
blow
up
the
verdict,
since
testimony
by
White
House
aide
Hope
Hicks
might
have
been
inadmissible;
but
that’s
got
nothing
to
do
with
the
underlying
conduct,
which
Judge
Hellerstein
already
found
was
purely
personal.
Trump
was
not
entitled
to
a
second,
post-conviction
bite
at
the
apple,
much
less
a
second
round
of
briefing
and
a
“required
hearing,”
absent
a
judicial
finding
of
“good
cause.”
And
two
former
federal
prosecutors
bloody
well
know
that.
After
Justice
Merchan
postponed
Trump’s
sentencing
until
after
the
election,
the
Second
Circuit
denied
his
emergency
stay
motion.
That
panel
was
made
up
of
Judge
Michael
Park,
one
of
the
FedSoc
babies
installed
on
a
party-line
vote,
Judge
Lohier,
who
was
appointed
by
Obama
to
fill
the
seat
vacated
by
Justice
Sotomayor,
and
senior
Judge
John
Walker,
who
was
originally
appointed
to
the
Southern
District
of
New
York
by
Ronald
Reagan.
Perhaps
they
will
be
more
receptive
to
his
claims
that
it
should
snatch
the
case
from
state
courts
because
his
lawyers
take
several
hundred
pages
to
shout
TRUMP
V.
US
CHANGED
EVERYTHING.
Or
perhaps
not.
People
of
The
State
of
New
York
v.
Trump
[District
Docket
via
Court
Listener]
People
of
The
State
of
New
York
v.
Trump
[Circuit
Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.
