Search

Judge who signed warrant allowing FBI raid on Trump home threatened with antisemitic violence

“I see a rope around his neck”: Judge Bruce Reinhart was threatened with antisemitic violence, JTA reports.

By World Israel News Staff and Associated Press

The judge who signed the warrant permitting the FBI to raid Donald Trump’s home – along with his family – has been threatened with violence, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported Thursday.

The FBI’s unprecedented search of the former president’s Florida residence Monday – reportedly as part of a federal probe into whether the former president took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence – ricocheted around government, politics and a polarized country Tuesday along with questions as to why the Justice Department — notably cautious under Attorney General Merrick Garland — decided to take such a drastic step.

Answers weren’t quickly forthcoming.

The director of the FBI had strong words Wednesday for supporters of former President Donald Trump who have reportedly been using violent rhetoric in the wake of his agency’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, which is also a resort.

Christopher Wray, who was appointed as the agency’s director in 2017 by Trump, on Wednesday called threats circulating online against federal agents and the Justice Department “deplorable and dangerous.”

“I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement,” Wray said. “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”

Read  WATCH: UK police officer defends swastikas at anti-Israel protest

Wray made the remarks following a news conference during a long-planned visit to the agency’s field office in Omaha, Nebraska, where he discussed the FBI’s focus on cybersecurity. He declined to answer questions about the hours-long search of Trump’s home.

Meanwhile, Bruce Reinhart, the federal judge in Florida who signed the warrant allowing the FBI to conduct the raid, has been hit with a wave of antisemitic threats online, according to JTA.

“The outburst has appeared on right-wing social media platforms and message boards, where users have published the judge’s name, address and personal information. Threats have been directed at his children and supposed family members as well,” the JTA report said.

Reinhart, apparently a member of the board of Temple Beth David in Palm Beach Gardens, has been a magistrate judge for the Southern District of Florida since 2018.

“Calls for violence have accompanied antisemitic slurs and conspiracy theories, many referencing how Reinhart represented former employees of Jeffrey Epstein during a case involving the late convicted sex trafficker in 2008,” JTA reported.

“That is a k***. And a pedophile …  He should be tried for treason and executed,” wrote one user of online message board 4chan.

“I see a rope around his neck,” wrote a user on the separate pro-Trump message board formerly called TheDonald, according to Vice News, JTA noted.