NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s fight to overturn his criminal conviction returned to the spotlight Wednesday, as his legal team clashed with the Manhattan district attorney’s office over whether the appeals process should play out in state or federal court.

Trump was convicted in the spring of 34 felonies related to his attempts to cover up sex scandals during his 2016 run for the White House. His lawyers have argued several times that the case properly belongs in federal court, rather than the New York State Court in which it was brought, given that evidence in the case involved actions taken during his first presidency.

Prosecutors working for Manhattan district Attorney Alvin Bragg have countered that the accusations of which Trump was eventually found guilty — the falsification of 34 business records to disguise reimbursements for a hush-money payment to a porn actor — have nothing to do with the presidency and that Trump was acting in his capacity as a private citizen. A federal judge who has scrutinized the case, Alvin K. Hellerstein, has agreed with the prosecutors.

— The New York Times