Trump demands recusal of Judge Tanya Chutkan in Jan. 6 case

Former President Donald Trump on Monday blasted the federal judge set to hear his trial on charges that he unlawfully tried to remain in power following his 2020 election loss, calling on the judge to recuse herself from the case. 

Lawyers for the 77-year-old former president argued that US District Judge Tanya Chutkan has made “disqualifying” statements while presiding over the trials of individuals who entered the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The attorneys claim Chutkan’s remarks will “taint” the proceedings against Trump. 

“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,” the ex-commander in chief’s motion for recusal reads. 

“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 filing continues. “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.”

Trump’s attorneys cited Chutkan’s remarks during the October 2022 sentencing of convicted Capitol rioter Christine Priola, accusing the judge of implying that the former president should be behind bars for his actions on the day of the riot. 

“[T]he people who mobbed that Capitol were there in fealty, in loyalty, to one man – not to the Constitution, of which most of the people who come before me seem woefully ignorant; not to the ideals of this country; and not to the principles of democracy. It’s a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day,” Chutkan said. 

The filing also points to a statement made by Chutkan in December 2021, during a hearing for Robert Palmer, who stormed the Capitol and attacked police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, arguing that it referred to Trump. 

“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,” Chutkan said. 

Chutkan has sentenced dozens of individuals convicted on charges related to the Capitol riot, and her sentences have been some of the toughest handed down. 

Trump has previously derided Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, as “VERY BIASED & UNFAIR.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a Trump ally, announced last month that he will introduce a resolution to censure, condemn and investigate the 61-year-old Jamaican-born judge, accusing her of engaging in “partisan commentary” on and off the bench that “calls into question her fitness as a judge.”

Special counsel Jack Smith’s office has proposed a Jan. 2, 2024, trial date for Trump in the 2020 election fraud case. 

The former president and 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner is facing four felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US, obstruction, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.