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You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / Judge Chutkan Denies Trump’s Motion To Recuse

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  1. 1.

    bbleh

    I wonder how seriously his lawyers took this.  It’s not like a routine motion to dismiss — it’s a direct shot at the judge assigned to your case — and from what I’ve read, it basically pasted together comments she made at some of the many J6 trials she ran, taken entirely out of context, and tried to present it as evidence of prejudice, which ain’t very convincing.

    I’d be willing to bet it was (1) ordered by Trump out of pique and (2) done as much for political effect — “see, we’re fighting back against that Black woman biased judge!” — as for any possible legal benefit.

    The guy really has no bottom.  Moral bottom, I mean, not the other kind, obviously.

  6. 6.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Judge banged the gavel and said “order in the court” to which Trump reflexively replied, “I have a double cheeseburger, large fries and a diet coke”

  7. 7.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @bbleh: ​

    I wonder how seriously his lawyers took this.

    Over and over I see proof that Trump keeps his lawyers on a tight leash, demands insane garbage, and they give up on trying to present normal defenses. He won’t let them, and why look for what you can do when your client is going to go out and make public statements that completely destroy your intended defense?

  8. 8.

    Shalimar

    @bbleh: That is my take on it too, but Trump’s lawyers need to be careful.  As Judge Engoron showed yesterday, lawyers can’t keep making the same frivolous arguments for political effect without eventually pissing off the judge and facing sanctions.

  9. 9.

    bbleh

    @Frankensteinbeck: I was thinking that about the NY case too, when the judge slammed them for repeating arguments he had (twice!) rejected &/or cautioned them against.

    One hopes they’ve learned to get payment up front.

    @Shalimar: lol, beat me to it.

  10. 10.

    SPN in CO

    I don’t know what to think right now.  The current Trump-shadowed Republican Party is imploding organizationally and effectively.   Winning parties don’t sleepwalk into government shutdowns.   Nor do they have vicious public infighting.   This all points to an R debacle.

    Yet the rise of Trump in 2016 makes us all feel something akin to PTSD that they can somehow pull it together and bring Trump back as a tyrant.

    How do we overcome this disconnect between facts and fears?

  13. 13.

    bbleh

    @SPN in CO: How do we overcome this disconnect between facts and fears?

    Look at the nearly unbroken string of victories that Dems have won since 2020, pay attention to how we won them, and do more of that.  Worrying just wastes energy; fear not and soldier on!

  14. 14.

    Shalimar

    @SPN in CO: Part of that PTSD is that Republican politicians have become explicitly violent in their rhetoric without it hurting them in the polls so far.  And those in heavily Republican districts like Gaetz and Greene could literally murder hundreds of people in a public place and still win re-election.  It’s scary how utterly without morals the MAGA base is.

  17. 17.

    Scout211

    I really enjoy all the Trump “winning” these days.

    I enjoy reading news articles liked these, too:

    Trump Org. tries to figure out the future of its business after fraud ruling

    New YorkCNN — 
    The Trump Organization is trying to determine the sweep of Tuesday’s ruling that Donald Trump is liable for fraud and what it means for the future of the former president’s namesake business, his attorneys say.

    At a pre-trial hearing Wednesday, Trump attorneys said they didn’t know to which part of the company the ruling applied and were starting to work out what may need to be dissolved to comply with the judge’s surprise decision.

    Officials from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office also said they needed more time to go through the order.

    . . .

    Engoron said in his ruling that a receiver will be put in place to “manage the dissolution” of the corporate entities, a move that is rare outside of cases where a judge finds there to be a notable amount of business fraud, according to Simon Miller, a New York-based attorney with broad expertise on receiverships.

    . . .

    Both sides will now propose names from a court-approved list of receivers and the judge will ultimately decide who will be appointed to the role.

    But questions still remain as to how the receiver would dissolve the properties, if the ruling would impact properties located outside of New York state, including Mar-a-Lago, and if the Trumps could transfer the New York-based assets into a new company located out of state.

    . . .

    Engoron said in his ruling that the issues that will be determined at trial include how much Trump will be held liable for in the lawsuit and the amount of disgorgement, or ill-gotten funds, the company will need to pay to the attorney general’s office.
    James’ lawsuit is seeking $250 million.

    During the trial, James’ office won’t need to prove the company’s financial statements are false as they seek to hold him and his sons liable for insurance fraud and false business records. But the trial gives them the opportunity to prove other specific claims brought in the lawsuit, which would allow them to seek a larger penalty from the Trump Organization.
    . . .
    The Trump team indicated Tuesday that they plan to appeal Engoron’s ruling.

    Go ahead and spend more of your billions millions, Donald, Junior and Eric, on those fancy lawyers. I’m sure you might be able to buy some time.  Or not.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    Delaying tactic in which the most thick and inept of his counsels had any illusions of success.

    When does “my Kevin” get hornswoggled into announcing impeachment proceedings against Judge Chutkan?

  21. 21.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @bbleh:

    One hopes they’ve learned to get payment up front.

    They have.  Millions and millions of dollars worth of paid up front.  Trump has always been happy to spend other people’s money on himself, but it’s so much that his PACs have admitted finances are getting tight.

    Watch things get crazy as his business empire gets disassembled from losing the fraud suit.

  23. 23.

    Alison Rose

    Even on their face, the court’s statements fall short of manifesting “clear and convincing evidence” that the court has conducted itself “in a manner supporting disqualification.” Nixon, 267 F. Supp. 3d at 147. Start with the Palmer sentencing. The defense here focuses on the court’s comments that Palmer made a “very good point” about other people not being charged or not, and that “I have my opinions” about the “issue of who has or has not been charged.” Motion at 2, 7. But the court expressly declined to state who, if anyone, it thought should still face charges. It is the defense, not the court, who has assumed that the Defendant belongs in that undefined group.

    LOL I love it. “Hey dipshit, it was YOUR bitch ass who made this assumption, not me.”

  29. 29.

    kalakal

    Wonder if the “reassessment” of TFG’s “worth” will be of interest to the IRS? I seem to recall he’s been paying more or less zero tax for years due to write offs, write offs that we are now shocked to learn may have been based on inaccurate valuation of assetts.

  35. 35.

    Scout211

    @kindness: Does this sound like a sane person? (7 min ago on Truth Social)

    LEGALLY IRREFUTABLE DISCLAIMER CLAUSE!!! Regardless, great Financial Statements, very high Net Worth and Liquidity. MAGA!

    He’s in Michigan for his rally and fake support of “the workers.”  Maybe he needed an extra dose of Adderall to get through his speech? That statement sounds, uh, not-sane.

  37. 37.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    The Trump Organization is trying to determine the sweep of Tuesday’s ruling

    the legal situation has developed not necessarily to the Trump Organization’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.

  38. 38.

    bbleh

    @Scout211: Disclaimer Claus.  He comes down the chimney, takes all your money and other valuable goods, and leaves a note saying he didn’t mean to.

  47. 47.

    Leto

    More dumb shit that Senator Tubbyville said today, regarding the military:

    Why did @SenTuberville vote against the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs?

    “I heard some things he talked about, about race and things that he wanted to mix into the military,” he told @BloombergTV. “Our military is not an equal opportunity employer.”

    As well as this:

    As part of the same interview, Tuberville said he opposed Air Force Gen. Charles Brown Jr.’s nomination to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because, as the senator put it, the general has “some woke policies.” Asked for an example, the Alabaman said he’d heard Brown say “some things” about “race and things that he wanted to mix into the military.”

    This was in apparent reference to the general noting that only 2% of Air Force pilots are Black, and recommending that the Air Force explore ways to add more diversity to the ranks.

    This worthless klan fuck. Just continual f’ing hate for all of them.

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Leto: Tuberhaid, who has not served in uniform, knows NOTHING about the military.  It actually IS an equal opportunity employer, and getting anything less than a 1 (the top grade) on your performance evaluation in EO/EEO (Equal Opportunity/Equal Employment Opportunity) is a career killer.

  57. 57.

    JaneE

    Grab a bowl of popcorn and read Judge Chutkan’s denial of the Trump’s motion to recuse.

    If you are going to cite the judge’s words from the bench as justification for recusal, at least read the next damn sentence that she said.

    This is the the next best thing to forgetting that those vile statements made by (pick your Democrat) were actual quotes from someone and not their own opinions.   But in writing in a court document.

    Judge Chutkan did everything but explicitly state they don’t really know the law.

  58. 58.

    wjca

    @Hungry Joe: What’s the record for most consecutive losses in court … or anywhere? I bet the Washington Generals are getting twitchy.

    But the Generals were intended to lose.

    For trying to win, and failing, go with the Philadelphia 76ers, 1972-73 season, 73 losses.  Trump is probably a lock to beat that.  (Althoughit might be possible to quibble over what constitutes a season for this purpose.)

  61. 61.

    Scout211

    Propaganda is a powerful thing.  This is kind of scary. Republicans think Trump is a “person of faith.”  Yikes

    More than half of Republicans see former President Donald Trump as a person of faith, putting him ahead of more vocally religious figures like his former vice president, Mike Pence, according to a new national poll conducted by HarrisX for the Deseret News.

    Registered voters were asked whether they considered a list of political figures people of faith. Trump rose to the top of the list for Republicans, while President Joe Biden topped the list for Democrats. Among independents, Sen. Mitt Romney was most likely to be chosen as a person of faith.

    Among Republicans, 53% said Trump was a person of faith, ahead of every other person on the list — although he was statistically tied with Pence, who came in at 52%.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @JaneE: I read the whole thing.  Mostly what Chutkin wrote was exactly what all the legal eagles said would be in her response.

    The happy surprise for me was that she actually included the “I never said Trump was the one who was responsible – you guys are the ones who said that in your filing.  (paraphrase)

    So good.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I feared the worst case. What if it can’t be worked out and you have to give one of the up.  That would have to gut you.

    (tearing up just writing that.)

    SO GLAD. so glad.  so glad.

  65. 65.

    Leto

    @WaterGirl: @Dorothy A. Winsor: @Villago Delenda Est: under Federal law, IT IS an EEO employer. On top of that, some of our absolute best/most revered AF leaders were people of color because of how they pushed the AF forward with regard to training, education, and benefits. I hate these Nazi fucks more every day. They know nothing of integrity, service before self, or excellence in all you/we do.

  66. 66.

    scav

    And we’ve just had alllll this neener neener Justice Thomas blether about how judges are perfectly free not to recuse themselves.  Time now for the turn on a dime PR campaign from the same lips about how it’s the Greatest DEEP STATE injustice Ever!

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: haha.  I’m sticking with the dogs know who the MAGA secret service agents are.

    That must have been a very hard several months.  Kudos to you for the patience and persistence.  And if you’re frustrated, the dogs pick up on that, so you must have amazing self-discipline.

  70. 70.

    Leto

    @Scout211: I think about every time I was in church and the pastor would preach about Revelations. The whole mark of the beast and the anti-christ. How the anti-christ would come and everyone would flock to him. And I think… are you that stupid that you can’t see the parallels? And it’s yes… they are that stupid.

  71. 71.

    kalakal

    @scav: She only need follow the inspiring example of that beacon of integrity and legal luminary Samuel Alito from 3 weeks ago

    Claiming that recusal is simply the “personal decision of each justice,” Alito announced that he would recuse himself only on the basis of a so-called “sound reason”—an undefined, and previously unknown, rationale that has no inherent meaning.

  72. 72.

    zhena gogolia

    @Leto: I saw a movie about Hitler this afternoon, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about Trump. He TRIES to look like him.

  75. 75.

    wjca

    @zhena gogolia: I saw a movie about Hitler this afternoon, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about Trump. He TRIES to look like him.

    Trying to picture TIFG growing a moustache.  Not being very successful.  Although I suppose he could get a stick on one to match his hair piece….

  76. 76.

    kalakal

    @wjca:

    Trying to picture TIFG growing a moustache

    There are things that should forever remain undone. For your own health of mind I beseech you to refrain from this course of action

  77. 77.

    Captain C

    @Baud:

    “I can’t get a fair trial because I’m guilty as sin.”

    “I’ve polluted the jury pool with my inculpatory public statements!  They’re all too biased to give me a fair trial!  You must dismiss all charges against me immediately!”

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    OT, but brendancalling has a gig in the Philly area, so I wanted to let all you Philly folks know about it.  From an earlier comment from brendancallinglast night:

    On a completely unrelated note—and in some shameless self-promotion—if any jackals are in Philly this weekend, I’m playing at the Philly Brewing Company‘s first “Harvest From the Hood” release since 2021. Last year, the city cut down their hops by mistake. Big oopsie!

    Anyway, there will not only be two great country/Americana bands—my own, the Country Gold Classics, and Yonder Hearts—we will also have a two step lesson, led by Yonder Hearts’ singer Jess and me. Two-stepping makes country music so much more fun. So come on down to the Brewery in bee-yoo-teeful Fishtown (exact address at the link)! Dance lesson from 1:00-1:30, bands start shortly thereafter. I’m the uglier one playing bass.

  79. 79.

    bbleh

    @Scout211: it’s identification.  They consider themselves to be “persons of faith,” and they identify with Trump; therefore, Trump is a “person of faith.”

    It really is a mistake to think of him as an ordinary politician.  We’re way past that point.  He is an avatar, a totem, a godhead, onto which they project all virtues, and by pledging loyalty partake of those virtues. Look at the silly McNaughton art or the nearly ecstatic reactions some of his cultists have to his presence.

    Republicans are unusually prone to this — Reagan being the prime example, and also Bush Jr. — but Trump, I think because so much groundwork had been done with The Apprentice, and because he’s a born showman, is a natural at playing the role.

    Not to get all Godwin, but the same was true of Hitler, who btw was also pretty seriously mentally damaged.

  82. 82.

    Scout211

    @bbleh: It really is a mistake to think of him as an ordinary politician.  We’re way past that point.  He is an avatar, a totem, a godhead, onto which they project all virtues, and by pledging loyalty partake of those virtues.

    Well said. But damned scary.

  84. 84.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Leto:

    I think about every time I was in church and the pastor would preach about Revelations. The whole mark of the beast and the anti-christ. How the anti-christ would come and everyone would flock to him. And I think… are you that stupid that you can’t see the parallels? And it’s yes… they are that stupid.

    Yes, they are.  And it is really perfect.  While I don’t believe in any of this end-times, Rapture, Antichrist stuff, my take for years now has been that if there were a real Antichrist, he’d be a good deal smarter than TFG, but that TFG would be the dry run, the proof of concept that the time was ripe.  And yes, it sure is.

  87. 87.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Leto:

    How the anti-christ would come and everyone would flock to him. And I think… are you that stupid that you can’t see the parallels? And it’s yes… they are that stupid.

    I KNOW! I haven’t been a believer in years and when Trump was elected the parallels gave me shivers. The way he will mix in a rarely spoken truth, like how most wealthy proudly don’t pay taxes, with a firehose of lies.  The way he feeds off the crowds and brings out the worst in them. It’s eerie.

  90. 90.

    Gvg

    • The problem starts with their definition of person of faith. A lot of them should not be including themselves. Many have completely inverted the teachings of Jesus and do not even know they are mainly followers of mammon with a lot of just tribal identification that has nothing to do with religion. They yell the loudest, but they don’t live the standards, not even the ones I don’t think are worth it like no divorce. The most important ones like be kind to everyone and charitable to the poor and sick they actually attack. They have driven underground the Christians I used to know.
    • I am an atheist so it doesn’t mean much that I think they are fake, but I guess I care about word definitions too much. They aren’t what they say. There are real ones still around.
  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    Do they even have a legitimate business function to salvage from the organization?

    They don’t have a legitimate business function. Now we know of course that the underlying function of business is to make earn money. The only business function SFB knows is how to steal money. Notice that I didn’t say earn money, because he really does not seem to have that anywhere within the structure of his business, how to actually have a business that earns money.

  93. 93.

    Ken

    @Scout211: LEGALLY IRREFUTABLE DISCLAIMER CLAUSE!!!

    What, his financial statements have a footnote saying “This is a work of fiction and any resemblance of these figures to reality is coincidental”? And he thinks that will help with a charge of falsifying business records?

    Which reminds me, didn’t his former auditing firm announce, while becoming his former auditors, that their report was based on the numbers they were given, and made no representation about their accuracy?

  94. 94.

    Ruckus

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    The only business function was to imply that SFB is wealthy beyond all counting. It doesn’t even need to be true, all that is needed is that people believe his lying ass. Oh wait. Isn’t everyone finding out, from his own admission that he can lie all he wants, that he wants to lie 100% of the time, because that is all that makes him look like anything. LYING. About anything and everything. He’s the fake human, with the fake fortune, and the fake laws and the fake, well everything. And he might have gotten away with it if his ego and his totally unearned self worth actually had even the tiniest validity.

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