Retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said that the indictment against former president Donald Trump that led to his arraignment on Wednesday is the most serious case against him, comparing it to “a gun with Trump’s fingerprints on it.”
Mr Dershowitz made the comments on Charlie Kirk’s show on Tuesday. Mr Dershowitz served as Mr Trump’s attorney during the former president’s first impeachment trial and also defended other celebrity clients such as OJ Simpson and Mike Tyson.
Mr Kirk, the founder and chief executive of the conservative youth organisation Turning Point USA, asked if Mr Dershowitz still thought that the indictment that came down last week and alleged that Mr Trump mishandled classified documents related to national security was the most serious one against the former president.
“I do, especially the provision in which Donald Trump foolishly waved some paper in front of a reporter while he was being recorded by his own staff,” Mr Dershowitz said.
“And he said, I could have declassified this, but I didn't, so it's still secret,” Mr Dershowitz said. “And it has to do with a battle attack plan for Iran.”
Mr Dershowitz did not call the charges in the indictment a “smoking gun.”
“But it's surely a gun with Trump's fingerprints on it,” he said. “And his lawyers will have to explain that away. They may argue, look, it was just puffery. He didn’t really show them anything. He just waved it in front of them.”
Mr Dershowitz said that it seemed like Mr Trump knew he had not declassified the documents. He added that he would not represent the former president since he had done so during his first impeachment trial.
At the same time, Mr Dershowitz told Mr Kirk that Mr Trump was clearly targeted.
“They never would have come up with this piece of evidence if they had treated him equally under the law,” he said. “Remember the special prosecutor wasn’t asked to look into everybody who may have mishandled classified material. He was tasked only with getting Trump.”
Mr Trump pleaded not guilty in a Miami federal courthouse on Tuesday after a federal grand jury supervised by Special Counsel Jack Smith voted to indict the twice-impeached former president.
