Originally published August 2, 2023 7:04 am PDT
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to stand trial in a court case related to allegations of his involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The judge assigned to the case, Tanya Chutkan, has been known to defend rioters involved in the 2020 protests following the death of George Floyd, distinguishing them from those involved in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
Chutkan, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has previously remarked that it’s a “false equivalency” to compare the two events.
“People gathered all over the country last year to protest the violent murder by the police of an unarmed man. Some of those protesters became violent,” she said. “But 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 Jan. 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy.”
Following George Floyd’s death in May 2020, widespread protests and resulting riots led to numerous casualties, national curfews, and significant property damage estimated to be between $1 and $2 billion, The Washington Examiner points out.
The January 6 Capitol riot, by contrast, primarily affected the Washington area, causing an estimated $2.73 million in damages, the death of one individual, and several injuries.
Judge Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, has a reputation for delivering severe sentences to those implicated in the Capitol riots.
She also reportedly made donations to Obama and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), according to the records.
Trump is facing indictment on four charges—conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
These charges were put forward by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following an investigation by special counsel Jack Smith.
Trump is due to make his court appearance this Thursday at 4 p.m. before Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya at a courthouse in Washington.
