Former President Donald Trump on Thursday sought to remove his 34-count state court indictment to Manhattan federal court, arguing that the case belongs there because it involves “important federal questions.”

Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles argued that the Southern District of New York has original subject matter jurisdiction over the case because the indictment charges Trump “for conduct committed while he was President of the United States that was within the ‘color of his office,’ and the charges involve alleged federal and state election law violations that have a federal preemption defense.”