Tag: Judge Tanya Chutkan

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Crime Donald Trump Justice Department

Jack Smith Accuses Trump Of ‘Threatening’ Mark Meadows – Judge Considering Penalties

Multiply-indicted former president Donald Trump is once again in very hot water due to his inability to keep his threats to himself, and could be on the verge of being punished legally for his actions.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed an emergency motion with U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan accusing the disgraced ex-president of threatening his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.

ABC News reports:

In a filing Wednesday night to the judge presiding over Trump’s federal election interference case in Washington, Smith’s team said Trump’s “harmful” post on Truth Social was trying to “send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case.”

Smith’s team argued to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan that the alleged threat is just one more example of why a limited gag order in the case is needed as soon as possible.

Chutkan had issued such a gag order early last week but then temporarily suspended it after the former president’s legal team appealed the judge’s order to a higher court.

Here’s the post that drew the court filing from Smith. It was made on Trump’s failing Truth Social site:

I don’t think Mark Meadows would lie about the Rigged and Stollen 2020 Presidential Election merely for getting IMMUNITY against Prosecution (PERSECUTION!) by Deranged Prosecutor, Jack Smith. BUT, when you really think about it, after being hounded like a dog for three years, told you’ll be going to jail for the rest of your life, your money and your family will be forever gone, and we’re not at all interested in exposing those that did the RIGGING — If you say BAD THINGS about that terrible “MONSTER,” DONALD J. TRUMP, we won’t put you in prison, you can keep your family and your wealth, and, perhaps, if you can make up some really horrible “STUFF” a out him, we may very well erect a statue of you in the middle of our decaying and now very violent Capital, Washington, D.C. Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future our Failing Nation. I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

The filing from Smith’s team alleges that Trump has a “long and well-documented history of using his public platform to target disparaging and inflammatory comments at perceived adversaries. When the defendant does so, harassment, threats, and intimidation foreseeably and predictably follow.”

Just last week, Judge Chutkan issued a limited gag order that specifically prohibited Trump from attacking the special counsel or members of his team, court staff, or any witnesses in the ongoing case, which is scheduled for trial in March of next year.

Smith notes in the filing, “Recent social media posts targeting a known witness in this case in an attempt to influence and intimidate him” necessitate a more stringent gag order.

 

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Crime Donald Trump

Trump Facing Prospect Of Being Placed Under House Arrest By Judge Chutkan

As he continues to defy court orders mandating that he not discuss the pending legal actions facing him, failed one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump draws ever closer to being sanctioned by one of the judges overseeing the election fraud case brought against him by Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith.

The election fraud case was filed in Washington, D.C. and is being overseen by Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has made it clear she has little tolerance for the ex-president’s rogue actions and statements, all of which threaten to poison the prospective jury pool.

But what action will Judge Chutkan take?

That was the topic of discussion today on MSNBC, with reporter and Washington insider Jonathan Alter suggesting the judge may well place Trump under house arrest.

During an interview with host Ayman Mohyeldin, Alter explained locking up a former president would an almost impossible security problem for the Secret Service agents sworn to protect all former U.S. heads of state.

“The president is not looking at jail time. In a normal case, yes, he would be jailed for contempt of court, but as a practical matter, he can’t be.”

Alter continued, “They can’t house the Secret Service in jail and all the rest of it so if he’s convicted as punishment it’s likely to be house arrest.”

“It’s conceivable that Judge Chutkan, if he continues to violate the terms of his bail, [he] could be subjected to house arrest — that’s still possible,” he added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd52wKwyjao

If you’re thinking that house arrest doesn’t sound all that bad for a man who owns golf resorts and luxury apartments around the world, consider that being placed under a house arrest would also likely mean Trump couldn’t campaign in-person without the permission of Judge Chutkan. And right now it doesn’t seem she’s willing to extend the scofflaw former president any special courtesies.

 

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Crime Donald Trump January 6

Former Prosecutor Mocks Trump After Judge In Jan. 6 Trial Treats Donnie Like A ‘Truant Child’

Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman said Friday on MSNBC that Tanya Chutkan, the federal judge overseeing the January 6 criminal trial of failed former president Donald Trump like a “truant child” and also making it clear with her remarks in court today that she doesn’t trust the disgraced ex-president as far as she can throw him.

After a hearing this morning, Chutkan issued a protective order that limits what Trump and federal prosecutors are allowed to disclose, including any personally identifying information, sealed orders, witness testimony, or recordings and transcripts from witness interviews.

MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez asked, “I want to underline a part of this. If they would be reasonably interpreted to intimidate witnesses. Does Trump’s post about, ‘If you come after me, I’ll come after you’ — does that fly?”

Litman replied:

“I think it falls totally flat. One more point. She treated Trump like a truant child. The most sort of galling thing of all. Obviously, he started at a level of mistrust. So he started with a record, as it were. Now, there will be exactly this debate. The reason there is something for him is not just what he got, but there will be a next level where they argue about terms and then she imposes something more strict.”

If Trump does defy the judge’s orders, Litman continued, Chutkan still has other ways of dealing with him.

“The big hammer she has, of course, but she doesn’t want to deploy it early or at all if they could help it, it is putting him in jail.”

“But they know that at the end of the day, it is her courtroom and her witnesses to worry about and it is her process to take account of,” Litman concluded. And she will, I think, she showed today, be unafraid — if he pushed her to the wall of responding with the most severe sanction.”

 

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Crime Donald Trump January 6

Judge May ‘Fast-Track’ January 6 Case Against Trump For His Violent Rhetoric

As he continues to try and push the limits of what he can say on social media regarding the numerous criminal charges that have been filed against him in federal court, failed former president Donald Trump may soon find that his defiance of one particular federal judge has major consequences, including a fast-tracking of the case that will significantly increase the ex-president’s already precarious legal situation.

According to Dennis Aftergut of The Bulwark, Trump appears to have already reached the breaking point for U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan.

Late Friday, Special Counsel Smith quoted Trump’s Truth Social post in a new legal motion for a protective order. Smith asked Judge Tanya Chutkan, the no-nonsense jurist assigned to Trump’s 2020 election/January 6th-related case, to limit his ability to share the discovery material that Smith will soon give to Trump’s lawyers.

Smith wrote: “If the defendant were to begin issuing public posts using details . . . obtained in discovery here, it could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case.”

Despite that filing by Smith and the fact that Trump’s attorneys have until 5 p.m. today to respond as to why Judge Chutkan shouldn’t impose a protective order against future Trump posts, the disgraced former president seemed to threaten his former vice president, Mike Pence, even after he’d been admonished by the judge. Trump posted this on Truth Social:

WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side. I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2% poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was “too honest.” He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy. I once read a major magazine article on Mike. It said he was not a very good person. I was surprised, but the article was right. Sad!

Pence is a likely witness against Trump in the Jan. 6 trial that Chutkan will preside over, so the posting could well be considered witness intimidation, and that is likely to have serious consequences, Aftergut notes.

Judge Chutkan has broad discretion over Trump’s D.C. trial date. Anger her and you add incentive to set a trial as early as is consistent with the time Trump’s lawyers need to adequately prepare.

If a trial occurs in the spring of 2024, the prospects for a pre-election conviction are strong. A Thursday Reuters-Ipsos poll told us that if a conviction occurs, 45 percent of Republicans would not vote for him, compared to 35 percent who would.

Tough getting back into the Oval Office with those numbers.

Will Trump dial back his rhetoric? Based on his past actions, that seems unlikely, which means he’s about to be slapped silly by a judge who doesn’t take any shit.

As usual, Donald Trump is his own worst enemy, and he’s too damn arrogant, obstinate, and childish to shut his big mouth.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Social Media

Judge Lets Trump Know She Won’t Take Any Of His Sh*t – Demands He Respond In 48 Hours For Online Threats

The old Donald Trump strategy for court cases — delay, delay, delay — just hit a brick wall in the person of U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who made it clear this evening she isn’t going to tolerate any of Donnie’s bullshit when it comes to the case being heard in her courtroom.

After the Justice Department requested a protective order be imposed by Chutkan in response to a perceived threat Trump posted on Truth Social Friday evening which read, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Chutkan ordered both parties to file legal briefs by Monday, August 8.

Rather than agree, attorneys for Trump requested a 48 hour extension before having to comply.

But as the Associated Press reports, Chutkan immediately shot down that request and let it be known that the defendant’s legal team is expected to respond by no later than Monday.

Chutkan on Saturday gave Trump’s legal team until 5 p.m. Monday to respond to the government’s request. Trump’s legal team, which has indicated he would look to slow the case down despite prosecutors’ pledge of a speedy trial, then filed a request to extend the response deadline to Thursday and to hold a hearing on the matter, saying it needed more time for discussion.

Chutkan swiftly denied that extension request Saturday evening, reaffirming that Trump must abide by Monday’s deadline.

According to former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, Trump and his lawyers are rattling the cage of the wrong judge because Chutkan isn’t about to take any of their shit.

“I think Donald Trump and his defense team have met their match because she will not indulge any shenanigans or any improper tactics by Trump or the defense team,” Kirschner told MSNBC host Erin O’Hearn.

“I think she will run a very tight ship, she will give him a fair trial, and I believe a speedy trial.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJMHfBgr0cU