Veteran jurist picked to weigh moving Trump’s criminal trial

By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge known for his care and cautiousness in presiding over litigation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks was selected Friday to decide whether Donald Trump’s criminal case proceeds in state or federal court. Alvin Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal judge for a quarter century, picked up the case after it was originally assigned to a colleague whose husband was a key prosecutor in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the former president. Trump’s lawyers petitioned Thursday to have a federal court seize control of his criminal case arguing that the case “involves important federal questions” and shouldn’t be tried  in the state court where his historic indictment was brought.