The judge assigned to the 2020 election aftermath case against former President Donald Trump has issued a number of strict sentences against Jan. 6 defendants. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama was described as the “toughest punisher” of such defendants by the Associated Press.
The news agency wrote that the judge “has handed out tougher sentences” than requested by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in seven such cases. The Associated Press added that she met the DOJ’s requests in four other cases.
In all 11 Jan. 6-related cases that came before her, the defendants received jail time.
That’s the same Tanya Chutkan who represented Theranos at Boies Schiller (the firm that hired Fusion GPS to attack Theranos whistleblowers) and then presided as judge in the U.S. House lawsuit against Fusion GPS. Completely corrupt. https://t.co/3HvYcuBe3B
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 1, 2023
In the four cases in which she superseded the DOJ’s recommendation, the federal government did not seek jail time. She sentenced those four defendants to stints in jail between 14 to 45 days.
Included in the sentences, Chutkan sentenced an Ohio couple who entered the Capitol while live-streaming a video of themselves to jail despite the DOJ not requesting it.
The former president was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday related to his statements and actions following the 2020 election. Special prosecutor Jack Smith is leading the prosecution. Smith is also pressing charges against Trump for alleged handling of classified documents at his Florida home.
Trump will be charged with four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States. Six unindicted co-conspirators were also included in Smith’s indictment.
Trump’s campaign called Smith’s latest move “nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden crime family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 presidential election, in which President Trump is the undisputed frontrunner, and leading by substantial margins.”
The campaign echoed a similar statement by the former president, asking why it took more than two years for federal prosecutors to “bring these fake charges, right in the middle of President Trump’s winning campaign for 2024?”
Trump said that Smith’s efforts were interference with the 2024 election. He called the recent action “yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M.”
He also called the indictment “Prosecutorial Misconduct!”
