Trump on Trial: A tale of two judges

 

Judge Tanya Chutkan, left, and Judge Aileen Cannon.Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts/U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

By Maggie Haberman and Alan Feuer Two judges, two approaches

As the two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump make their way toward trial, they are bringing into focus a tale of two judges.

In the case taking place in Washington, D.C., where Trump is accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, Judge Tanya Chutkan, a former public defender appointed by Barack Obama, is taking a tough line with the former president and his legal team.

Trump, in turn, is assailing her.

In another courtroom in Fort Pierce, Fla., where Trump is under indictment for mishandling classified documents after leaving office and obstructing efforts to retrieve them, Judge Aileen Cannon, a former federal prosecutor named by Trump, has been more of a cipher but has been sympathetic at times to arguments from the former president’s lawyers.

Trump has pointedly avoided aiming any of his fire at her.

The contrast has been especially apparent in recent days.

Judge Chutkan came flying out the gate before this workweek even began. She issued a ruling at around 8 p.m. on Sunday that reinstated a limited gag order she had placed on Trump last month but had temporarily frozen as she considered some issues surrounding its appeal. The gag order restricts Trump from making public statements attacking witnesses and specific prosecutors or court staff members involved in the case, but does not restrict his ability to criticize her or to assail President Biden and his administration.

Judge Chutkan’s decision to reimpose the gag order was in keeping with the stance toward the former president and his case that she has taken from the start: Brook no nonsense, treat him like any other criminal defendant, and keep the proceedings moving forward at a clip toward a scheduled trial date of March 4.

More often than not, Judge Chutkan has sided with prosecutors.

By contrast, Judge Cannon seems to be proceeding cautiously after coming under intense scrutiny for a questionable initial decision related to the documents case that favored the former president. Last year she temporarily froze the documents investigation and appointed a special arbiter to sort through what was seized in 2022 by the F.B.I. in its court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago. After being slapped down for that move by an appeals court, she has acted more carefully. Still, at one recent hearing, Judge Cannon repeatedly sounded peeved with the arguments prosecutors were making about possible conflicts of interest for lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants. And yesterday, she laid the seeds for handing Trump a significant victory in his legal campaign to push off his trials until after the election. She suggested she was thinking of delaying the trial, which is set to start in May, concerned it could bump up against Judge Chutkan’s trial, which is supposed to begin in March. So many trials, so little time The timing of Trump’s four criminal trials — the two in federal court and then two more in state courts in Georgia and New York — has been a headache for everyone involved. It has required finding space on the calendar not only in relation to each other, but also against the backdrop of Trump’s datebook as the Republican Party’s leading candidate for president. Donald Trump, in court in New York last month, one of four locations where he’s facing trial.Dave Sanders for The New York Times The trial in Washington on the election charges is scheduled to start a day before Super Tuesday, the biggest day on the primary calendar. A decision to delay the start of the documents trial for a month or two would push it up against the Republican convention in the middle of July. From the bench in Fort Pierce yesterday, Judge Cannon grilled one of the prosecutors in the case, Jay Bratt, after he suggested that Trump — whose advisers are blunt that they see him winning the presidency as key to wiping away his criminal exposure — was only interested in delaying the trials and that she shouldn’t let the schedule in Washington affect her. When Judge Cannon asked Bratt if he was aware of any other situation in which a criminal defendant was confronting trials in multiple jurisdictions and could encounter the “unavoidable reality that the schedules might collide,” he sidestepped the question. “I’m having a hard time seeing, realistically, how this work can be accomplished in this compressed period of time,” she told Bratt. Twisting the knife a little further, she went on: “I’m not quite seeing in your position a level of understanding of our realities.” On his social media site, Trump has been silent about Judge Cannon, sparing her from the vitriol he directs constantly at other judges, prosecutors and potential witnesses in the cases against him. By contrast, after Judge Chutkan reimposed the gag order on him on Sunday night, Trump went after her once again, calling her a “very biased, Trump hating judge” and questioning the constitutionality of her decision. Donald Trump Jr. testifying in New York today. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times A family affair If there was ever any doubt about how personal these proceedings are for the former president, this week erased it. His eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were called to the stand in the civil trial in New York in which the Trump Organization is accused of inflating the value of real estate properties. Next week, the former president himself and his daughter Ivanka are also likely to testify. “Leave my children alone, Engoron,” Trump said on Truth Social yesterday, referring to the judge in the New York civil case, who is not the one who called them as witnesses. “You are a disgrace to the legal profession!” Your questions Last week, we asked you what you’d like to know about the Trump cases: the charges, the procedure, the important players or anything else. Thank you to more than 300 readers who wrote in. We will feature more answers in upcoming newsletters. You can send us your question by filling out this form. Is it possible Trump could face jail time for any of the charges? — John Boland, Fresno, California Alan: Absolutely. If convicted in any of his four criminal cases, it is possible Trump could face significant time in prison. To take just one example: He would confront a maximum penalty of 55 years if found guilty on all the charges in his federal election interference case in Washington. But it is highly unlikely that the judge would sentence him to anywhere near that amount of time. Where does each criminal case stand? Trump is at the center of at least four separate criminal investigations, at both the state and federal levels, into matters related to his business and political careers. Here is where each case currently stands. What to watch next week There could be fireworks next week when Trump is expected to take the stand in his civil fraud trial in Manhattan, perhaps as soon as Monday — the first time in about a decade that he will appear in court as a sworn witness. That same day, federal prosecutors are scheduled to file what could be lengthy responses to the barrage of Trump’s motions to dismiss his election interference case in Washington. More Trump coverage The Run-Up podcast reports from Clallam County, a bellwether in Washington State, to see what the 2024 presidential election might hold. Trump’s allies are drawing up lists of lawyers who could advance a more radical agenda in a new administration. Here are some of the prospects. A lawsuit brought by voters in Colorado argues that Trump is ineligible to hold office under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Here’s what to know about the case. The Supreme Court seemed skeptical about letting a California lawyer trademark the phrase “Trump too small,” a mocking reference to Trump’s hands. Thanks for reading the Trump on Trial newsletter. See you next time. — Maggie and Alan If you missed last week’s newsletter, you can read it here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here.