By Mariane Angela, Daily Caller News Foundation | February 17, 2025
Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy appeared on Fox Business Monday and said that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has limited judicial reach in stopping President Donald Trump from scrutinizing executive branch records.
After a virtual hearing, Chutkan said she would likely reject a request to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from firing employees or accessing sensitive records across several federal departments, planning to rule within 24 hours. During an appearance on “The Bottom Line,” McCarthy said the essence of what some call “a constitutional crisis,” often highlighted in the media, fundamentally revolves around the president’s authority as the chief executive of the nation and the executive branch.
“I think as you go up higher in the system, Dagen, you’re going to get a better quality of justice. And it impressed me today that Judge Chutkan, who we know is hostile to President Trump,” McCarthy said. “We saw that throughout Jack Smith’s prosecution in Washington. In fact, even before then, she was hostile to him when she was imposing sentences on some of the January 6 defendants. So she’s got no love lost for Trump.”
McCarthy elaborated on what he said were the president’s specific powers, and he said he believes Chutkan was well aware of her judicial authority.
“She’s pulled up short of granting this temporary injunction that the blue states are looking for, because I think there’s a lot of throat clearing, but she knows she’s got no authority to stop Trump from scrutinizing the records of the executive branch.”
Chutkan has repeatedly ruled against Trump, including the president’s attempt to block the release of further evidence from special counsel Jack Smith, ordering the publication of redacted documents. Despite Trump’s protests over the timing before the election, Chutkan declared that withholding the materials would constitute “election interference,” leading to the filing of four heavily redacted appendices, including more than 1,800 pages of public records such as Trump’s tweets and excerpts from the Jan. 6 Committee’s testimonies.
Chutkan previously said that her ruling on the immunity issues in Trump’s Jan. 6 case would face appeals.
Mariane Angela is a news reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation
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