Who Is Tanya Chutkan? Trump Pushes Judge In Jan. 6 Case To Recuse Herself

Topline

D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s criminal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss, played an instrumental role in unveiling key evidence that reappeared in the Justice Department’s Tuesday indictment of the former president—and has handed down tough sentences against some January 6 rioters.

Trump’s grinning worst nightmare? U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan—notorious for imposing stiff … [+] sentences on January 6 rioters—has been initially assigned to the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump.

AdminisAdministrative Office of the U.S. CourtsAssociated Press

Key Facts

In an all-caps Truth Social post, Trump said he will ask for Chutkan—who was randomly assigned to his case—to be recused, claiming “THERE IS NO WAY I CAN GET A FAIR TRIAL.”

It’s not clear on what grounds Trump will seek to remove Chutkan, but recusals are rare and generally only take place if a judge has a major conflict of interest—and not necessarily if a judge has a prior history with a case or has handed down unfavorable rulings.

Born in Jamaica, 61-year-old Chutkan was appointed by former President Barack Obama to the federal bench in 2014, after serving at the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner and working for 11 years as a D.C. public defender, according to her biography on the court’s website.

Chutkan ordered Trump to release records from his presidency to the House January 6 Select Committee in November 2021, ruling against the former president as he sought to claim executive privilege in blocking the committee’s access to a trove of files it used in its 18-month investigation of his actions surrounding the Capitol riots.

In issuing the ruling, Chutkan delivered a scathing rebuke of Trump: “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” she wrote.

Chutkan has also overseen numerous cases involving January 6 rioters and has handed down some of the toughest punishments compared to other jurists that have often gone further than what prosecutors recommended, according to a June 2022 Associated Press analysis, which found she handed down prison sentences to all 11 January 6 defendants who had come before her at the time.

Chutkan, like other judges overseeing January 6 cases, has referenced Trump from the bench, reportedly telling defendant Carl Mazzocco’s lawyers in October 2021 he “went to the Capitol in support of one man, not in support of our country,” and in December that year, she told defendant Robert Palmer “the people who exhorted you and encouraged you and rallied you to go and take action and to fight have not been charged,” Politico reported.

What To Watch For

Chutkan intends to set a trial date at an August 28 hearing, Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya said during Trump’s arraignment on Thursday, according to CNN.

Key Background

Trump pleaded not guilty to four felony counts filed Tuesday by the Justice Department in connection with his efforts to invalidate the results of the 2020 presidential election and stay in power: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy against rights of citizens, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding. Among the efforts the indictment accuses Trump of taking to subvert the election results, prosecutors allege he pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College results on January 6, even though he did not have the power to do so. The indictment also accuses Trump of “[levying] false claims of election fraud” and references his alleged attempts to convince Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to overturn election results in the state, along with a scheme to recruit fake electors to declare him the winner in states President Joe Biden won. The indictment marks Trump’s third since declaring his latest run for president, and the second filed by the Justice Department.

Tangent

Special Counsel Jack Smith said Tuesday after issuing a four-count indictment against Trump that he was seeking a speedy trial in the case, and while the Speedy Trial Act requires a trial within 70 days of an indictment, Trump’s lawyers have suggested they will seek to delay the timeline. Trump and his attorneys have also indicated they would seek a venue change to West Virginia, a state Trump lawyer John Lauro told CBS “is much more diverse than Washington, D.C., which I think went 99% for Mr. Biden” (93% of D.C. voters cast their ballots for Biden in 2020, while 68% of West Virginia voters selected Trump). Chutkan, along with other D.C. judges overseeing January 6 cases, has repeatedly denied other defendants’ requests for a venue change, however.

Contra

Trump’s other federal criminal case—which accuses him of mishandling sensitive government records after leaving office—is overseen by Florida-based Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee. Cannon faced criticism from last year for granting Trump’s request to task a special master with reviewing troves of documents recovered by the FBI from his Mar-A-Lago home, a move the DOJ said would slow its investigation.

Crucial Quote

Trump blasted the January 6 indictment as an “un-American witch hunt” and compared the Justice Department’s case against him and other January 6 rioters to the Nazi government in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, drawing criticism from the Anti-Defamation League. Following his arraignment Thursday, he equated the charges to “persecution of a political opponent,” referring to his repeated, unfounded claims that the Justice Department brought the charges on President Joe Biden’s behalf.