A retired judge has suggested why Donald Trump’s legal team is “yelling like hell” with its request to recuse US District Judge Tanya Chutkan from his election obstruction case.
Former California Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, appearing on CNN’s The Source on Monday, argued it wasn’t really because they feared Chutkan would be impartial or unfair on Trump, which Trump’s team has argued because of the harsh sentences she’s already handed down to January 6 rioters and for a comment she made about Trump remaining free.
After all, Cordell noted, it would be a jury deciding Trump’s innocence or guilt.
Instead, Cordell said Trump’s legal team was “really afraid” that “if he’s convicted, that she will be the sentencing judge, and they’ve seen how she has responded, to those, who have been convicted, of their involvement.”
Cordell doubted Chutkan would recuse herself, however.
“My view, given her history, already in this case, and other cases, she can absolutely be fair, in this case. So, they’re really grasping for straws,” she said in a video shared online by Mediaite.