Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz trashed the judge and the hypothetical future jury in the eventual trial on charges in the most recent Donald Trump indictment, calling them “far-left” partisans who “loathe” him.
Trump appeared in court Thursday to be arraigned on charges related to January 6 ahead of a trial that former Nixon counsel John Dean on CNN said will test both the criminal justice system and the Constitution.
The federal judge in the case, Tanya Chutkan, has a history with the ex-president and has handed out harsh sentences for January 6 defendants, which Cruz noted on his The Verdict podcast.
Cruz said the country has “entered banana republic territory” with this third indictment of Trump, and predicted there will be a fourth indictment soon enough, before tearing into Judge Chutkan and the future jury pool as being far-left Trump-haters who will join Special Counsel Jack Smith and President Joe Biden’s DOJ in disregarding the “rule of law” in order to toss the election to the Democrats and hurt Trump because they “hate him.”
“The likelihood that a D.C. jury will vote to convict Donald Trump is exceptionally high and the facts don’t matter, the laws don’t matter: They hate him,” he said. “That’s a big part of the reason why the Biden DOJ wants to bring this case in D.C. Which means, with a far-left judge and a far-left jury, there is a very real possibility that Donald Trump ends up being convicted.”
He also said Chutkan will be “relentlessly hostile” to Trump and “bend over backwards” for the Biden DOJ, and that she and the DOJ want to ensure the trial happens “after he’s nominated but before the general election” to maximize the benefit to Biden’s 2024 chances.
Cruz predicted that a conviction would eventually be overturned by the Supreme Court, but repeated his argument that the entire situation is dangerous to the rule of law and democracy.
“What is dangerous about this particular indictment with a judge and a jury that are likely to be stacked against Donald Trump and in fact, loathe Donald Trump? That is a very dangerous scenario,” he said. “That is, I think, exceptionally bad for the rule of law, but be for democracy. Whether you want Donald Trump to be the next president or not, that question should not be answered by a corrupt Department of Justice weaponizing the legal system.”
Well, unfortunately, we’ve entered Banana Republic territory. In over two centuries of our nation’s history, no president of the United States has ever been indicted. We now have a former president who, as you note, is the leading opposition candidate to be the next president, who’s been indicted not once, not twice, but three times. And in all likelihood, it will be four times. That is — we’re almost numb to how unprecedented that is.If you look at this latest indictment, the circumstances of it are highly problematic. This indictment has been brought in D.C. The case was assigned to a federal district judge, a judge named Tanya Chutkan. Judge Chutkan was appointed to the D.C. District Court by Barack Obama.And she has a reputation for being far left, even by D.C. District Court standards. Judge Chutkan, for example, has set aside numerous federal death penalty cases. And she is the only federal judge in Washington, D.C., who has sentenced January 6 defendants to sentences longer than the government requested. So, in terms of the judge, we can anticipate a judge who is going to be relentlessly hostile to Donald Trump, who is going to bend over backwards for the Biden DOJ, and who is going to make ruling after ruling after ruling against Trump.She wants this to go to trial. Now, to be clear, she doesn’t want this to go to trial now. She doesn’t want it to go to trial in a week. She didn’t want to go to trial in a month. DOJ wants Trump to get the nomination, so this trial can’t happen too quickly. They want it to happen after he’s nominated, but before the general election.And I will tell you, if it goes to trial, you will have a jury that is drawn from the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia is the jurisdiction in the United States that is the most Democrat of any jurisdiction in the country, in terms of a district or a state. Over 90% of the voters in D.C. vote Democrat, voted for Joe Biden, voted for Hillary Clinton, consistently vote Democrat. They are not Donald Trump supporters.The likelihood that a D.C. jury will vote to convict Donald Trump is exceptionally high and the facts don’t matter, the laws don’t matter: They hate him. That’s a big part of the reason why the Biden DOJ wants to bring this case in D.C. Which means, with a far-left judge and a far-left jury, there is a very real possibility that Donald Trump ends up being convicted.Now, I think on appeal that conviction will not stand, but it might stand in the D.C. Circuit. An appeal would go to the D.C. Circuit. It would depend what panel you get on the D.C. circuit, whether a conviction would stand. I think the ultimate outcome of any Donald Trump conviction on this indictment would be a reversal, in all likelihood, at the U.S. Supreme Court.[…]what is dangerous about this particular indictment with a judge and a jury that are likely to be stacked against Donald Trump and in fact, loathe Donald Trump? That is a very dangerous scenario. That is, I think, exceptionally bad for the rule of law, but be for democracy. Whether you want Donald Trump to be the next president or not, that question should not be answered by a corrupt Department of Justice weaponizing the legal system.
Listen to the clip above, via Verdict with Ted Cruz.