Dem
51
GOP
49
Joe Biden isn't the only one who's got to make a couple of decisions soon. His include: (1) Can I hold out any longer? and (2) If not, should I endorse Kamala Harris to avoid a free-for-all at the convention? But U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan also has some tough calls ahead, all involving the Jan. 6 coup attempt case Special Counsel Jack Smith has brought. She hasn't announced yet what her plans are, but on Friday she leaked how she felt about the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
On Friday, in a Jan. 6 case, Chutkan sentenced Spencer Offman to 30 days in prison for illegally entering the Capitol. That kind of case is by now routine. But what she said to Offman was not routine. She said: "The effects of that day are still being felt." She also characterized the attack as a "violent attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power" in which rioters were "desecrating the center of our government."
Chutkan also noted that many of the Capitol police who were defending the building that day have PTSD or physical limitations merely from doing their job of protecting the senators and representatives. She also said that some of them were still getting vile threats. She told Offman that several officers killed themselves in the weeks following the riot. She blamed Offman and the others in the mob for terrorizing them.
Chutkan didn't mention Trump, but these remarks do not bode well for Trump trying to claim that the rioters were tourists who just got a bit rowdy. She's not going to buy that. If she thinks that the rioters did grievous harm to the police and country, surely she is not going to be kindly disposed to the guy who egged them on.
Before too long she will have to decide how to proceed. One option would be full-blown hearings in open court on Trump's role in the riot. Was he executing his official duties as president or was he merely acting like a candidate? In the latter case, he could be prosecuted. Whatever she decides will be appealed, but the hearings could be very damaging to Trump as Smith basically presents his case, reminding voters of what he did that day. (V)