(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A liberal legal scholar has delivered a stark assessment of the prosecution of former President Donald Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over widely disputed campaign finance laws.
Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz adamantly declared the absence of any “crime” in the Manhattan trial during an appearance on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with host Maria Bartiromo.
“There is no crime,” Dershowitz asserted in the interview, which was shared by Trump on Truth Social.
“That’s why they’re putting on people like [former American Media CEO David] Pecker talking about catch and kill, they’re putting on [model Karen] McDougal… there’s no crime,” Dershowitz stressed, alluding to Bragg’s prominent witnesses.
Dershowitz cautioned Bragg to be “ought to be very careful” about his legal framework of the Trump trial, citing a recent case where an appeals court in upstate New York overturned disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s conviction for sexual misconduct.
The New York Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein’s conviction due to the inclusion of testimonies from individuals not directly linked to the case.
“That’s what’s happening,” Dershowitz stated, drawing parallels between the Weinstein and Trump trials. “There is no crime in Manhattan. You cannot figure out what the crime is. That’s why they’re putting on all this evidence of non-crimes, trying to persuade the jury that ‘catch and kill’ is a creme, it’s not; paying hush money is a crime, it’s not.”
The legal scholar, known for his previous endorsements of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, suggested that at most, the alleged actions of the Trump organization could amount to a misdemeanor, “barred by the statute of limitations.”
Dershowitz challenged Bragg’s legal premise: Trump’s alleged payments to his former attorney Michael Cohen—who in turn paid Stormy Daniels and McDougal—constitute a felony due to so-called violations of federal campaign law.
However, Trump has not faced any charges related to these alleged payments.
“You can’t suddenly resurrect that and turn that into a crime by invoking a federal statute which the federal government refused to invoke and that the Federal Election Commission refused to invoke,” Dershowitz argued. “There is no crime.”
Dershowitz concluded with a somber warning about the dangers of weaponizing the judicial system against political adversaries: “If it’s Donald Trump today, they can go after you tomorrow and your relatives tomorrow for something that isn’t a crime.”
He added, “That’s why every American whether you’re a Democrat should be opposed to what’s going on in that Manhattan courtroom. It’s a scandal, and it’s the destruction of America’s rule of law.”
