Washington DC - The federal judge set to preside over Donald Trump's historic trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election rejected a motion on Wednesday from the former president that she recuse herself from the case.

Trump's attorneys, in a court filing earlier this month, had argued that US District Judge Tanya Chutkan should step aside because of past statements she has made that allegedly demonstrated bias.

Chutkan, in a 20-page opinion, flatly denied the motion.

"The court has never taken the position the defense ascribes to it: that former 'President Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned,'" Chutkan said.

Donald Trump Trump ally says transition team ignoring rules is part of "hostile takeover"

"And the defense does not cite any instance of the court ever uttering those words or anything similar."

Chutkan noted that the legal standard for a judge to recuse himself or herself from a case is if their "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

"The record 'as a whole' does not support a reasonable question as to the court's impartiality," she said.

Trump's lawyers had sought Chutkan's recusal based on statements she made at the sentencing of participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

But Chutkan said she had "specifically withheld judgment on whether other people should be charged for conduct related to January 6" and had not ever recommended that other individuals be investigated or charged.

"Recusal is not warranted in this case," she said.

Chutkan has set March 4, 2024 for the start of Trump's trial on charges of conspiring to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost to Joe Biden. The ex-president maintains his innocence.