Alan Dershowitz, the attorney who professes to care so deeply about civil liberties it has moved him to cross partisan lines and defend Donald Trump on a near nightly basis on Fox News, was caught on video patting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the back after Trump praised him for his fascistic attack on NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly. Now, Dershowitz has admitted that he likes Pompeo so much, he “forgives” the assault on the First Amendment.
As I’ve previously reported, Fox host Steve Hilton, an admitted Trumper, called for Pompeo to stop being “such a bully” and apologize to Kelly after he berated her, then lied about her, after she asked him some tough questions. Not only did Pompeo not apologize, after emails were released backing up Kelly’s account, another NPR reporter was suddenly bumped from the press pool traveling with Pompeo.
Not surprisingly, that drew praise from P***y Grabber and Bully in chief Trump. With hideous smugness, Trump publicly congratulated Pompeo for his behavior, saying, “I think you did a good job on her, actually. That’s good.”
Dershowitz, sitting behind Pompeo, can clearly be seen on video (below) smiling and giving Pompeo a pat on the back as Trump spoke.
Let me pause a moment to remind readers that in late October, Dershowitz smiled and snickered during a now-infamous discussion in which Laura Ingraham and guest smeared Purple Heart recipient Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman as a traitor after he agreed to testify in the House impeachment investigation. When the segment went viral and Dershowitz came under scrutiny for his complicity, he tried to distance himself in a column calling Vindman a patriot, arguing that had he understood the commentary, he would have spoken out because “I've long opposed the criminalization of political differences.”
Yet Dershowitz’s column had not a word of criticism about Fox News. Nor has his “opposition” to the criminalization of political differences kept him from regularly appearing on Fox without evident concern for their criminalization of political differences. Trump’s “Lock her up!” and “Send them back!” attacks have likewise not prevented Dershowitz from being part of Trump’s legal and TV defense team, presumably because the Constitution means so much to him.
That Alan Dershowitz, the guy who says he was “born a civil libertarian,” can now be seen on video showing support for the Trump administration’s continued trampling on the First Amendment.
Caught red-handed again, so to speak, Dershowitz pleaded his latest “It wasn’t what it looked like” excuse. Dershowitz claimed he patted Pompeo on the back at that moment “because I like Mike Pompeo’s views on the Middle East,” Dershowitz told CNN Tuesday night. “I thoroughly disapprove of the way he has reportedly treated a reporter,” Dershowitz added. “I don’t think reporters should ever be treated that way, in any way, and I don’t think the president should say that it’s a good thing to treat a reporter that way. We’re all tempted to do that but I like Mike Pompeo’s views on the Middle East and that’s what I’m supporting.”
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin pointed out that Dershowitz patted Pompeo on the back just at the moment that Trump was praising him for attacking a reporter.
“I think you’re reading too much into that,” Dershowitz asserted. “I had patted him on the back a dozen times when we talked about the Middle East so that’s what my pat was intended to encourage.”
But then Dershowitz all but admitted that yes, he stands with Pompeo against NPR and freedom of the press. “You know, if he’s being attacked and he’s being criticized, I want to show my support. ‘Cause he’s a great secretary of state and he’s done great things for the peace process in the Middle East. And if he can help bring about peace in the Middle East, I forgive him his rudeness to a reporter.” I'll just note that at the moment that Dershowitz patted Pompeo on the back, he was being praised, not criticized.
Dershowitz surely knows Pompeo’s behavior went way beyond “rude” and well into anti-democratic. In other words, “civil libertarian” Dershowitz has shown himself willing, possibly even eager, to toss aside the First Amendment, accountability of public officials and freedom of the press when it suits his policy goals.
It’s about time, he finally admitted that.
Watch Dershowitz show his true colors below, from CNN’s January 28, 2020 Anderson Cooper 360.
Like Trump, he is full to overflowing with hubris and a contrarian by nature. He believes he is so clever he can convincingly argue even the most illogical and self-contradictory positions due to his unparalleled genius.
Sad news, Alan. Your Epstein/Trump perfidy WILL come out, either pre or post-mortem. If history remembers you at all, it will be as a supremely arrogant criminal who enjoyed twenty-plus years of freedom while he should have been rotting in the deepest, darkest dungeon.