Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax: Trump Target 'Bribed' to Flip; Charges Won't Stick
Charges related to federal taxes that have filed in New York City against the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg, will end up being thrown out, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told
Newsmax on Saturday.
"You can't get a city district attorney indicting somebody for failing to pay federal income taxes when the IRS hasn't even gone after him," Dershowitz told "
Saturday Report." "One of the charges, a major charge, is grand larceny against the United States government. That shows the extent to which they are prepared to stretch existing law and the Constitution to give them authority over federal taxes? It's absurd."
Weisselberg and the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty Thursday to fraud and theft charges in the first criminal case coming from a years-long investigation of former President Donald Trump and his business dealings.
Weisselberg and company lawyers appeared in a lower Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon for arraignment of the charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. The charges that were read include grand larceny and scheme to defraud.
Dershowitz added, if Weisselberg's name "was not what it is," and if he did not work for the Trump Organization, "he would never be indicted."
"He'd get a letter from the IRS saying, 'you have some back taxes; please pay it with interest,'" Dershowitz told host Carl Higbie.
Meanwhile, the end result of the charges will be whether Weisselberg turns against the company or Trump, or if he does not, according to Dershowitz.
"If he doesn't turn, they will sentence him to prison, probably will not be a long prison term. Generally for crimes like this relating to a relatively small amount of taxes, there's either no prison time or a small amount in prison time," Dershowitz said.
Or, Weisselberg might turn, and then "the dominoes will fall," he continued.
"That's the goal, to try to get people like him to testify against the higher-ups," Dershowitz said. "The ultimate goal here obviously, is Donald Trump and the question is will they get people to turn on him."
But there is a question whether evidence of people who "have essentially been bribed" through promises of freedom can be trusted, Dershowitz said.
"If a defense attorney ever paid a nickel to a witness, the defense attorney would be disbarred, but prosecutors are allowed to give life and liberty in exchange for testimony, which juries are expected to believe," Dershowitz lamented. "It's just not the way the system should work."
He described the tactic as the "domino theory."
"Rudy Giuliani, when he was the U.S. attorney in New York, he came to my class one day at Harvard," Dershowitz said. "And he talked about the domino theory, you knock down the lowest domino and then he'll knock down another domino. Ultimately, you'll get to the top domino. It's common."
But Dershowitz said he does not like that being used for political purposes or to try to discourage someone like Trump from running for president.
"Look, I didn't vote for Donald Trump," Dershowitz. "I voted for Joe Biden, for Hillary Clinton, for Barack Obama. I'm a liberal Democrat. But I'm appalled by this method of law enforcement.
"And whether you're a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, you know you're next. If they can use law enforcement techniques against the former president and his people, they can use it against anybody they don't like."
