In his case involving alleged tampering with the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump's attorneys want a new judge.
They said in a brief on Monday that Judge Tanya Chutkan should withdraw from the case because of prior comments they claim appear biased. Although they did not directly accuse Chutkan of being prejudiced against Trump, they did draw attention to several of his utterances that they felt "create a perception of prejudgment incompatible with our justice system."
"Judge Chutkan has advocated for President Trump's criminal prosecution and imprisonment in connection with other instances. Such statements, made before to the commencement of this litigation and without due process, are inherently disqualified, according to the brief by Trump's lawyers.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, in which he is accused of committing four felonies in connection with a plot to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power after losing the 2020 presidential election to Vice President Joe Biden.
In his filing, Trump lists multiple times where, in their opinion, Chutkan sounded critical of the former president during sessions involving defendants in cases involving the Jan. 6 riots.
Chutka said during a hearing in October 2022 that "this was nothing less than an attempt to violently overthrow the government, the legally, lawfully, peacefully elected government, by individuals who were mad that their guy lost," later adding, "it's blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day."
Trump's atorneys called that statement "an apparent prejudgment of guilt."
That statement was referred to by Trump's legal team as "an apparent prejudgment of guilt."
"The public meaning of this statement is inescapable — President Trump is free, but should not be," they said in their letter.
The document also recalls comments Chutkan made to rioter Robert Palmer, who was given a longer prison term for attacking police with a wooden plank and a fire extinguisher.
During Palmer's December 2021 sentencing hearing, Chutkan stated, "The folks who urged you on and galvanized you to go and take action and to fight have not been charged.
Chutkan will finally decide whether or not these prior statements provide the sense of bias. If she does, the case will be assigned to a different judge. If she rejects it, Trump's attorneys contend that any perception of prejudice or bias is particularly crucial in a case like this.
"The public must have the utmost confidence that the court will administer justice neutrally and dispassionately in a case this widely watched, of such monumental significance," the attorneys said.
In four criminal trials this year involving accusations that bookend his administration, Trump has filed not-guilty pleas. Additionally, his counsel requested that the judge overseeing a case in a New York State court remove himself. On August 14, Juan Merchan, the judge in that case, denied Trump's request.