Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Sunday argued that Donald Trump deserved a fair trial just like any pedophile or rapist.
Speaking to Fox News, Gonzales doubled down on his Washington Post op-ed that defended Trump's right as a U.S. citizen to question the partiality of U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is hearing a case against Trump University.
However, Gonzales told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the judge should not be disqualified based on his Mexican heritage as Trump has suggested.
"To disqualify someone based on that I think would be inappropriate," he said. "But it's perfectly legitimate to look at other reasons. You are a litigant, you want a fair trial, you want to win that case."
"I should not matter, it does not matter who the litigant is," the former Attorney General added. "Whether or not they're a terrorist, whether or not they're a child molester, a rapist, a murderer or a racist. Everyone in this country is entitled to a fair trial before an impartial judge."
The Fox News host pointed out that Trump's attack on the judge was "frustrating to those who don't want to see Hillary Clinton become president."
"This makes it very hard to defend the Donald Trump campaign when he says this guy's parents were born in Mexico, he's a bad person," Carlson observed.
"I would have certainly taken a different approach," Gonzales agreed. "And I think that particularly true for someone who is running for president of the United States. Because again, whenever you say something about a judge's nationality, I think it demeans the office and I think it hurts the judiciary as a whole."
