Former President Trump on Friday appealed a judge’s ruling that mandated his hush money criminal case be tried in state court in New York.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee, last week ruled that the 34-count indictment was not connected to Trump’s role as president, rejecting his request to move the case to federal court in favor of prosecutors’ objections.

Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles filed a notice of appeal on Friday afternoon, the first step in taking the dispute to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trump sought to remove the state case to federal court, arguing the case must be transferred because it involves important federal questions, including whether he should face charges for alleged crimes that occurred while he was in office. Doing so would increase the potential jury pool, which is currently limited to the heavily-Democratic population of Manhattan.

“This case is unprecedented in our nation’s history,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the 9-page filing when first seeking to remove the case in May. “Never before has a local elected prosecutor criminally prosecuted a defendant either for conduct that occurred entirely while the defendant was the sitting President of the United States or for conduct that related to federal campaign contribution laws.”

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over his alleged role in a hush money scheme ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He pleaded not guilty.

Hush money by itself is legal, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) is prosecuting how Trump reimbursed his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, for making the $130,000 hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Bragg is connecting the allegedly falsified records to purported violations of campaign finance laws. 

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