Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said that Special Counsel Jack Smith could be indicted if the charges against former President Donald Trump get thrown out of court. Smith got a grand jury to issue a four-count indictment of Trump relating to his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election along with a 37-count indictment against Trump in June based on an investigation into allegations surrounding classified documents.
“You know the worst thing about this indictment, under the terms of this indictment, Jack Smith can be indicted. Let me explain to you why,” Dershowitz said. “The statute says the following, two or more persons conspire to injure and deny somebody the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured him by the constitution.
“What if a court ultimately rules that Donald Trump had a right under the First Amendment to make his Jan. 6 speech and to do what he did?
“Then Jack Smith will have conspired to deny him of that right.
“That’s how serious this is.”
“Jack Smith … deliberately, willfully and maliciously leaves out the words that President Trump spoke on Jan. 6 in his terrible speech. which I disagree with, but what he said was, ‘I want you to assemble peacefully and patriotically.’
“Jack Smith leaves that out.
“That is a lie, a lie, an omission lie and if you’re going to indict somebody for telling lies, don’t tell lies in the indictment.
“If you’re going to indict somebody for denying people their constitutional rights, don’t deny them their constitutional rights by indicting them for free speech.
“That’s how hypocritical this is.
“The Supreme Court has said in an opinion by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, under the First Amendment there is no such thing as a false opinion or a false idea.
“The response to a false idea is the marketplace of ideas or Election Day.
“So you’re absolutely right, this is a very, very dangerous indictment, dangerous to the First Amendment and also dangerous to the Sixth Amendment because it directly goes after Trump’s lawyers, names them as unindicted coconspirators without giving their names, but basically says they’re criminals for giving him advice on how to challenge the election.”
"The standard should be very, very high when you're going after the incumbent president's opponent. Otherwise we start getting close to banana republic. That's where presidents prosecute their political opponents and that's not what we want in America." — Alan Dershowitz pic.twitter.com/cQhFNNy2qy
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) August 2, 2023