Former legal counsel for Al Gore, Alan Dershowitz, has criticized the pending indictment against Donald Trump, claiming that Trump's actions are "very similar" to Gore's legal strategy in the Bush v.
Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election.
Dershowitz argues that challenging election results and seeking legal remedies should not be considered a crime. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Dershowitz stated, "We challenged the election, and we did much of the things that are being done today and people praised us.
Now they're making it a crime." He also compared Trump's phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to Gore's legal strategy in 2000, stating that both involved seeking additional votes. Dershowitz emphasized that he believes the 2000 election was stolen from Gore by Bush.
The indictment against Trump, returned by a grand jury on Monday, is the result of a years-long criminal investigation led by state prosecutors in Georgia into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.
The indictment also includes charges against former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeff Clark, John Eastman, and others.
The charges range from violating the Georgia RICO Act to solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery, and filing false documents.
Dershowitz argues that expanding the RICO statute to include political objections, as the indictment suggests, would be wrong. He believes that political actions, such as challenging election results, should be resolved through legal and constitutional processes, rather than criminalizing them.
Dershowitz points out that Democrats have also made political objections in past elections, and it would be unfair to make crimes out of such actions. He states, "You can't make those things crimes. And you can't expand the RICO statute to now include political objections."
Regarding Trump's phone call to Raffensperger, Dershowitz argues that it is comparable to the actions taken by Gore's legal team in 2000. He explains that he and Professor Lawrence Tribe, who were part of Gore's team, requested recounts and challenged the results in specific counties, hoping to find additional votes.
Dershowitz questions whether he will be targeted for his actions in the 2000 election, stating, "So if you look back at the 2000 election and the protests, I still think to this day, and I'll say it here on television, that that election was stolen from Al Gore by Bush that he won the actual election. I'm saying that -- are they going to come after me now?"
However, Dershowitz dismisses the seriousness of the indictments, citing a flub by the district attorney's office. The office mistakenly posted an indictment document before the grand jury vote, which they later claimed was "fictitious" and removed from their website.
Dershowitz argues that this mistake undermines the credibility of the indictments, stating, "Nobody should take the indictments at all seriously because they announced the indictment before the grand jury even voted. So the grand jury is just a rubber stamp."
Login