On Sunday, Former US President Donald Trump announced his intention to request a new judge for the election conspiracy trial to preside over his significant criminal proceeding and to seek a change of venue for the case to be relocated from Washington.
Former US president Donald Trump said Sunday he would petition to have a different judge oversee his historic criminal trial and for the case to be moved out of Washington.
Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House in 2024, has unleashed a stream of invective against those prosecuting him or running the case in which he faces charges over attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and defraud the United States.
His latest target is the US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, the appointee of Democratic Former President Barack Obama, who was randomly assigned to the case in Washington.
“There is no way I can get a fair trial with the judge ‘assigned’ to the ridiculous freedom of speech/fair elections case. Everybody knows this, and so does she,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. However, his lawyer, John Lauro, denied that any final decision had been made on Sunday.
Chutkan, 61, is one of a dozen Washington federal district court bench judges. She has a legal history with Trump, having ruled against him in a November 2021 case where she notably declared that “presidents are not kings.” And she has handed down lengthy sentences to Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6 of that year.
She has rebuffed the Trump legal team’s recent demands.
Leading up to the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress, Trump had called on Pence to use his position as presiding officer to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election win. Pence ultimately refused to do so.
Lauro argued on Sunday that Trump’s requests were not orders and were, therefore, legal under free speech clauses of the Constitution.
Trump’s trial date in the election case is expected to be announced on August 28 at a hearing before Chutkan.
Katrine Houmøller, with AFP
