OAN’s Daniel Baldwin
11:53 AM – Friday, August 4, 2023
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony counts regarding his conduct following the 2020 election. The 45th president appeared before a magistrate judge in Washington’s federal courthouse. The next hearing date was set for August 28th, when a tentative trial date will be set. Criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz told One America News that the 45th president cannot get a fair trial in Washington.
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“It’s rare to get a change of venue based on political affiliations, but in this case, it’s so overwhelming,” said Dershowitz. “There is no district in all of the United States that is more anti-Trump than the District of Columbia.”
Trump agreed, arguing that the trial should be moved to West Virginia.
“[Washington, D.C. is] the appropriate venue ’cause the alleged crimes occurred there,” Dershowitz said. “But the court has the power to transfer it to West Virginia or to Southern Virginia or other purple areas.”
According to the Washington Board of Elections, only 5.32% of voters in the nation’s capital were registered as Republicans as of June 30, 2023. In addition, 93% of Washington voted for President Joe Biden while only 5.4% voted for Trump.
“This case ought to be tried outside of the District of Columbia in front of a different judge,” Dershowitz told One America News. “And only then will the American public be satisfied if there’s a conviction.”
Many January 6th defendants have seen their change of venue requests denied by Washington, D.C. judges though. But Dershowitz says there is a way for the 45th president to show evidence that the nation’s capital is an unfair venue.
“There are companies that pick people at random from the jury pool and ask them questions about their feelings toward Trump and show how difficult it would be to get a fair objective jury in the District of Columbia,” said Dershowitz.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will oversee the case, has grown a reputation as one of the toughest punishers for January 6th defendants.
“There has to be an appearance of justice,” said Dershowitz. “This judge is a disaster from that point of view.”
Chutkan has handed out tougher sentences than the Department of Justice was seeking numerous times.
“I can’t imagine a worse judge for trying to persuade the American people that [Trump’s] going to get a fair trial,” said Dershowitz.
Chutkan also worked at Boies, Schiller, & Flexner, a Washington, D.C. law firm, while Hunter Biden worked for them as a lobbyist. Specifically, she worked in white collar defense for the firm from 2002 and 2014.
“She got her training at a law firm that has probably the largest number of allegations of conflict of interest and corruption of any major law firm in America,” Dershowitz said. “They represented Hunter Biden in the Barisma situation.”
“I can tell you that I’m representing one of the young law students who was waved into the Capitol,” Dershowitz continued. “We think he did nothing wrong. But when we heard that we did not get her as our judge, we cheered. Because she has a reputation of, uh, being much harder on January 6th protestors than she would be on, for example, Black Lives Matter protestors.”
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