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.”
As I understand it, knowing that throwing him in jail in contempt of court would likely set off riots, her threat to him for interfering in the process was to speed up the trial. Considering his only real defense is pushing conviction until after the election, I think Trump will soon learn the meaning of “the right to a speedy trial.”
I'm torn, because I think that incitement would bring about the end of the trump era much more quickly, as it'll get put down hard. But I also don't want to advocate violence or for stupid people to get hurt for no reason other than their ignorance.
The thing is, both sides have a right to a speedy trial. The prosecution, and the citizens they represent, have been waiting three and a half years already.
There won't be any riots when he goes to jail. There will be ten dumb fat people nobody gives a fuck about that show up with their Trump colors, and if they fuck around they will end up in jail with Trump.
I read somewhere that the order of "locking him up" could be appealed extensively and would be an effective delay tactic for him. I think that is why the DC judge wants to speed things up in response to this behavior.
If you mean that he can appeal a contempt charge, that is technically true, but the appeal for that would take place after the main trial and would not prevent him from being held in detention until then.
I don't think they are ready to work out the kinks of jailing secret service as well. Best outcome is that he is in house arrest and the end of all of this.
Garland said "we will follow up on everyone regardless of who they are". We know now for a fact he was lying.
Every judge says they're going to treat him like any other defendant. We are in the process of learning that they are lying.
I'm not saying Chutkan is going to obviously spike the case like Cannon or Judge Rittenhouse, I think she's going to try to run a decent trial if it gets to that point.
But pre-trial punishment? Not a snowflake's chance in hell. These judges all still want to be invited to cocktail parties and given country club memberships. The elite is loyal to the elite.
Part of the problem is that he wants badly for them to find him in contempt - to his followers it will be absolute proof that it's a witch hunt. I can already read the headlines about how they locked him up to silence him and BS like that.
I'm not necessarily saying that means they still shouldnt do it, but there are more reasons than corruption to tread softly here
Yet to be seen. Chutkan has demonstrated that she's going to be the "find out" of "fuck around" in other aspects, but she also knows she is presiding over a uniquely historic case with potentially terminal consequences. Her Friday statement about inflammatory public comments demanding a swift trial fell short of what I would have liked, but I find her decision on the matter to be brilliantly fair, and unassailable.
Also note that the Government has not (so far as we know) made any motions in response to the defendant's weekend commentary. Based on the immediate motion for a protective order after the defendant's "I'm coming after you!" post, I might expect there to be a motion from the Government, and there's not (again, so far as we know). To me, this suggests that they know Judge Chutkan is already working on this, and does not need the Government or public pressure to be any greater than it already is. And if they know, defense knows, too.
I am hopeful, but the consequences (if any) for the defendant's weekend rants are going to be the point upon which the future of democracy turns. She has to know this, and I have to think that the reason we haven't heard anything from her yet is because she is considering very carefully what the response from the court will be.
The court absolutely needs to drag Trump back down to Earth and demonstrate that no one is above the law. At the same time, Judges are supposed to be impartial and part of Judge Chutkan's statement, "It’s a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day" could be seen as prejudicial. Whether or not she acts in an unbiased way is an entirely separate issue. The appearance of bias will open the door to an appeal of any verdict against Trump.
Ya, Trump belongs in prison; but, it's going to need to be done in the most scrupulous way possible to keep him from wiggling out of accountability.
Because, by pushing the ideal we do make progress. It's easy to look at our current situation and bemoan the fact that we aren't there yet, and we still have progr ess to make. But, the truly false statement is "we make no progress towards making it true". Pick up a history book and spend some time critically reading. What happens today is a far cry from even 50 years ago,. Is it perfect? Not even close. But it is better. Throwing up our hands in defeat, because we aren't there yet, serves only to allow things to stagnate. We are pushing forward, but yes, progress is painfully slow. It always has been, and probably always will be. But, that doesn't mean we should stop pushing.
All ideals are false. The entire point of ideals is to strive to change the world to meet them.
And whether those efforts see fruition this year, this decade, or even in your lifetime, is beside the point. Ideals are a multigenerational project, with all the ups and downs that implies.
He may be doing this intentionally. He and his team may be looking for a judicial reaction in order to use it as grounds to move the trial to another location citing unfair bias.
Speeding up the trial would be a good move. The judge still needs to be careful so that she doesn't give grounds for appeal. I vote for huge fines.
This is one of the extremely rare instances where I can almost sympathize with the man. Making inflammatory statements is his whole shtick. It’s all he knows. To him, being told not to make inflammatory statements is like being told not to talk at all.
(Personally, I’d be perfectly happy if I never heard from him again, but that’s beside the point.)