'Last place on earth I'd want to be tried': MAGA rioters warn Trump a DC trial will spell disaster

Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified documents case will be heard in Florida, by a judge he appointed, and likely in a more rural courthouse where the jury pool will come from areas that voted overwhelmingly for him. Juries go through a rigorous selection process to weed out people with political bias — but it's still a challenge to produce a balanced jury for this trial.

But should Trump be indicted in the January 6 probe, that trial will almost certainly be held at the scene of the alleged crime, in Washington, D.C. — and there he will have the exact opposite problem.

And as The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday, January 6 convicts and their legal counsel are warning he'll be in for a nightmare.

"'If I was Donald J. Trump, the last place on earth I’d want to be tried other than Atlanta, Georgia, is Washington, D.C.,' Samuel Shamansky, attorney for convicted Jan. 6 rioter Dustin Thompson, told The Daily Beast," reported Michael Daly. "Shamansky said he based his opinion partly on pre-trial jury selection and the trial itself, but mostly on speaking with the jury after it returned a guilty verdict. The jurors made it clear that they were deeply offended by the storming of the Capitol. 'The overwhelming sense was this was a personal violation, a personal affront,' Shamansky said. 'Folks from outside the D.C. area with an anti-D.C. agenda took over their city and trashed the Capitol building and assaulted their officers, all in the name of a fake stolen election.''"

Norman Pattis, an attorney who represented Proud Boy Joseph Biggs, concurred with this assessment, saying, “I’m not saying you can’t get a fair trial there,” but that “It is a terrifying panel. It took us 12 days to pick a jury and we didn’t like what we had,” with more than half of the prospective jury pool supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Several of the January 6 defendants actually asked judges for a change of venue, to remove their trial from D.C. to their home states because of unfavorable juries. But these requests were roundly rejected.

It remains unclear when the trials Trump faces will be scheduled. His attorneys are trying to get the classified documents case moved to after the 2024 election, while special counsel Jack Smith's team is aiming for near the end of the year.