Trump loses bid to recuse judge from federal election interference case

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday lost a bid to have a federal judge remove herself from presiding over his criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C.

Judge Tanya Chutkan said in a court ruling that her recusal was “not warranted in this case.”

Trump’s lawyers had argued that Chutkan made “disqualifying” statements about him in separate cases involving two defendants charged over their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The defense attorneys claimed Chutkan’s statements showed prejudice against Trump and that she believed he “should be prosecuted and imprisoned.”

The judge rejected that claim Wednesday, writing that “the court has never taken the position the defense ascribes to it.”

“Based on its review of the law, facts, and record, the court concludes that a reasonable observer would not doubt its ability to uphold” her judicial oath, Chutkan wrote in her 20-page opinion.

Trump is charged in a four-count indictment in U.S. District Court in Washington with conspiring to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

He has pleaded not guilty in the case, one of four pending criminal cases he faces.

The Jan. 6 riot, in which a violent mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol after Trump falsely claimed at a nearby rally that the election was rigged, is central to special counsel Jack Smith’s case.

In their bid for Chutkan to recuse herself, Trump’s lawyers pointed to her remarks in sentencing hearings for two people, Christine Priola and Robert Palmer, who were convicted for their conduct during the riot.

During Priola’s sentencing, Chutkan said, “The people who mobbed that Capitol were there in fealty, in loyalty, to one man — not to the Constitution.”

“It’s a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day,” she said.

When Palmer was sentenced, Chutkan told him, “Mr. Palmer — you have made a very…