"Reaction from Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera and criminal defense attorney Jonna Spilbor."

Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera accused the New York federal judge presiding over Ghislaine Maxwell’s case of "copping out to the mob" Tuesday after she denied the British socialite’s bail request as she awaits trial on sex trafficking charges."

Transcript:

Bill Hemmer - "You both thought she would be granted bail but that did not happen. Jonna what was the judge thinking?"

 

Jonna Spilbor, Criminal Defense Attorney:...Here’s what the judge was thinking. The judge did not have the courage to do what was really right in this case. Now I realize that the charges are egregious and horrendous - we get that. But if you are analyzing this without the notoriety of Jeffrey Epstein, if you are analyzing this just purely from the bench, if you put an electronic bracelet on her ankle, if you take all of her passports away, if you do the things that you would do in any other case, you reduce that extreme flight risk to no flight risk. But this judge did not see fit to do that and honestly I think this judge got it wrong. 

 

Bill Hemmer: "Geraldo what do you think?"                     

 

Geraldo Rivera: "I think this was a political decision. Bill I agree absolutely with Jonna. I think that the question is not whether she committed these hideous offenses. The question is whether or not she would show up for trial. I mean she bought a house in New Hampshire, for goodness’ sakes. She went to all this trouble to stay in the country. They could take her passports, that’s standard operating procedure.. It doesn’t make any sense - prosecutors in the case are doing this to put pressure on her. They are punishing her before conviction. She has never been held liable in a civil suit, never been convicted of a crime. She is not Jeffrey Epstein. I think this is a terrible, punitive decision.”