Cruz: Judge assigned to Jan. 6 case 'relentlessly hostile to Donald Trump'
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blasted the judge overseeing former President Trump’s case involving his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election for being “relentlessly hostile” to the former president.
Cruz said on his podcast, “The Verdict with Ted Cruz,” that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has a “reputation for being far left, even by D.C. District Court standards.” He said Chutkan has set aside multiple federal death penalty cases and pointed to her strong sentences for Jan. 6 cases, which were longer than what prosecutors recommended.
“So in terms of the judge, we can anticipate a judge who is going to be relentlessly hostile to Donald Trump, who is going to bend over backwards for the Biden [Department of Justice] and who is going to make ruling after ruling after ruling against Trump,” Cruz said.
Cruz voted for Chutkan’s confirmation in 2014, when she was confirmed unanimously by the Senate after being nominated by former President Obama. He said that if the case goes to trial in Washington, D.C., there is an “exceptionally high” chance the jury will vote to convict him because D.C. leans Democrat.
“They are not Donald Trump supporters,” he said. “The likelihood that a D.C. jury will vote to convict Donald Trump is exceptionally high, and the facts don't matter. The laws don't matter. They hate him. That's a big part of the reason why the Biden DOJ wants to bring this case in D.C., which means with a far-left judge and a far-left jury, there is a very real possibility that Donald Trump ends up being convicted.”
He also echoed a familiar cry by Republicans by accusing the Justice Department of “weaponizing the legal system.”
“And what is dangerous about this particular indictment with a judge and a jury that are likely to be stacked against Donald Trump, and in fact, loathe Donald Trump, that is a very dangerous scenario that is I think exceptionally bad,” he said.
Trump was indicted Tuesday for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and now faces four federal charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. The 45-page indictment says Trump engaged in a campaign of “dishonesty, fraud and conceit” to obstruct a “bedrock function” of a democracy.