As we’ve known since the Neri Oxman Debacle of 2018, Brad Pitt sure likes to leak damaging and/or passive-aggressive sh-t about Angelina Jolie. His preferred outlets are definitely People Magazine, Us Weekly and Page Six. So, big shock, when we heard that Angelina and her lawyers want the “private judge” in Angelina and Brad’s divorce thrown off the case, I figured that Brad and his wacky team of crisis managers would soon tell us how everything is Angelina’s fault. Even though Angelina wants the judge off the case for good reason – the judge has had repeated business dealings with Brad’s lawyers. The judge should have recused himself in good faith at the mere whiff of impropriety, but here we are. Now “a source close to the case” tells Page Six that – obvs – it’s all Angelina’s fault!

Angelina Jolie has asked to remove the private judge overseeing her protracted divorce and child-custody battle with Brad Pitt. The actress argues that Judge John W. Ouderkirk should be disqualified from their divorce case, filed in 2016. Lawyers for Jolie filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that the judge was not forthcoming enough about other cases he presided over that involved Pitt’s attorney, Anne C. Kiley. The papers state that during the Jolie-Pitt proceedings, Ouderkirk has allegedly “failed to disclose the cases that demonstrated the current, ongoing, repeat-customer relationship between the judge and [Pitt’s] counsel.”

However, a source close to the case said this was a delay tactic by Jolie, because she believed things weren’t going in her favor. The source said the main issue is custody of their kids and her request for more child support.

The source said, “Jolie is basically trying to fire the private judge overseeing their divorce case. She has every right to do this, but if she thought she was in a good place in this legal proceeding, she wouldn’t need to do it. This is a classic case of someone expecting a bad decision trying to delay the process by asking for a new referee.” Judge Ouderkirk could not be reached, and lawyers for Jolie and Pitt didn’t get back to us.

The source added that Jolie’s move is unusual: While Pitt’s team has sought to keep the same judge, ensuring personal details divulged in the case are kept private, Jolie is now involving a public court and is delaying anything getting resolved. “This is about how much time Brad gets with the kids, how does sharing time with the kids work … This divorce has been going on for four years, for goodness’ sake.”

[From Page Six]

“If she thought she was in a good place in this legal proceeding…” I mean, clearly Angelina and her lawyers believe that they’re NOT “in a good place” because the judge is biased in favor of his business partner Anne C. Kiley and Kiley’s client Brad Pitt, and the judge has been granting motions on behalf of Kiley. I can only imagine how uncomfortable and wrong that feels. So Brad running to Page Six to gloat about how he’s in a great position because the private judge is biased against Angelina Jolie… is the exact reason why the judge needs to be kicked off the case.

Also: I don’t even believe Brad and Angelina are still endlessly bickering over custody. I think there’s a reason why BRAD has stalled so long and it’s because of his financials.

Photos courtesy of WENN.