Who is Tanya Chutkan, judge assigned to the Trump case who has handed down harsh punishments to Capitol attackers?
Tanya Chutkan nominated by Barack Obama as a member of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was elected in June 2014
Former President Donald Trump faces additional charges after a grand jury returned another indictment against him Tuesday in connection with ongoing probes into his efforts to stop the 2020 election led by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
The indictment alleges that the Republican undertook a “criminal scheme” to undermine the results of the presidential election from which Joe Biden emerged victorious and charges him with four felonies: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official act process and conspiracy against rights.
D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan was assigned to this specific case, according to the court filing.
Chutkan was nominated by former Democratic President Barack Obama. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in June 2014.
Originally from Jamaica, born in Kingston, Chutkan has a bachelor’s degree in economics from George Washington University and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her DC District Court bio says.
She worked at a private law firm and later worked for the District of Columbia Public Defender Service early in her career as an attorney before joining the law firm of Boies, Schiller, & Flexner LLP, where she worked for 12 years and specialized in white-collar criminal defense, according to the biography.
As a district judge, Chutkan denied an earlier attempt by Trump to block the release of documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol assault.
Stiff sentences for Capitol assailants.
The judge is known for handing down harsh sentences for rioters accused of attacking the Capitol.
During an October 2021 sentencing hearing for a Texas man who had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge for participating in the altercations to the Capitol building, Chutkan went beyond the ruling recommended by federal prosecutors, which he described as too lenient given the danger posed by the insurrection.
Although prosecutors recommended three months of home for prison and probation for Matt Mazzocco, the judge expressed in a ruling that “there have to be consequences” for those involved in the attempted violent overthrow of a branch of the U.S. government, “beyond staying home.”
“If Mr. Mazzocco gets off with probation and a slap on the wrist, that won’t deter anyone from trying what he did again,” Chutkan said. “In the opinion of this court, it does not indicate the gravity, the seriousness of the crimes he committed on Jan. 6.”
He ultimately sentenced Mazzocco to 45 days in jail and more than 60 hours of community service, ABC News reported.
Trump was summoned to appear in court Thursday in Washington, D.C., on his latest indictment.
Prosecutors say the mogul’s alleged scheme included recruiting a list of so-called “fake electors” targeting several states across the country, using the Justice Department to conduct “bogus election crime investigations,” recruiting the vice president to “alter election results,” and duplicating false claims that led to the Jan. 6 riot in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
Special Prosecutor Smith called the Capitol attack “an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy.”
The goal of the attack was “to obstruct a fundamental function of the U.S. government and the nation’s process of collecting, tallying and certifying the results of presidential elections,” Smith said after the indictment was unsealed.
After the new indictments were revealed, Trump described the new charges as a “bunch.”
“It’s election interference,” the former president told ABC News, saying he is “doing very well in the polls” and believes he will defeat President Joe Biden in 2024.