Alan Dershowitz Weighs In On Smith’s Possible Criminal Liability Regarding Trump’s Indictment

Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law professor, contended that Special Counsel Jack Smith could potentially face indictment for infringing upon former President Donald Trump’s “constitutional rights” under the Ku Klux Klan Statute.

Dershowitz, who represented Trump during his first impeachment trial in the Senate, asserted that the indictment rested on falsehoods and featured charges of such breadth that they could have consequences for Smith. He remarked, “The indictment is based on lies, and the indictment itself contains a blatant lie by Jack Smith.”

Dershowitz went on to highlight Smith’s omission, stating he “describes the speech of January 6th, 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.”

The prominent attorney continued, “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.”

Dershowitz clarified, “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.”

Dershowitz added, “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.”

Trump’s statement before the Capitol riots, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” was referenced by Dershowitz, who reiterated that Smith had omitted this crucial element.

Trump’s former attorney contended, “He purported to describe the speech that President Trump made on January 6. And he left out the key words when President Trump said, ‘I want you to demonstrate peacefully and patriotically.’ You know, a lie by omission, under the law, can be as serious as a lie by commission.”

Former Attorney General Bill Barr asserted that free speech was not at stake in Trump’s election fraud case. Dershowitz disagreed, saying on Fox Radio, “I like Bill Barr, he’s a good man, but I think he’s just dead wrong about that. Of course, this is a free speech case.”

Dershowitz added, “Everything involves his exercise of free speech. Not just his First Amendment free speech but also his First Amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

While Dershowitz criticized the indictment in Washington, D.C., he acknowledged that the only indictment that could “maybe” meet the standards involved classified documents.

“We have two presidents in our history, of all our presidents only two, who have been called honest. Honest Abe and Washington and the cherry tree. Does that mean every other president has been dishonest? Probably. Probably every single one of them has told a fib to get elected or to stay in office, and we don’t punish. We don’t criminalize political lies,” Dershowitz said.

“Biden may have done some wrong things, but he hasn’t committed any impeachable offenses, at least up to now,” Dershowitz concluded.