U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart should agree to release a redacted form of the affidavit used in the FBI's search warrant allowing them to enter former President Donald Trump's Florida home, legal expert Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Thursday.
"The public wants to see it; the media wants to see it," Dershowitz to Thursday's "John Bachman Now." "Whatever arguments the government makes, let them make them about specific portions, but let at least parts of the affidavit be made public."
Dershowitz, meanwhile, defended Reinhart against several accusations that have been made against him, while questioning whether the judge's decision to recuse himself in another case involving Trump could affect his decision in the Mar-a-Lago search case.
"If those arguments apply to this case, then surely consistency demands that he do that," he said. "It would be a fair question for the media to ask, in a motion for recusal, but right now we don't have enough evidence to justify recusal."
Dershowitz also rejected suggestions Reinhart granted the search warrant for some self-serving purpose, including getting a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.
"He's probably diminished his prospects for an appointment because remember, he has to get confirmed, and we don't know who will control the Senate six months from now," Dershowitz said. "I'm prepared to give Reinhart, who I really don't know, the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's fair."
Further, he said "99.9% of judges" would have granted a search warrant for the FBI's Mar-a-Lago search.
"Search warrants are given out like candy on Halloween, and judges generally don't demand of prosecutors great justification for intruding on privacy," he said.
Dershowitz also spoke about former Trump attorney and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who have become a focus of the 2020 Georgia election probe.
He also slammed Mara Gay, a member of The New York Times editorial board, for telling MSNBC's "Deadline" on Wednesday that Giuliani is "closer to a fascist than to the American mayor.”
"I would hope that Giuliani's lawyers would think seriously about suing MSNBC and suing that woman for using the word fascist in relation to Giuliani," Dershowitz said. "I've known Giuliani for 30-something years. We've been on the opposite side of most issues. I've argued against him.
"The last thing in the world he is is a fascist. He's very zealous. He's very committed to his point of view, but he's not a fascist, and the idea that MSNBC would use that word — a word that should be reserved for the most extreme, extreme people — it's just a sign of the times today. Shame on her. Shame on MSNBC, but today they'll do anything."
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