WASHINGTON, DC - As former President Donald Trump fights for his political life and freedom, information has come forth about the judge who will preside over his alleged election interference case concerning the January 6, 2021, US Capitol siege.
Trump already faced impeachment from Congress and was found not guilty during the Senate portion of that probe.
The New York Post reported that Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who conservatives have described as a “far-left zealot,” has ties to Marxist revolutionaries from her Jamaican homeland. In fact, her grandfather was such.
Chutkan, whom Barack Obama appointed, is the granddaughter of Jamaican communist revolutionary Frank Hill. During World War II, Jamaica’s governor jailed him and his brother Ken over allegations of “subversive activities.”
According to the National Library of Jamaica, the British Colonial government took Hill into custody without trial for “trade union and political activities.” The release says Hill, along with Ken Hill and Richart Hart, were held for attempting to organize trade unions in government departments.
They were also “soon to be charged” with “subversive activities,” which the release said was unrelated to trade union operations.
The Marxists Internet Archive accounts for Frank Hill’s involvement with Marxists and his attempts to engage in political activities. He was intimately involved in a political party, the People’s National Party, which contains “ideological tendencies ranging from the moderate right to the far left.”
In 1952, Frank Hill, along with Ken Hill, Hart, and a man named Arthur Henry, were all kicked out of the PNP because they “represented a communist tendency.”
“Ken Hill, by far the most influential, was more pragmatic and less concerned with political theory than most members of the left. He probably began to consider himself a communist both as a result of the influence of his brother Frank and also his observation of the course of world events,” Hart wrote of Hill in Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 1938-1945 (1999).”
Chutkan has set a trial date of March 4, 2024, one day before the Super Tuesday presidential primaries, a move which critics, including the former president, have alleged is an attempt to interfere with the 2024 presidential election. Trump has said the setting of that date is “politically motivated.”
Trump’s legal team has argued the March trial date will not provide sufficient time to formulate a defense in what is a highly complex case.
In rejecting the Trump team’s request to delay the trial until 2026, Chutkan invoked the time it took for a 9/11 attack suspect and the Boston Marathon bomber to be brought to trial.
Trump’s defense team cited the 1930s “Scottsboro Boys” case whereby nine black teens were wrongly convicted of raping two women in Alabama. All but one were sentenced to death.
Those convictions were overturned by the Supreme Court, citing the nine defendants were denied the right to counsel since there was inadequate time to prepare a defense.
Chutgan dismissed that argument and claimed the two cases were “profoundly different” from each other, claiming the Scottsboro Nine only had six days after the indictment was handed down to mount a defense.
“Quoting the case, the defense argues that scheduling a too speedy trial is ‘not to proceed promptly in the calm spirit of regulated justice but to go forward with the haste of the mob,” Chutkan said, referring to Powell v. Alabama, the 1932 case.
“This timeline does not move the case forward with the haste of the mob,” Chutkan added. “The trial will start three years, one month, and 27 days after the events of January 6, 2021.”
It should be noted that Trump was only indicted in mid-August, not in January 2021. In addition, the former president has already faced impeachment for the US Capitol incident and was acquitted.
She then cited the case against the Boston Marathon bomber, saying the trial started “less than two years after the events.”
Chutkan’s decision is actually “more reasonable” than that of special counsel Jack Smith, who suggested a January 2, 2024 trial date, a suggestion which led Trump to say “only a lunatic” would suggest such a date.
Trump vowed on social media to appeal Chutkan’s ruling.
In a statement to Newsweek, Trump attorney John Lauro said of Chutkan’s ruling, “The Powell case is one of the leading Supreme Court decisions in this area and supports the proposition that the right to counsel applies to all citizens—regardless of race, gender or creed,” Lauro said.
“The landmark decision was cited for its foundational proposition of law, not for any factual parallels. To suggest that is ‘stupid’ to cite controlling case law is not only ridiculous but misleads the public as to the responsibility of counsel to state the law accurately in all pleadings filed with the Court.”
On August 17, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) entered a resolution condemning Chutkan for remarks in which she supported the violent protests in 2020 after the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis. He cited a “bizarre rant” made by Chutkan on October 4, 2021, in the sentencing of a January 6 defendant.
“People gathered all over the country last year to protest the violent murder by the police of an unarmed man," the judge said, "to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully for civil rights, to those of a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and ignores a very real danger that the January 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy.”
Gaetz cited the number of injuries suffered by law enforcement, the firebombing of police vehicles, and the damage to property that Chutkan ignored. He noted that the defendant Chutkan admonished was a nonviolent offender who spent only 12 minutes on US Capitol grounds while urging others to remain peaceful.
Gaetz’s resolution said Chutkan’s comments “raise serious concerns about the fairness and constitutionality of sentencing that defendant, or other defendants in cases relating to January 6,” noting that Chutkan had donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of Barack Obama.
Further, he wrote that Chutkan had engaged in “partisan commentary” during an October sentencing hearing, in which she complained that Trump “remains free to this day.”
In conclusion, Gaetz asked Chutkan to “be censured and condemned.” Further, the House “initiate an investigation into Tanya Chutkan, for the purpose of gathering evidence relevant to the duties of Congress under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States.”
Trump already faced impeachment from Congress and was found not guilty during the Senate portion of that probe.
The New York Post reported that Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who conservatives have described as a “far-left zealot,” has ties to Marxist revolutionaries from her Jamaican homeland. In fact, her grandfather was such.
Chutkan, whom Barack Obama appointed, is the granddaughter of Jamaican communist revolutionary Frank Hill. During World War II, Jamaica’s governor jailed him and his brother Ken over allegations of “subversive activities.”
According to the National Library of Jamaica, the British Colonial government took Hill into custody without trial for “trade union and political activities.” The release says Hill, along with Ken Hill and Richart Hart, were held for attempting to organize trade unions in government departments.
They were also “soon to be charged” with “subversive activities,” which the release said was unrelated to trade union operations.
The Marxists Internet Archive accounts for Frank Hill’s involvement with Marxists and his attempts to engage in political activities. He was intimately involved in a political party, the People’s National Party, which contains “ideological tendencies ranging from the moderate right to the far left.”
In 1952, Frank Hill, along with Ken Hill, Hart, and a man named Arthur Henry, were all kicked out of the PNP because they “represented a communist tendency.”
“Ken Hill, by far the most influential, was more pragmatic and less concerned with political theory than most members of the left. He probably began to consider himself a communist both as a result of the influence of his brother Frank and also his observation of the course of world events,” Hart wrote of Hill in Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 1938-1945 (1999).”
Chutkan has set a trial date of March 4, 2024, one day before the Super Tuesday presidential primaries, a move which critics, including the former president, have alleged is an attempt to interfere with the 2024 presidential election. Trump has said the setting of that date is “politically motivated.”
Trump’s legal team has argued the March trial date will not provide sufficient time to formulate a defense in what is a highly complex case.
In rejecting the Trump team’s request to delay the trial until 2026, Chutkan invoked the time it took for a 9/11 attack suspect and the Boston Marathon bomber to be brought to trial.
Trump’s defense team cited the 1930s “Scottsboro Boys” case whereby nine black teens were wrongly convicted of raping two women in Alabama. All but one were sentenced to death.
Those convictions were overturned by the Supreme Court, citing the nine defendants were denied the right to counsel since there was inadequate time to prepare a defense.
Chutgan dismissed that argument and claimed the two cases were “profoundly different” from each other, claiming the Scottsboro Nine only had six days after the indictment was handed down to mount a defense.
“Quoting the case, the defense argues that scheduling a too speedy trial is ‘not to proceed promptly in the calm spirit of regulated justice but to go forward with the haste of the mob,” Chutkan said, referring to Powell v. Alabama, the 1932 case.
“This timeline does not move the case forward with the haste of the mob,” Chutkan added. “The trial will start three years, one month, and 27 days after the events of January 6, 2021.”
It should be noted that Trump was only indicted in mid-August, not in January 2021. In addition, the former president has already faced impeachment for the US Capitol incident and was acquitted.
She then cited the case against the Boston Marathon bomber, saying the trial started “less than two years after the events.”
Chutkan’s decision is actually “more reasonable” than that of special counsel Jack Smith, who suggested a January 2, 2024 trial date, a suggestion which led Trump to say “only a lunatic” would suggest such a date.
Trump vowed on social media to appeal Chutkan’s ruling.
In a statement to Newsweek, Trump attorney John Lauro said of Chutkan’s ruling, “The Powell case is one of the leading Supreme Court decisions in this area and supports the proposition that the right to counsel applies to all citizens—regardless of race, gender or creed,” Lauro said.
“The landmark decision was cited for its foundational proposition of law, not for any factual parallels. To suggest that is ‘stupid’ to cite controlling case law is not only ridiculous but misleads the public as to the responsibility of counsel to state the law accurately in all pleadings filed with the Court.”
On August 17, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) entered a resolution condemning Chutkan for remarks in which she supported the violent protests in 2020 after the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis. He cited a “bizarre rant” made by Chutkan on October 4, 2021, in the sentencing of a January 6 defendant.
“People gathered all over the country last year to protest the violent murder by the police of an unarmed man," the judge said, "to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully for civil rights, to those of a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and ignores a very real danger that the January 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy.”
Gaetz cited the number of injuries suffered by law enforcement, the firebombing of police vehicles, and the damage to property that Chutkan ignored. He noted that the defendant Chutkan admonished was a nonviolent offender who spent only 12 minutes on US Capitol grounds while urging others to remain peaceful.
Gaetz’s resolution said Chutkan’s comments “raise serious concerns about the fairness and constitutionality of sentencing that defendant, or other defendants in cases relating to January 6,” noting that Chutkan had donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of Barack Obama.
Further, he wrote that Chutkan had engaged in “partisan commentary” during an October sentencing hearing, in which she complained that Trump “remains free to this day.”
In conclusion, Gaetz asked Chutkan to “be censured and condemned.” Further, the House “initiate an investigation into Tanya Chutkan, for the purpose of gathering evidence relevant to the duties of Congress under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States.”
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