WASHINGTON – On Friday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called the judge overseeing the trial January 6US Judge Tanya Chutkan is the “worst person” in the federal criminal case against her, despite threats from her supporters.
Trump also called special counsel Jack Smith, who faced threats from Trump supporters, a “sick puppy” during a podcast with right-wing media personality Dan Bongino — a term he often applies to figures he doesn’t like.
Trump blasted the judge for releasing hundreds of pages of documents — most of which were heavily redacted — provided by Smith on Friday. A previous filing opposed Trump’s motion to dismiss the case.
The documents released on Friday have been heavily redacted and mostly contain information that is already public. They show that Smith’s team relied on transcripts of interviews and other information released by the House Jan. 6 Committee, which was disbanded after the House lost the House in 2022.
During a podcast appearance, Trump called the release of the documents “election interference” and said it was “a terrible thing, what happened. And the judges, this judge is the worst person.”
“Everyone said, ‘Be good, don’t buy Chutkan.’ And I bought Chutka, you know, they’re supposed to be collecting balls, right? Trump went on to refer to the random selection system used to appoint federal judges to cases with lottery-like terms. “It’s not like that, I don’t think it works like that, but that’s what they say. This is how it should be. You pick out of a hat, he is the judge.”
In another federal case brought by Jack Smith, Trump brought to the bench one of his personal appointees, Aileen Cannon, who regularly favored Trump in court. in the end he rejected the whole caseThe Ministry of Justice is appealing the decision.
Chutka’s security detail has grown significantly since he was assigned the Trump job, and the targets of Trump’s ire have repeatedly been the subject of threats from his fan base.
Last year, a woman in Texas was arrested and charged with making racist threats against Chutkan. “You’re in our sights, we want to kill you,” Abigail told Jo Shry, according to the lawsuit, according to federal authorities. “If Trump’s not elected in 2024, we’re coming to kill you, so tread lightly, b… –.”
Shry has not entered a plea to the suit, but his court order shows he has undergone substance abuse treatment and his trial is set for next month.
Earlier this year Chutkan was a victim separately “call”means a false report to law enforcement that leads to a police response to the target’s home.
Chutkan began overseeing the Trump case after the first federal indictment in the Jan. 6 case in August 2023, and from the beginning made it clear that Trump’s 2024 presidential bid would have no effect on his case. Trump’s team then engaged in a delay strategy that paid off; arguments about presidential immunity went all the way to the Supreme Court, which refused to use some of Smith’s evidence and withdrew the claim after the election.
When Chutkan took the case back from the Supreme Court, he began implementing a timeline to determine the issues going forward, including deciding what types of evidence can be used after the high court’s ruling. As part of that trial, and in response to Trump’s lawyers’ argument in the indictment that Trump was not responsible for the January 6 attack, Smith’s team said Trump was responsible for the attack. On Friday, Chutkan released redacted attachments related to Smith’s argument, which worried Trump because the election is less than three weeks away.
“What kind of judge would do that?” Trump said on Bongino’s podcast. “Forget about stupid Jack Smith. You know, you have to keep a judge – the judge will say, ‘we’re going to release something, you know, a few days ago.’
Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges in the Washington-based case — conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct official process, obstruction and attempted obstruction of official process and conspiracy to violate rights.
One of the keys to Smith’s case is his claim that Trump knew the lies he was spreading to his followers about the 2020 election were actually lies. At the beginning of the week, Chutkan made a decision denial Many of Trump’s additional discovery requests cited Trump’s argument that his team may be concerned about foreign election interference. false allegations of voter fraud in majority non-white towns that it was then released to the public – “tense.”