Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan is set to preside over former President Donald Trump's trial in Washington, D.C. on charges related to the 2020 election.
Yet in a bold move, Trump's lawyers recently argued that the price of a fair trial would be Chutkan's removal.
According to CNN, his attorneys laid out their case for having the Obama appointee recuse herself in a court filing submitted on Monday.
"President Donald J. Trump, through undersigned counsel, respectfully moves to recuse and disqualify the Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455(a)," it began.
The document continued by pointing out that "[f]airness and impartiality are the central tenets of our criminal justice system."
"Both a defendant and the public are entitled to a full hearing, on all relevant issues, by a Court that has not prejudged the guilt of the defendant, and whose neutrality cannot be reasonably questioned," it noted.
"In a highly charged political season, naturally all Americans, and in fact, the entire world, are observing these proceedings closely," the filing went on to state.
"Only if this trial is administered by a judge who appears entirely impartial could the public ever accept the outcome as justice," it went on to contend.
At issue are comments that Chutkan made about the former president when trying other cases involving January 6 defendants.
This included complaining that defendants showed "blind loyalty to one person, who, by the way, remains free to this day."
Paul Kamenar is an attorney with the Nation Legal and Policy Center (PLC), and he maintained during a recent interview with One America News (OAN) that Trump has valid legal grounds to call for Chutkan's recusal.
"[Judge Chutkan] is basically editorializing in her other cases and implicating that Donald Trump is the real culprit here," Kamenar remarked.
Pres. Donald Trump seeks to recuse Judge Tanya Chutkan in his DC case.
Attorney Paul Kamenar says he has a valid argument:
“[Judge Chutkan] is basically editorializing in her other cases and implicating that Donald Trump is the real culprit here.” pic.twitter.com/5l97Xr9CBM
— Daniel Baldwin (@baldwin_daniel_) September 13, 2023
"It seems that she's made a clear statement that shows she thinks that Donald Trump should be charged and convicted in this case," the lawyer added.
