OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A conservative organization has something to say about the federal magistrate judge who approved the FBI’s warrant to raid former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach estate earlier this month.
The group, Tea Party Patriots Action, which has long held sway within conservative circles, has filed a federal complaint against Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart for signing off on the Mar-a-Lago raid.
In the lengthy complaint, which was filed with the Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit Court, Tea Party Patriots CEO Jenny Beth Martin argued that Reinhart has it in for the former president which is why he should not have been involved at all in approving the warrant.
“Judge Reinhart has a conflict of interest and a pattern and history of hostility to President Trump,” said the filing. It went on to include a number of instances where Reinhart attacked Trump on social media as well as documenting his financial donations to critics of the 45th president including Barack Obama and one of Trump’s 2016 GOP challengers, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, according to the Washington Examiner.
Martin not only wants Reinhart taken off the case, but removed from the bench altogether.
“Judge Reinhart should be disciplined and removed as a federal magistrate because of his failure to meet the standards of ethical conduct and character necessary for the public to have confidence in the nonpartisan role of a judge in a matter of this extreme public interest,” says the sixth of seven charges listed in the ethics complaint, the outlet reported, adding:
In the meantime, critics of his earlier action to OK the search for classified documents inside the resort have dug up ample evidence of Reinhart’s anti-Trump liberal past, including donations and social media attacks. Martin also cited a case involving Hillary Clinton in which Reinhart recused himself as an example that he should have followed in the Mar-a-Lago case.
“The entire episode of the unprecedented search of the former president’s home, authorized by a political appointee of President Trump’s successor, and approved by a federal magistrate who has been outspoken in his opposition to and loathing of President Trump threatens the principle of ‘equal justice under law’ and the confidence of the American people in an unbiased judiciary,” the complaint added.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden issued a direct response on Wednesday when asked about the FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month.
During an event at the White House, Biden announced his student loan forgiveness plan and then took a few questions from reporters,
“How much advance notice did you have of the FBI’s plan to raid Mar-a-Lago?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Biden.
“I didn’t have any advance notice. None. Zero. Not one single bit,” Biden said before turning around and walking away.
WATCH:
DOOCY: How much advance notice did you have of the FBI's plan to raid Mar-a-Lago?
BIDEN: "I didn't have any advance notice. None. Zero. Not one single bit." pic.twitter.com/axN2PhoSSv
— Danny De Urbina (@dannydeurbina) August 24, 2022
A federal judge in Florida gave Trump until Friday to refine the legal arguments in his request for an independent third-party review of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI earlier this month following an hours-long search.
“District Court Judge Aileen Cannon in the Southern District of Florida ordered Trump’s lawyers to elaborate on their arguments for why the court has the ability to step in at this time, explain what exactly Trump is asking for and whether the Justice Department has been served with Trump’s special master motion,” CNN reported.
“Cannon also asked Trump’s team to weigh in on any effect the request might have on a separate review conducted by a magistrate judge into whether any portions of the still-sealed FBI affidavit laying out probable cause for the search can be released,” the report added.
Earlier this week, Trump filed a motion for a “special master” to review the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago instead of the Department of Justice.
“The request for a so-called special master to review the documents could be filed as soon as Monday in Florida, the person said, requesting anonymity because the matter isn’t public. Trump also plans to ask for a court order requiring the Department of Justice to provide more details about the property that was seized and to return materials that weren’t covered by the warrant, the person said,” Bloomberg News reported.
