"Banana Republic": Dershowitz Says Biden 'Urged' Garland To Indict Trump, Jack Smith 'Could' Be Indicted Under KKK Statute
During two recent Fox News interviews, Harvard Law professor (and former Jeffrey Epstein pal, and Trump impeachment attorney) Alan Dershowitz said that the prosecution of former President Donald Trump by the sitting president's DOJ for contesting the 2020 election "looks like banana republic land."
Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a four-count indictment over his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 US election. This comes on the heels of a 37-count indictment in June regarding Trump's handling of classified documents.
"President Biden urged his attorney general to indict the man who he knew was going to be the leading opponent if against him," Dershowitz told "Kudlow" guest host, David Asman. "That begins to look like banana republic land. That’s what happens when people in power are afraid of the democratic process. What they do is they seek the indictment and prosecution of the people who are running against them."
"I have a constitutional right to vote against Donald Trump for the third time," said Dershowitz. "I voted against him twice, I intend to vote against him again, but I want to have that right to vote against him and not have that right taken away from me by prosecutors and by the president, who wants to see him imprisoned. That’s just not the American way."
Dershowitz also slammed the Biden administration over venue, arguing that the District of Columbia was a setup.
"This is a step in that direction, and also placing the case in the District of Columbia, which is 95% anti-Trump, putting it in front of a judge with a history of anti-Trump. If the government thinks they have a strong case, they ought to join the defense and agree to move it to West Virginia or Virginia and put it in front of another judge who doesn’t have a long history of anti-Trump attitudes," he said, adding "So, I don’t believe he can get a fair trial in the District of Columbia."
KKK statute?
In another Fox News interview, this time on Brian Kilmeade's radio show, Dershowitz suggested that Special Counsel Jack Smith could be indicted for denying Trump his "constitutional rights" under a Ku Klux Klan statute.
"The indictment is based on lies, and the indictment itself contains a blatant lie by Jack Smith. He describes the speech of January 6th," he said, adding "But he describes the speech in the indictment and deliberately and willfully leaves out the key words of the speech, namely that the president told his people to protest peacefully and patriotically."
"By leaving out those words. It’s a lie by omission. And under the standards set out in the indictment, you know, Jack Smith could be indicted," he continued. "Theoretically, it’s not going to happen, obviously, under the Ku Klux Klan statute that he says any people who conspire to deny somebody their constitutional rights is guilty of a crime."
According to Dershowitz, "That would mean that Jack Smith tried to deny Trump his constitutional rights in this indictment."
"I make that point not to argue that Jack Smith should be indicted, of course not. To make the point that the indictment is so broad, so wide, so all encompassing, it could include so much political conduct."
Watch:
Dershowitz: Jack Smith "could also be indicted, theoretically ... under the Ku Klux Klan statute [that says] 'people who conspire to deny somebody their constitutional rights is guilty of a crime'" pic.twitter.com/CTmvYplVP9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 6, 2023
