‘Dumb’ defenses aired by Trump's supporters get debunked in new report
Former Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz, during a recent appearance on a right-wing radio show, suggested that an exchange between a Justice Department lawyer and an attorney representing a Donald Trump co-defendant in the classified documents case may be evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.
The former Harvard law professor and legal analyst said that a DOJ lawyer mentioned to Walt Nauta's defense attorney that, should his client flip to work with the prosecution, that lawyer could be helped to find a seat on the D.C.’s Superior Court. And Dershowitz claimed that conversation could demonstrate nefarious intent.
Dershowitz, during an appearance on The Charlie Kirk Show, speculated what the prosecutor may have said during the conversation.
“Look, I know you’re up for a judgeship in the District of Columbia,” Dershowitz said. “Maybe you’d have a better chance of getting the judgeship if you flipped your witness and have him cooperate with us.”
Dershowitz’s theory is among seven “dumb” post-indictment Trump defenses debunked in a New York Magazine report.
Among the others is the demonstrably false claim that “Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden All Did It, Too,” the factually inaccurate claim that “Trump Was Entitled to Obstruct the Investigation,” and the irrelevant fact that “Republican Voters Don’t Care.”
Ankush Khardori writes for NY Mag that Dershowitz’s theory is implausible, noting that the notion that any Justice Department lawyer could influence the confirmation process is “far-fetched.”
“Where to begin?” Khardori writes. “The idea that a single career Justice Department prosecutor might be able to influence the judicial-confirmation process is far-fetched — all the more so since, by all available accounts at the moment, the White House went out of its way not to interfere with the department’s investigation. Even if the most uncharitable speculation were accurate, it is very hard to see how this would affect the outcome of the prosecution as a legal matter, since the supposed attempt at bribery clearly failed.”