Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said Donald Trump’s attempt to get Judge Tanya Chutkan to recuse herself from his federal election obstruction case has no chance of success.
“I don’t think that Donald Trump’s lawyers actually think they’re going to win,” he told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. “When I read this motion, I thought it was for the MAGA base.”
Weissmann accused the former president and his attorneys of “playing games” by waiting six weeks to file the motion for recusal, not early in the proceedings as required.
Trump’s attorneys argued that comments Chutkan made when sentencing Jan 6 defendants indicate she has “prejudged” Trump.
But Weissmann said that line of reasoning isn’t going anywhere, as federal guidelines call on judges to make those types of comments during sentencing.
“You have to describe for the particular defendant why you are sentencing the person to a particular time, why you are accepting arguments, and why you are rejecting arguments,” he said. “That can involve other people ― people who are charged, and people who are not charged.”
He said the filings show Trump’s lawyers aren’t really in control.
“This is the kind of filing you just don’t make ― and you don’t make it at this time,” he said.
See more of his conversation with O’Donnell and former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal below: