During a hearing in federal court this Monday, federal Judge Tanya Chutkan said she will be keeping a rhetorical eye on the possibility of some statement or action emerging that could threaten the integrity of the jury pool in the Trump criminal case dealing at that level with his targeting of the 2020 election.
Some have raised similar concerns around past statements from the former president. Writing in all-caps, Trump said at one point just recently: “If you go after me, I’m coming after you.” Related worries have also emerged around potential impacts on witnesses involved in the various criminal investigations that have drawn in Trump, and he has called out connected individuals — including Chutkan herself — in variously antagonistic public comments.
“CHUTKAN says she’s “watching carefully” for anything that might affect or “poison” the jury pool,” journalist Kyle Cheney reported Monday. “She says that if Lauro intends to poll DC residents as part of a change of venue motion, he must inform the court ex parte.” Trump himself has spoken of the prospect of seeking a change in venue for the handling of this criminal case of his, with the idea of West Virginia having circulated. Trump didn’t commit the acts that led to prosecutors’ accusations of criminality in that state, which went for the former president in the 2020 election by a very large margin.
Though D.C. is known as heavily Democratic, there is also a precedent of failure for motions to move somewhat related criminal cases out of the area. Participants in the Capitol riot itself have repeatedly been rebuffed while pursuing such an aim. Trump is formally under restrictions in another of his criminal cases (the matter in Georgia) that limit the arguably threatening speech he can utter in forms even including reposts on social media, though how closely the former president intends to abide by those stated limits and how precisely any enforcement process would transpire remain unresolved.
