The judge assigned to former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment has been deemed the “toughest punisher” of Jan. 6th defendants.
In a profile of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan published last year, the Associated Press noted that she, an Obama appointee, had cut no breaks to the Jan. 6th defendants who’d appeared before her in court.
“Chutkan has handed out tougher sentences than the department was seeking in seven cases, matched its requests in four others and sent all 11 riot defendants who have come before her behind bars. In the four cases in which prosecutors did not seek jail time, Chutkan gave terms ranging from 14 days to 45 days,” the AP reported.
Fast-forwarding ahead by a year, Trump must now face Chutkan as per the latest indictment filed against him on Tuesday.
President Trump has been indicted on 4 federal counts:
Conspiracy to defraud the US
Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
Conspiracy against Rights
It is *very* important to note he was not charged with… pic.twitter.com/FHj2JKeOev
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 1, 2023
“Donald Trump was indicted on felony charges Tuesday for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the … riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol,” according to the AP.
“The four-count indictment … chronicles a months-long campaign of lies about the election results and says that, even when those falsehoods resulted in a chaotic insurrection at the Capitol, Trump sought to exploit the violence by pointing to it as a reason to further delay the counting of votes that sealed his defeat,” the AP reported.
The charges against him include conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and a conspiracy against rights.
Interestingly, Trump was not charged with seditious conspiracy or insurrection, despite years of the media proclaiming him to be an insurrectionist.
Larry Elder: Trump is not an ‘insurrectionist’ https://t.co/9J7iYaktjN
— BizPac Review (@BIZPACReview) July 28, 2022
Regarding Chutkan, the New York Post notes that she previously worked at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner from 2002 until 2014, the year she was confirmed as a federal judge by the Senate Judiciary Commitee.
Here’s the catch: “Boies Schiller has strong connections to the Democratic Party, and then-second son Hunter Biden — whose dad President Biden is likely to face Trump in the 2024 election — was counsel at the firm from 2009 to 2014,” according to the Post.
“It’s unclear if the first son and Chutkan ever interacted while associated with the firm as Hunter courted wealthy foreign figures in countries such as Romania and Ukraine, allegedly cutting side-deals that provided greater revenue for himself than would have been the case if he signed them to Boies Schiller,” the Post notes.
Her most high-profile case involved her representing disgraced biotechnology entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes’ blood-testing company, Theranos, in its suit against a competitor who’d shared “confidential and proprietary” company information.
As for Trump, the latest indictment reportedly doesn’t disqualify his presidential bid. Plus, the trial may not even occur until AFTER the election depending on circumstances.
We have every reason to believe that they are expecting to push this (trial) date after the election.”
Ahead of a potential indictment of former US President Donald Trump, Adam Klasfeld from The Messenger explains why his lawyers would welcome a delayed hearing.#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/PQ934IDiwK
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) July 27, 2023
But supposing that the trial occurred before the election and Trump was indicted — would his reelection bid be affected? The answer would still be no, according to NY1.
“In fact, if convicted, Trump wouldn’t be the first person to run from behind bars: Eugene V. Debs ran for president five times as the candidate for the Socialist Party of America. In the election of 1920, Debs won 3.4% of the vote – roughly 1 million votes – in his fifth and final run for president, the largest number of popular votes ever received by a socialist candidate, and he did it from behind bars,” NY1 notes.
According to Aziz Huq, a constitutional law expert at the University of Chicago Law School, the Founding Fathers had likely never imagined such a scenario.
“I think that the framers of our Constitution did not imagine that someone who was convicted of a serious offense could be elevated to the role of the presidency. I think that they would have been gravely disappointed by that prospect to say the least,” he said.
“Even if former President Trump was convicted in the Jan. 6-related case … that doesn’t automatically mean that he is disqualified under the 14th Amendment,” he added.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment reportedly reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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