President Donald Trump has demanded U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan recuse herself from his D.C. January 6th case.Trump’s lawyers wrote:
Judge Chutkan has, in connection with other cases, suggested that President Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned. Such statements, made before this case began and without due process, are inherently disqualifying. Although Judge Chutkan may genuinely intend to give President Trump a fair trial—and may believe that she can do so—her public statements unavoidably taint these proceedings, regardless of outcome. The public will reasonably and understandably question whether Judge Chutkan arrived at all of her decisions in this matter impartially, or in fulfillment of her prior negative statements regarding President Trump. Under these circumstances, the law and the overwhelming public interest in the integrity of this historic proceeding require recusal.
Trump’s lawyers then point out Chutkan’s statements, which the former president believes blames him for causing the Capitol Hill Riot:
He went to the Capitol because, despite election results which were clear-cut, despite the fact that multiple court challenges all over the country had rejected every single one of the challenges to the election, Mr. Palmer didn’t like the result. He didn’t like the result, and he didn’t want the transition of power to take place because his guy lost. And it is true, Mr. Palmer — you have made a very good point, one that has been made before — that the people who exhorted you and encouraged you and rallied you to go and take action and to fight have not been charged. That is not this court’s position. I don’t charge anybody. I don’t negotiate plea offers. I don’t make charging decisions. I sentence people who have pleaded guilty or have been convicted. The issue of who has or has not been charged is not before me. I don’t have any influence on that. I have my opinions, but they are not relevant.***So you have a point, that the people who may be the people who planned this and funded it and encouraged it haven’t been charged, but that’s not a reason for you to get a lower sentence.
United States v. Palmer, No. 1:21-cr-00328-TSC, ECF #33 at 21:6–22:13 (sentencing transcript) (emphasis added) (relevant portions attached as Ex. B).
“Public statements of this sort create a perception of prejudgment incompatible with our justice system,” continued Trump’s lawyers. “In a case this widely watched, of such monumental significance, the public must have the utmost confidence that the Court will administer justice neutrally and dispassionately. Judge Chutkan’s pre-case statements undermine that confidence and, therefore, require disqualification.”
Chutkan has handed down tougher prison sentences than the DOJ recommends in other cases regarding the Capitol Hill Riot.
For example, Chutkan gave a set of twins 45 days in jail for entering the Capitol on January 6 and taking selfies.
That’s all they did. The DOJ wanted 30 days. The fact that the twins faced any charges and jail sentences is ridiculous.
Chutkan has also said:
“This was no exercise of First Amendment rights. It was a violent attempt to overthrow the government,” she said of the Capitol attack in one sentencing hearing.”They were mad that their guy lost,” she said in another. “The people who mobbed that Capitol were there in fealty and loyalty to one man. Not the Constitution.”
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