Judge rejects Donald Trump’s request to intervene over hush money conviction

Donald Trump (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

A federal judge has swiftly rejected Donald Trump’s request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, thwarting the former president’s latest bid to overturn his felony conviction and delay his sentencing.

US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Trump’s lawyers permission to file paperwork asking the US District Court in Manhattan to take control of the case. He said they had failed to satisfy the burden of proof required for a federal court to seize the case from the state court where Trump was convicted in May.