Someone made fun of Alan Dershowitz on Monday.
Former federal prosecutor and current MSNBC legal analyst Cynthia Alksne mocked the perpetual devil’s advocate and oft-time defender of President Donald Trump during a segment on MSNBC Live with Katy Tur.
Now, readers might wonder why the ostensibly left-of-center outlet might take a few seconds out of its day to mock the Harvard law mainstay and storied sometimes civil liberties advocate. As Law&Crime noted in a previous article:
Dershowitz is often described as the “liberal” professor by those on the right seeking to boost his credibility as a shameless Trump-booster, while many on the left have, well, come to ignore him.
With that out of the way, here’s how Monday’s quick dunking session played out in real time.
Alksne counseled dismissal after Tur read aloud Dershowitz’s prediction that Robert Mueller‘s special counsel investigation into Russian electoral interference and corruption might be damaging for Trump but ultimately would not result in criminal charges being filed against the 45th president.
“Alan Dershowitz is saying this is going to be devastating for the president, but he’s making an important qualification,” Tur noted. “He’s saying that this is going to be politically very devastating–he doesn’t think there’s going to be any crimes committed here. He’s saying ‘collusion is not a crime.’ What do you make of that?”
To which Alksne replied:
Alan Dershowitz is a defense attorney who is frankly paid to say that.
Law&Crime reached out to Dersowitz for comment and clarification on Alksne’s accusation of pay-to-play bias but no response was forthcoming at the time of publication. As far as is publicly known, however, Alan Dershowitz is not currently a paid commentator for any television network.
Alksne continued to downplay Dershowitz’s opinion on the matter.
“And I disagree with him,” the former prosecutor said, “He’s a very smart guy, but I completely disagree with him.”
Alksne then offered her own prediction of what’s in store from the Mueller investigation–well beyond any agreed upon bad headlines for the White House and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“I think what’s coming down the pike is not only the report but either an indictment–which is sealed–which will be unsealed after Trump’s no longer president or he will be an unindicted co-conspirator in a speaking indictment,” Alksne said. “I would predict that’s going forward.”
Seemingly having made the decision against picking up the anti-Dershowitz baton, Tur responded that Alksne’s comments were “interesting” before quickly moving on.
[image via screengrab/MSNBC]
