Ex-prosecutor reveals what Trump 'objects to so violently' in Judge Chutkan’s latest ruling

19 October 2024

Former President Donald Trump just lost another battle in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. And one prominent legal expert noted that the ex-president's legal team is livid that Chutkan won't give in to his politically based demands.

Earlier this week, Judge Tanya Chutkan allowed for the public release of Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's appendix in Trump's D.C. election interference case. That appendix contains a bulk of additional evidence cited in Smith's 165-page dossier, which he submitted earlier this month to make his case that Trump can't claim his attempt to overturn the 2020 election was an "official act" that falls under the Supreme Court's newly established presidential immunity doctrine.

Trump's lawyers unsuccessfully argued that allowing for the release of the appendix would amount to "election interference," and that she should instead delay publication until after the November election. But as former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance said in a Saturday interview on MSNBC, Chutkan countered that not releasing the appendix would, in effect, be its own form of election interference on Trump's behalf.

"This is about the prosecution. It is not about the election. And Chutkan draws that line very clearly. She says she is conducting a courtroom proceeding, not an election," Vance explained. "And there is a presumption in criminal cases, it is an important part of the system, this is that the proceedings should be as public as possible. We don't close our courtrooms in America."

"What Judge Chutkan ultimately said to Donald Trump is, 'look, you're asking for special treatment, I'm not going to give it... I'm not giving you that special treatment here,'" Vance added. "And that's what Donald Trump objects to so violently, and this whole proceeding, is that Judge Chutkan simply is not giving him special treatment."

The former president being indignant about not getting his way in Chutkan's courtroom is indeed a sharp contrast to the leniency he's been given elsewhere. In July's Trump v. United States decision, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overruled both Chutkan and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in granting Trump absolute broad immunity from criminal prosecution for all "official acts" carried out while in office. Just weeks later, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — who Trump appointed in 2020 — dismissed Smith's 37-count felony indictment of Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents due to that ruling (Smith has appealed Cannon's decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals).

Trump has even been able to get special treatment in the New York courtroom where he was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records earlier this year. While he was supposed to be sentenced in July, Judge Juan Merchan moved the sentencing date back to September after the Supreme Court handed down its immunity ruling. And shortly before the former president's September sentencing date, Merchan pushed sentencing back once again to after the November election. And if Trump wins the election, it's likely that sentencing date would be put on hold for at least four years, as his attorneys would likely argue that the duties of the presidency supersede a criminal sentence in Manhattan.

However, Vance argued to MSNBC host Katie Phang that Chutkan's actions prove that Americans shouldn't lose faith in the criminal justice system just yet. She acknowledged that while it is "understandably difficult" for followers of Trump's legal cases to deal with the slow pace of the courts, Chutkan is acting deliberately and will not be influenced by politics.

"People love to talk about how the wheels of justice run slowly... I will tell you, Katie, my experience of the federal prosecutor for 25 years says these cases do come together slowly. They do not happen overnight," Vance said. "I think that's a narrative trap that we've fallen into, this idea that Trump always wins. Guess what? Trump is not winning in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C. Instead, a judge is treating him fairly... Jack Smith will get a fair trial, the American people will get a fair trial, Donald Trump will get a fair trial if this case is permitted to proceed."

Watch Vance's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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