‘Worst Case of Prosecutorial Abuse’: Alan Dershowitz Reacts to Trump Indictment

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz criticized the indictment of former President Donald Trump on charges involving alleged hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, describing it as an extreme case of prosecutorial misconduct. This makes Trump the first former president to be criminally charged in the nation’s history.

In an interview with The Epoch Times on March 30, Dershowitz called it the “worst case of prosecutorial abuse” he has seen in his 60-year career.

The indictment came after an investigation conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which included grand jury testimony by Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen and Cohen’s former lawyer, Robert Costello.

Cohen allegedly paid Daniels $130,000 days before the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence on an alleged 2008 tryst between her and Trump, which the former president denies. Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in 2018 for arranging payment to Daniels and another woman claiming to have had an affair with Trump. In his guilty plea, Cohen claimed to have done so at Trump’s direction and was reimbursed by the Trump Organization through routine legal expenses.

While no charges have been announced, Dershowitz said Bragg likely relied on elevating a charge of falsifying business records involving the payment to Daniels—a misdemeanor—to a felony by tying it to a federal charge of campaign finance violation.

“In order to turn the state statute into a felony, you have to borrow a federal statute,” Dershowitz said earlier in March. He believes this combining of laws raises serious legal questions.

Dershowitz added that Bragg’s case is politically motivated, saying it “is not a righteous prosecution. It’s not a just prosecution. And I think every libertarian, whether you’re conservative or liberal, should be opposed to it.” He argues that there seem to be two systems of justice in America—one for the rest of us, and one for Trump.

The Harvard Law professor also dismissed the idea that these cases would materially impact Trump’s candidacy in the 2024 presidential election, saying that while he may not get prison time, he can still run as a convicted person.