WASHINGTON 性视界传媒 The Justice Department is challenging efforts by former President Donald Trump to disqualify the Washington judge presiding over the case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith性视界传媒檚 team wrote in a court filing late Thursday that there was 性视界传媒渘o valid basis性视界传媒 for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to recuse herself.
Trump性视界传媒檚 lawyers filed a long-shot motion earlier this week urging Chutkan to step aside, citing comments she made in separate sentencing hearings related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that they say taint the Trump proceedings and call into question whether she has already prejudged the Republican former president性视界传媒檚 guilt.
In one such hearing, Chutkan told a defendant who was sentenced to more than five years in prison that he had 性视界传媒渕ade a very good point性视界传媒 that the 性视界传媒減eople who exhorted性视界传媒 and encouraged him 性视界传媒渢o go and take action and to fight性视界传媒 had not been charged. Chutkan added that she did not 性视界传媒渕ake charging decisions性视界传媒 and had no 性视界传媒渋nfluence on that.性视界传媒
性视界传媒淚 have my opinions,性视界传媒 she said, 性视界传媒渂ut they are not relevant.性视界传媒
But the Justice Department said the Trump team had taken Chutkan性视界传媒檚 comments out of context and failed to show that she harbored any bias against the former president, who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden and falsely claimed the election was stolen from him.
The Justice Department said the statements the Trump lawyers had cited show the judge simply doing her job 性视界传媒 responding to, and rejecting, efforts to minimize their own culpability by pointing the finger at Trump, who had told his supporters to 性视界传媒渇ight like hell性视界传媒 at a rally shortly before the deadly Capitol insurrection.
Chutkan did not say, prosecutors wrote, that Trump was legally or morally to blame for the events of Jan. 6 or that he deserved to be punished.
性视界传媒淎lthough the defendant tries to claim otherwise, the Court性视界传媒檚 statements about which he complains are core intrajudicial statements 性视界传媒 statements that the Court made while performing its official duties, in direct response to the arguments before it, and which were derived from knowledge and experience the Court gained on the bench,性视界传媒 the prosecutors wrote.
They added: 性视界传媒淎s 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.性视界传媒
Trump性视界传媒檚 motion is unlikely to succeed given the high standard for recusal. A similar effort to seek the recusal of a judge in a separate New York prosecution he faces was unsuccessful.
