- Sen. Ted Cruz slammed the judge that is overseeing Trump’s January 6 case.
- What the Texas Republican neglected to mention is that he voted to confirm Judge Tanya Chutkan.
- Cruz and every other Senate Republican present voted to confirm Chutkan in 2014, leading to a 95-0 vote.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday tore into US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, predicting that she would be “relentlessly hostile” to former President Donald Trump as she oversees the case related to his efforts to overturn the election.
“Judge Chutkan was appointed to the DC District Court by Barack Obama, and she has a reputation for being far left, even by DC District Court standards,” Cruz said during the latest episode of his “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast.
Cruz cited Chutkan’s decision to issue harsher sentences to some January 6 defendants than federal prosecutors asked for as part of the evidence that she will be unfair to Trump.
“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,” Cruz said.
Chutkan, Cruz went so far as to suggest, “loathes” Trump. The pair do have a history, Chutkan ruled against Trump’s efforts to block the House January 6 committee.
“Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Chutkan wrote in her ruling, declaring the House committee should have access to documents they requested from Trump.
The Texas Republican did not mention that he and every other Republican senator that cast a vote on Chutkan’s nomination voted to confirm her. The Senate confirmed Chutkan, a former public defender and private litigator, 95-0 on June 4, 2014. (Five senators did not vote.) Cruz did join 39 Senate Republicans in a procedural vote against Chutkan, but there were not enough of them to stop it moving forward. Republicans went on to retake the Senate majority in the 2014 midterms.
Cruz is also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds hearings for judicial nominees. Video and a transcript of the Chutkan’s confirmation hearing show that Cruz did not ask her any questions. It appears that Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, who filled in for then-Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas were the only committee members present. The entire hearing highlighted how some lower-court nominees have often been considered non-controversial.
A spokesperson for Cruz did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Cruz did ask Chutkan to respond to a series of written questions, which she later sent back. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who would go to lead the committee, also sent Chutkan a series of questions. One of the questions Grassley asked her about regarded “the appropriate temperate of a judge.”
“A judge should be open minded, prepared to listen, and should treat everyone who enters their courtroom with courtesy, patience and respect,” Chutkan wrote in response. “I believe that I possess these qualities.”
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