Donald Trump wants to challenge the judge from his trial
The former US president on Monday asked the judge presiding over deliberations in his federal trial to step down over his efforts to sway the outcome of the 2020 election.
Donald Trump speaks at the South Dakota Republican Party Leadership Rally on September 8, 2023 in Rapid City, South Dakota.
AFP
Judge Tanya Sudkan opened the hearing on March 4, 2024, much to the consternation of lawyers who favored the Republican primaries, who had asked that they be held in April 2026, after the November 2024 presidential election. Donald Trump slammed Judge Sudgan’s decision, accusing his reality social network of “hating” him.
Before pleading not guilty on August 3, he insisted his only mistake was “contesting a fraudulent election” and referred to him as an “unfair judge”, apparently referring to Judge Sutkan.
On January 6, 2021, during the sentencing hearing of the participants in the attack on the Capitol, the seat of Congress, his lawyers cite comments made by the magistrate. This sanctuary of American democracy in an attempt to block his opponent Joe Biden’s certificate of victory.
The request failed
“Judge Sudkan, in connection with other cases, has recommended that President Trump be prosecuted and imprisoned,” they say in their motion. So, in October 2022, when a participant in the attack on the Capitol was sentenced to 15 months in prison, he observed that the participants acted “with blind loyalty to a man who is free today.”
“His public statements inevitably taint the proceedings, no matter the outcome,” argue Donald Trump’s lawyers, who argue that as a result “Judge Sutgen should recuse himself and ask the clerk to randomly assign the case to another judge.”
Most legal experts consider this claim doomed to failure because it requires the judge to depart from his own discretion.
Campaigning to recapture the White House, Donald Trump is blaming his legal troubles on President Biden’s Democratic administration, which he could see on his road in 2024 for revenge in the 2020 election.
AFP
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