Former US President Donald Trump last night (Sunday) attacked federal judge Tanya Chutkan, who was chosen to preside over the trial in which he is accused of trying to change the results of the 2020 presidential election. In his words, he demanded that Chutkan be disqualified from handling the case, claiming that he will not receive a fair trial with her.
"I have no chance of receiving a fair trial with the judge 'assigned' to this ridiculous case, which deals with freedom of speech and fair elections. Everyone knows it – including her," wrote Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social. "We will immediately request the disqualification of the judge. We have very strong arguments."
He also stated that he will demand to move his trial out of Washington, as he believes it is a city that is "anti-democratic, where a fair trial is impossible." "It was sad to drive through the streets of Washington and see the filth and decay and all the broken buildings, the walls, and the graffiti," he said. "It's not the same place I left, and it's very sad to see it."
Chutkan, 61, was appointed to the federal court in Washington, D.C. in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama and was randomly selected to preside over Trump's trial – the one in which he is accused of 4 counts of attempting to interfere and overturn the 2020 election results, as well as being linked to the events of the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021. Since the Capitol riots, Chutkan has been considered one of the strictest judges in the matter, having handed down lengthy prison sentences to some of the defendants who breached the Congress.
Additionally, in November 2021, Chutkan rejected Trump's request to prohibit the Congressional investigation committee that examined the Capitol breach from obtaining the necessary information from the White House. In her ruling, she stated that "presidents are not kings" and emphasized that "the assault on Congress was an unprecedented attempt to prevent the lawful transfer of power from one government to another, resulting in damage, injuries, and death."
