Chutkan in charge: Judge ignites flurry of activity in Trump Jan. 6 case
by Rebecca Beitsch - 08/08/24 6:00 AM ET
The return of Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 prosecution to District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has ignited a flurry of activity in the once-dormant case, reviving a high stakes court battle after a series of legal wins for the former president.
The case is back in Chutkan’s hands after the Supreme Court formally sent the case back to the lower courts after handing Trump a victory in determining that as a former president he maintains broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
That ends a roughly eight month pause in the case, and Chutkan has made clear the hiatus is over.
Just hours after the case was handed back over on Friday, she scheduled an Aug. 16 conference to chart the course for handling numerous unresolved issues in the case – likely teeing off a discussion over whether to hold what some have deemed a mini-trial.
And on Saturday, she ruled against Trump on a pending bid to toss the case, determining he failed to demonstrate any prosecutorial bias on the part of special counsel Jack Smith in bringing the case.
“She certainly has signaled with her rapid disposition of the selected prosecution motion, with setting a quick briefing schedule and a speedy hearing on the 16th that she wants to keep things moving, and that is how the justice system should work,” said Norm Eisen, who served as counsel for Democrats in Trump’s first impeachment, told The Hill.
In her order, Chutkan wrote that Trump had again offered an “improper reframing” of the allegations against him and determined that the former president offered “no meaningful evidence” that he was unfairly targeted.
Chutkan has consistently offered a contrast with Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversees Trump’s Florida-based documents case.
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https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/4816762-chutkan-judge-trump-jan-6-case/
