Famed liberal lawyer and constitutional expert Alan Dershowitz has issued a warning about a new attack on President Trump – a scheme that apparently could destroy America’s system of justice as part of destroying Trump.
Originally published by WND News Service. Used with permission.
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
By Bob Unruh
Trump’s attackers previously have fabricated lies about him, misused the Department of Justice and FBI to attack him falsely, and more. Those involved were as high as the Oval Office during Barack Obama’s administration.
Trump’s still around, and he’s still promoting America as a great nation.
But now Dershowitz, in a column at the Gatestone Institute, where he is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow, issued a warning about what he sees as a serious threat to justice.
He noted that Trump has pleaded not guilty to the system’s latest attack, claims about papers from his presidency that he had in his home.
Partisan prosecutors – partisan because there have been no similar charges against Joe Biden over similar actions – have accused him of multiple crimes.
Dershowitz noted that Trump’s lawyers then announced they were resigning from the case.
“He has been interviewing Florida lawyers, and several top ones have declined. I know, because I have spoken to them. There are disturbing suggestions that among the reasons lawyers are declining the case is because they fear legal and career reprisals.”
He explained, “There is a nefarious group that calls itself The 65 Project that has as its goal to intimidate lawyers into not representing Trump or anyone associated with him. They have threatened to file bar charges against any such lawyers. When these threats first emerged, I wrote an op-ed offering to defend pro bono any lawyers that The 65 Project goes after. So The 65 Project immediately went after me, and contrived a charge based on a case in which I was a constitutional consultant, but designed to send a message to potential Trump lawyers: if you defend Trump or anyone associated with him, we will target you and find something to charge you with. The lawyers to whom I spoke are fully aware of this threat — and they are taking it seriously.”
He said Trump’s case will not be easy, for several reasons. But he said, “Good lawyers, however, generally welcome challenges, especially in high-profile cases.”
However, he explained, “This case is different: the threats to the lawyers are greater than at any time since McCarthyism. Nor is the comparison to McCarthyism a stretch. I recall during the 1950s how civil liberties lawyers, many of whom despised communism, were cancelled, and attacked if they dared to represent people accused of being communists. Even civil liberties organizations stayed away from such cases, for fear that it would affect their fundraising and general standing in the community.”
He said the situation today “may even be worse.”
He noted when he worked with Trump in 2020, he was “cancelled by my local library, community center and synagogue. Old friends refused to speak to me and threatened others who did. My wife, who disagreed with my decision to defend Trump, was also ostracized. There were physical threats to my safety.”
He said The 65 Project members are endangering the recognized right to counsel.
“Trump’s lawyers have now alleged that one of the prosecutors has suggested to Stanley Woodard, the lawyer for Waltine Nauta, Trump’s co-defendant, that his application for judgeship may be negatively affected if he persists in defending Nauta vigorously rather than encouraging him to cooperate against Trump. If that is true – I have not seen the evidence to support it – then it represents a direct attack on the 6th Amendment,” Dershowitz warned.