Watch: A further look into U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan
The Jamaican-born United States district judge oversees the trial for former President Trump, but who is Judge Chutkan?
Federal judge Tanya Chutkan has described the January 6th rioters as a violent mob that tried to overthrow America’s government, and she’s been one of the toughest judges on convicted defendants when it comes to sentencing. Now she’s overseeing the trial of the man accused of lighting the fuse that set off the 2021 deadly attack on the Capitol: former President Donald Trump.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in the U.S., Judge Chutkan was nominated in 2014 by former President Barack Obama to become a federal judge. The Senate confirmed her with a vote of 95 to 0. Judge Chutkan has made headlines for being tough on convicted January 6th rioters, often handing down stiffer sentences than prosecutors initially requested.
She was randomly selected to preside over Trump’s federal trial, where he’s being charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election.
When it came to the 2021 sentence hearing for a convicted January 6th rioter, Judge Chutkan said, “It has to be made clear that trying to stop the peaceful transition of power assaulting law enforcement is going to be met with certain punishment.”
Perhaps this will give us a glimpse of what’s to come in Trump’s upcoming trial.
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