Former President Trump criticized the judge presiding over his 2020 election case, just days after she warned him against making any “inflammatory statements” that could intimidate witnesses or prejudice the jury pool.
In a statement posted overnight on Truth Social, Trump called U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan “highly partisan” and “very biased & unfair.”
“She obviously wants me behind bars,” he added.
In a separate post, he pointed to a statement Chutkan reportedly made in sentencing a Jan. 6, 2021, rioter that, according to Trump, showed Chutkan’s bias against him.
“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 county, and not to the principles of democracy. It’s a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day,” Trump wrote in all capital letters, quoting Chutkan.
On Friday, Chutkan warned both sides of the case to take “special care” to avoid making any statements that could intimidate witnesses or prejudice the jury pool, including, she said, making any ambiguous statements that could be interpreted that way. Chutkan said such remarks would compel her to speed up the trial.
“The more a party makes inflammatory statements about this case,” Chutkan said at a hearing, “the greater the urgency will be that we proceed to trial quickly.”
“I intend to ensure the orderly administration of justice in this case as I would with any other case,” she said, later adding, “I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.”
Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary race, has repeatedly attacked Chutkan since special counsel Jack Smith announced the former president would be indicted on four counts related to his efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election.
Prosecutors are seeking a Jan. 2 trial date.