President Joe Biden’s Justice Department (DOJ) is pushing back at former President Donald Trump’s efforts to have the obviously biased judge in his Washington, D.C., case disqualified. This federal case concerns Trump’s questioning of the 2020 presidential election results.
Late Thursday, special counsel Jack Smith’s team expressed in a court filing that there is “no valid basis” for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to recuse herself.
At issue for Trump’s legal team are comments made by Chutkan in prior cases involving Jan. 6 defendants. The remarks were uttered during separate sentencing hearings and were presented as proof of her presumption of his blame for the protest.
Justice is absolutely dead in America 🤦🏼♀️
Judge Chutkan wasnt talking about Trump when she was ranting against Trump and saying him name😂 https://t.co/WhE78NeG7Z
— Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) September 15, 2023
In one instance, Chutkan told a defendant that he was correct in asserting that those who urged the action at the Capitol had not been charged. According to the Associated Press, the judge said that she did not make charging decisions so had no control over that aspect.
Chutkan added, “I have my own opinions, but they are not relevant.”
Prosecutors disagreed with Trump’s attorneys on their declaration that Chutkan indicated her belief that the former president was to blame for the day’s events and should be punished.
The DOJ claimed that “the Court’s statements about which he complains are core intrajudicial statements.” They asserted in response that the judge was simply performing her official duties and interacting with the arguments presented.
Prosecutors added, “As such, to mount a successful recusal claim based on the cited statements, the defendant must show that they display a deep-seated animosity toward him. The defendant cannot meet this heavy burden.”
This, of course, is exactly what any reasonable person would expect Biden’s DOJ to say.
Despite claims otherwise, many critics doubt that Chutkan was “randomly” chosen to preside over Trump’s D.C. trial. She gained notoriety for exceeding even the recommendations of prosecutors in handing down inexplicably harsh sentences to Jan. 6 demonstrators.
What is being staged in the nation’s capital is a show trial intent on bringing the former president to his knees. It is unprecedented in U.S. history for a party to unleash its power at the federal and state levels to disqualify the leading opposition candidate before an election.
History will not remember this period kindly.
