This MAGA rioter's trial offers window into how DC judge could handle Trump case

Former President Donald Trump has been trying to get Judge Tanya Chutkan disqualified from the Mar-a-Lago documents case, arguing that the Barack Obama appointee is biased against him. But so far, it hasn't worked. And special counsel Jack Smith has pushed back against Team Trump's efforts.

Chutkan was also the judge in the misdemeanor case against Antony Vo, one of the Trump supporters who invaded the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. Politico's Kyle Cheney, in an article published on September 25, takes a look at how Chutkan handled that case — and what it says about how she may handle the Trump prosecution.

"The Vo trial, which ended with a guilty verdict on all four counts Friday, (September 22), was lightly attended," Cheney explains. "But one significant figure was watching closely from the public gallery: a member of special counsel Jack Smith's team, which is prosecuting Trump."

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Cheney notes that Chutkan "reached a boiling point when Vo's defense attorneys, members of the Federal Public Defender's office, attempted to introduce evidence during a witness' cross-examination that they had never shared with prosecutors or the judge."

"From the first moment of jury selection and through the course of the trial," Cheney writes, "Chutkan made clear she values jurors' time and comfort. She scolded the defense for raising a last-minute issue that delayed the start of jury selection on the first day of trial."

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Politico's full report is available at this link.