The Judge Just Handed Trump A Big Loss In His 1/6 Case

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Judge Chutkan turned down almost all of Trump’s requests for more discovery, and pointed out ways that he could still be liable for the alleged crimes on 1/6.

Chutkan wrote on page 19 of her ruling:

In any event, the court is not persuaded that the USAO-DC prosecutors’ statements
actually contradict the Government’s position in this case. It is entirely conceivable, for
instance, that Defendant could share responsibility for the events of January 6 without such
express authorization of rioters’ criminal actions that they could claim entrapment-by-estoppel or
public authority defenses. See Mot. in Limine at 3, United States v. Carpenter, No. 21-cr-305
(D.D.C. Dec. 21, 2022), ECF No. 56.

Likewise, Defendant could still share that responsibility even though he did not take certain actions that some rioters had hoped for—i.e., invoking the Insurrection Act to “stop the election, to call up the military and groups like the Oath Keepers to seize voting machines, to throw out the result, and to hold a new election.” Tr. T. at 9922, United States v. Rhodes, No. 22-cr-15 (D.D.C. Nov. 18, 2022), ECF No. 766. Nor is there a contradiction in a prosecutor stating that Defendant’s conduct was “essentially irrelevant” to a January 6 rioter’s case.

Chutkan mostly ruled that Trump did not meet his burden for discovery in almost all of the 13 areas that he listed. The one area where Trump did get more discovery related to statements made by Mike Pence before 1/6.

This is a bad loss for Trump. Not only were his stall tactics shot down, but Judge Chutkan laid out how Trump could still be responsible for the alleged crimes that he is charged with without expressly directing the mob, or even if he didn’t do what the rioters hoped for.

The federal 1/6 case is moving forward, and if Trump doesn’t win, Judge Chutkan’s ruling suggests that there many avenues for Trump to be found responsible for crimes related to the 1/6 attack.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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