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WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Monday attacked special counsel Jack Smith and the judge assigned to oversee proceedings in the 2020 election case following an indictment that charged him with federal crimes last week.
In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said that Smith is going before Judge Tanya Chutkan in an effort to take away the former president’s First Amendment rights and demanded that Chutkan recuse herself from the case.
“Deranged Jack Smith is going before his number one draft pick, the Judge of his ‘dreams’ (WHO MUST BE RECUSED!), in an attempt to take away my FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS — This, despite the fact that he, the DOJ, and his many Thug prosecutors, are illegally leaking, everything and anything, to the Fake News Media!!!” Trump wrote.Trump had also called for Chutkan’s recusal in a Truth Social post on Sunday, saying that he was calling for that move “on very powerful grounds” but didn’t elaborate.
Asked for comment and clarification, Trump’s campaign reiterated that prosecutors are “leaking to the press,” but did not clarify his comments on Chutkan.
NBC News also reached out to Smith’s office and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Chutkan was randomly assigned last week to preside over the latest Trump case, which includes four counts related to conspiring to defraud the United States and obstructing the election victory of President Joe Biden. Trump pled not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in Washington, D.C. on Thursday before a separate federal judge.
Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and has served on the bench for nearly a decade, is known for imposing some of the harshest penalties on rioters who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump’s next hearing in the case is set for Aug. 28 when Chutkan is expected to schedule a trial date in the case.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Smith’s office asked Chutkan in a court filing to prohibit the former president from publicly disclosing some of the evidence gathered during their investigation.
Prosecutors also noted that Trump had written “multiple posts” that mentioned or alluded to the case, including one that appeared on his Truth Social page Friday afternoon that read: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
Trump’s use of details or grand jury transcripts obtained in discovery “could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case,” the prosecutors wrote.
At his arraignment on Thursday, Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya warned Trump that “it is a crime to try to influence a juror, or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.”
Chutkan ordered Trump’s attorneys to respond to the government’s motion for a protective order by 5 p.m. ET on Monday.
Zoë Richards contributed.
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