• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
ALAN DERSHOWITZ: A Prosecution So Crooked It Would Even Make Joseph Stalin Blush

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: A Prosecution So Crooked It Would Even Make Joseph Stalin Blush

June 5, 2024
Iran Says No Negotiations While Under Israeli Fire

Iran Says No Negotiations While Under Israeli Fire

June 20, 2025
Trump Receptive to Bonuses For Moms After Giving Birth: ‘Sounds Like a Good Idea to Me’

Trump Criticizes Abundance of Federal Holidays: ‘It is Costing Our Country Billions’

June 20, 2025
Trump Admin Spox Unleashes On Dem Rep’s ‘Garbage’ Take Calling ICE Human Traffickers 

Trump Admin Spox Unleashes On Dem Rep’s ‘Garbage’ Take Calling ICE Human Traffickers 

June 20, 2025
Vast Majority Of Americans Back RFK Jr.’s Core MAHA Effort, Poll Says

Vast Majority Of Americans Back RFK Jr.’s Core MAHA Effort, Poll Says

June 20, 2025
Obama-Appointed Judge Keeps Taxpayer Cash Flowing To Sanctuary States

Obama-Appointed Judge Keeps Taxpayer Cash Flowing To Sanctuary States

June 20, 2025
‘Really Depressing’: Former Top Dem Operative Sounds Alarm On Dire State Of Her Party

‘Really Depressing’: Former Top Dem Operative Sounds Alarm On Dire State Of Her Party

June 20, 2025
Trump Ready to Issue New Tariffs After 90-Day Pause

Trump Scores ‘Big Win;’ Keeps Control of National Guard

June 20, 2025
Michelle Obama Not Attending Trump’s Inauguration 

Michelle Obama ‘Glad’ She Didn’t Have a Son: ‘Would’ve Been a Barack Obama’

June 20, 2025
Newsom Scrambles To Spin Federal Court Smackdown As A Trump Defeat

Newsom Scrambles To Spin Federal Court Smackdown As A Trump Defeat

June 20, 2025
EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Levine Let Notorious Gender Clinic Meet With Child In Gov’t Office

EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Levine Let Notorious Gender Clinic Meet With Child In Gov’t Office

June 19, 2025
CASEY RYAN: How The Big Beautiful Bill Impacts Education

CASEY RYAN: How The Big Beautiful Bill Impacts Education

June 19, 2025
BLM Org Asks ‘White Folks’ For Juneteenth Reparations As Finances Fizzle

BLM Org Asks ‘White Folks’ For Juneteenth Reparations As Finances Fizzle

June 19, 2025
  • Donald Trump
  • State of the Union
  • Elon Musk
  • Tariffs
  • Congress
  • Faith
  • Immigration
Friday, June 20, 2025
  • Login
IJR
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls
No Result
View All Result
IJR
No Result
View All Result
Home News

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: A Prosecution So Crooked It Would Even Make Joseph Stalin Blush

by Daily Caller News Foundation
June 5, 2024
in News, Op-Ed, Wire
240 12
0
ALAN DERSHOWITZ: A Prosecution So Crooked It Would Even Make Joseph Stalin Blush
491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Daily Caller News Foundation

Long before Donald Trump’s hush-money trial concluded, I predicted that his conviction was a forgone conclusion — despite the obvious weakness of the case against him.

Had the prosecution been brought in another part of the country, or even in another part of New York State, which was more fairly balanced with anti and pro-Trump voters, I am in little doubt that the outcome would have been different.

But instead, on Thursday, Trump became the first former president to be found guilty of a crime – convicted on all 34 flimsy counts of “falsifying business records.”

Why? Because this case was tried in Manhattan, where practically every man on the street wants to keep one Donald Trump out of the White House.

Perhaps the most important function of an independent jury in criminal trials is to keep a check on the biases of prosecutors and judges.

But for this constitutional protection to work, jurors must not be biased themselves against a defendant.

It’s quite apparent that this essential protection was absent.

And of course, none of these will have been disclosed on corporate forms — which would defeat the point of keeping something secret — and no one has ever been prosecuted for failing to make such a disclosure.

The infamous conversation between Stalin and the head of his KGB Lavrenty Beria is often quoted: ‘Show me the man, and I will find you the crime.’

This prosecution was even worse because, though DA Bragg tried desperately to find a crime with which to charge Trump, he failed to find one, as did his predecessor Cyrus Vance.

So Bragg went a dangerous step further than Stalin ever did: he made up a crime.

He found a misdemeanor that was past the statute of limitations — making a false bookkeeping entry on a corporate form — and magically converted it to a felony that was within the limitation period by alleging that the false entry was intended to cover up another crime.

Throughout the trial, many people inferred that crime to be an alleged attempt at election interference. But Bragg never actually explicitly stated that.

In fact, the prosecution didn’t tell the court what Trump’s other “crimes” were until their closing arguments on Wednesday — by which point the defense had no opportunity to respond.

And even then, the supposed crimes outlined were vague.

In his closing instructions, Judge Juan Merchan exposed his already apparent bias once more – telling the jurors that they didn’t actually have to agree on the specifics of Trump’s unlawful behavior.

How could someone defend themselves against such vague allegations?

It was at this moment that I became convinced that the jury would find him guilty.

And that conviction may well mark the beginning of a new era of partisan weaponization of our justice system.

DA Bragg has demonstrated how easy it now is to get a conviction against a political opponent. Other ambitious DA’s are likely to follow suit. And the ultimate losers will be the American public.

Alan Dershowitz is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of “War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism.” This article has been republished from the author’s Substack page, which can be viewed here.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Tags: big-tent-ideasDCNFU.S.News
Share196Tweet123
Daily Caller News Foundation

Daily Caller News Foundation

Advertisements

Top Stories June 10th
Top Stories June 7th
Top Stories June 6th
Top Stories June 3rd
Top Stories May 30th
Top Stories May 29th
Top Stories May 24th
Top Stories May 23rd
Top Stories May 21st
Top Stories May 17th

Join Over 6M Subscribers

We’re organizing an online community to elevate trusted voices on all sides so that you can be fully informed.





IJR

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Trusted Voices On All Sides

  • About Us
  • GDPR Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Editorial Standards & Corrections Policy
  • Subscribe to IJR

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Top Stories June 10th Top Stories June 7th Top Stories June 6th Top Stories June 3rd Top Stories May 30th Top Stories May 29th Top Stories May 24th Top Stories May 23rd Top Stories May 21st Top Stories May 17th