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Fox News sparked outrage after sharing on air a Photoshopped image of the magistrate judge who signed off on the FBI search warrant for former Republican President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence—despite the photo coming from a known meme account.
The image shows U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart getting his feet rubbed on a private jet by Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker who sourced victims for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and to whom Trump has well-documented connections.
The image is obviously fake, but Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, filling in for Tucker Carlson, decided to run the image anyway without explanation, likely contributing to the wave of antisemitic harassment and death threats Reinhart has received in recent days.
See the segment below.
\u201cBrian Kilmeade, filling in for Tucker Carlson tonight, shared a clearly fake, photoshopped image of the judge involved in approving the Mar-a-Lago warrant\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1660273702
The image is not only fake, but it is a manipulation of an image of Epstein himself as many on Twitter pointed out.
\u201c@atrupar You mean this one?\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1660273702
Not only is the image obviously fake, but it was even credited to the meme account during Kilmeade's report.
The image is an extension of attacks Trump supporters have leveled at Reinhart's past position on the prosecution team against Epstein. Reinhart subsequently switched sides, quitting his job at the US Attorney's Office to defend several of Epstein's employees.
He was subsequently sued by several of Epstein's accusers for allegedly sharing information with Epstein's defense.
There certainly seems to be plenty of reasons to criticize Reinhart where the Epstein case is concerned, but missing as always from Trump's supporters attacks is the fact Trump himself is implicated in Epstein's actual crimes.
And Kilmeade's propagating of the fake image comes as Reinhart faced days of targeted antisemitic harassment and death threats since the details of the FBI warrant were released bearing his name.
The harassment included threats against his children and the posting of his family members' names, his home address and phone number in far-right, pro-Trump internet forums.
The synagogue Reinhart attends has also been targeted by antisemitic threats.
\u201cTemple Beth David has canceled its Beach Shabbat this week under a deluge of antisemitic threats about Bruce Reinhart, the judge who signed the Mar-a-Lago search warrant and sits on the synagogue's board.\n\nhttps://t.co/zfP8qkfGpB\u201d— Louis Keene (@Louis Keene) 1660063876
On Twitter, people decried the irresponsibility in sharing the image.
\u201cThis is irresponsible, even by Fox's standards. This went up on the screen as though it was a real picture. Just absurd.\u201d— Parker Molloy (@Parker Molloy) 1660308814
\u201c@atrupar Producer 1: That's a clearly phtotoshopped image. We haven't been able to verify its authenticity - not even a little bit.\nProducer 2: RUN WITH IT....WE'RE GETTING CREAMED HERE, DUNCAN, AND YOU'RE WORRYING ABOUT THE TRUTH!! WHAT ARE WE - A NEWS ORGANIZATION?\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1660273702
\u201c@atrupar And Kilmeade thinks he\u2019s a \u201cjournalist\u201d. What a joke.\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1660273702
\u201cI wish I could say this was a "new" low for @FoxNews. Truly incredible. They photo-shopped a government exhibit (photo of Maxwell & Epstein on a plane) with an obviously fake photo of Reinhart. Here's the REAL photo.\u201d— julie k. brown (@julie k. brown) 1660308563
\u201c.@Kilmeade should be fired\u2014or at the least suspended. Along with whatever staff member \u201cfound\u201d the photo.\n\nShould be followed by a public apology. Despicable stuff.\n\nThis is supposedly a news organization.\u201d— Denver Riggleman (@Denver Riggleman) 1660308927
\u201c@atrupar They have absolutely no concern for putting this judge's life in jeopardy. Despicable.\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1660273702
\u201cQAnon-level use of a photoshopped blurry jpeg on fox, the original of course features only Ghislaine and Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d— QAA Podcast (@QAA Podcast) 1660324837
\u201cBeyond the fact that the image is clearly attributed to a meme account, Kilmeade also spends a good 10 seconds stammering after they air the photoshopped pic.\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1660275655
\u201c@atrupar They know it\u2019s fake. They know by the time they retract and apologize, their mission to plant disinformation would be accomplished.\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1660273702
Kilmeade has since clarified the image was fake and shared "in jest."
\u201cLast night while subbing for Tucker Carlson, we showed you an image of Judge Bruce Reinhart w/ Ghislaine Maxwell that was sourced on screen to a meme pulled from Twitter & wasn\u2019t real. This depiction never took place & we wanted to make clear that we were showing a meme in jest.\u201d— Brian Kilmeade (@Brian Kilmeade) 1660333467
Of course, the retraction comes on Twitter nearly a full day after the image was shown on live TV—plenty of time for it to solidify as factual in the minds of Fox News' and Trump's devotees.