Former President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at the judge overseeing his 2020 election case after she cautioned him against making any “inflammatory statements” that might intimidate witnesses or bias the jury pool.
In a statement shared on Truth Social overnight, Trump labeled U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan as “highly partisan” and accused her of being “very biased & unfair.” He went on to suggest that she wants to put him “behind bars.”
“The following TRUTH is a quote by highly partisan Judge Tanya Chutkan, angrily sentencing a J-6er in October of 2022. She obviously wants me behind bars. VERY BIASED & UNFAIR!,” Trump wrote.
In a separate post, Trump shared a statement he attributed to Chutkan during the sentencing of a participant in the January 6, 2021 riot. According to Trump, this statement demonstrated Chutkan’s prejudice against him.
Trump quoted Chutkan as saying: “I SEE THE VIDEOTAPES. I SEE THE FOOTAGE OF THE FLAGS AND THE SIGNS THAT PEOPLE WERE CARRYING AND THE HATS THAT THEY WERE WEARING, AND THE GARB. AND THE 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.” Judge Tanya Chutkan!”
Chutkan had warned both parties in the case to exercise caution in their statements to avoid prejudicing the jury pool or intimidating witnesses. She emphasized that inflammatory statements would expedite the trial process.
Trump, the leading candidate in the 2024 GOP presidential primary race, has consistently targeted Chutkan since the announcement of his indictment on four counts related to his post-2020 election activities by special counsel Jack Smith. The trial is set for January 2.
Trump also raged over a potential indictment in Georgia related to alleged election interference in 2020. He vehemently denied tampering with the election and placed blame on others for supposed tampering. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to present her case to a grand jury this week.
“No, I didn’t tamper with the election! Those who rigged & stole the election were the ones doing the tampering, & they are the slime that should be prosecuted,” he asserted in a post.
“Would someone please tell the Fulton County grand jury that I did not tamper with the election,” he wrote in another post.
One pivotal moment that could feature prominently in the Georgia case is a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021, during which he urged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s results.
Trump has defended this call as “perfect” and criticized Willis for pursuing the matter.
