Trump attacks federal judge overseeing the Jan. 6 case just days after she issued a protection order and warned against using ‘incendiary’ language: ‘She wants me behind bars’
- Trump quoted the judge as she sentenced the January 6 defendant
- Judge Tanya Chutkan warned Trump against witness intimidation on Friday
- Trump called judge ‘biased and unfair’
Former President Donald Trump attacked the federal judge overseeing his Jan. 6 case just days after she warned him about making statements that could intimidate witnesses or compromise the “integrity” of the trial.
Judge Amy Chutkan issued repeated warnings to Trump, including a reference to his “release terms,” during a Friday hearing with his attorneys in Washington, DC. who entered the Senate chamber on January 6.
Trump said the language came from “highly partisan judge Tanya Chutkan, who angrily sentenced a J-6er in October 2022. She clearly wants me behind bars.” VERY PRECISE & DISFAIR!’
Trump published an all caps quote from Chutkan when she condemned Christine Priola, a school occupational therapist who pleaded guilty to obstructing official proceedings — one of the charges Trump also faces. He posted it around 1am Monday.
Former President Donald Trump, seen Sunday on day three of the LIV Golf Invitational at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, went after the federal judge overseeing his Jan. 6 case in Washington
“This was nothing but an attempt to overthrow the government… by people who were upset that their husbands had been lost,” Chutkan said.
“I see the videotapes. I see the images of the flags and the signs people carried and the hats they wore, and the clothes,” the judge said in October. “And the people who stormed that Capitol were there in allegiance, in allegiance 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 is blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.’
Judge Chutkan admonished Christine Priola, who pleaded guilty to obstructing official proceedings after breaching the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, while handing down a 15-month prison sentence
The judge also said she believed Priola was “sincere” in her regret. Before her sentencing, she wrote to the court: “I don’t like it when people break the law or take the law into their own hands. I don’t want people to act like idiots. I was one of those idiots. I did great harm to others and it created a ripple effect that I could never undo.”
Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a protective order on Friday requiring Trump to review the evidence in the case
Trump’s blast came despite warnings from the judge that focused more on comments that could sully the jury or intimidate witnesses. She went back and forth with Trump attorney John Lauro on Friday about language in her warrant about material that prosecutors must share.
She ultimately decided to only apply it to “sensitive information,” not all transcripts and materials he might receive. She also imposed conditions on how he can view it, requiring him to relinquish his mobile phone and not view documents while accessing a photocopier.
She also warned Trump’s lawyers that “incendiary statements” would result in a faster trial — something they would like to avoid.
Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, repeatedly warned Trump’s lawyers that he was making public statements. She said she understood he had First Amendment rights, but said at a criminal trial that his desire to respond to detractors “must give way.”
That came when Lauro brought forward former Vice President Mike Pence, a possible witness in the case, who has publicly attacked Trump amid Pence’s statements that he did not have the authority to return certified votes, as Trump claims. Both men are seeking the GOP presidential nomination.