Alan Dershowitz is a well-respected Harvard Law professor emeritus, he is also a liberal, which is why his defense of Donald Trump in the Mueller witch hunt is particularly distressing to the left.
What is Dershowitz’s response to liberals who criticize him for defending President Trump in Mueller’s Russian collusion investigation? Here’s how Dershowitz responds to his critics:
“I am a liberal who did not vote for Trump, but who insists that the president’s civil liberties must be respected to protect the civil liberties of us all. Just as the first casualty of war is truth, so, too, the first casualty of hyper-partisan politics is civil liberties.”
Now, Dershowitz is suggesting that Mueller should be investigated.
Just as the first casualty of war is truth, so, too, the first casualty of hyperpartisan politics is civil liberties.
Many traditional civil libertarians have allowed their strong anti-Trump sentiments to erase their long-standing commitment to neutral civil liberties. They are now so desperate to get President Trump that they are prepared to compromise the most basic due process rights. They forget the lesson of history that such compromises made against one’s enemy are often used as precedents against one’s friends. As Robert Bolt put it in the play and movie “A Man for all Seasons”
But today’s fair weather civil libertarians are unwilling to give Trump — who they regard as the devil — the “benefit of law” and civil liberties.
Consider the issue of criticizing Robert Mueller, the special counsel. Any criticism or even skepticism regarding Mueller’s history is seen as motivated by a desire to help Trump. Mueller was an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston, the head of its criminal division, the head of the criminal division in Main Justice, and the director of the FBI during the most scandalous miscarriage of justice in the modern history of the FBI. Four innocent people were framed by the FBI to protect mass murdering gangsters who were working as FBI informers while they were killing innocent people. An FBI agent, who is now in prison, was tipping off Whitey Bulger as to who might testify against him so that these individuals could be killed. He also tipped off Bulger, allowing him to escape and remain on the lam for 16 years.
What responsibility, if any, did Mueller, who was in key positions of authority and capable of preventing these horrible miscarriages, have in this sordid incident? A former member of the parole board — a liberal Democrat who also served as mayor of Springfield, Mass. — swears he saw a letter from Mueller urging the denial of release for at least one of these wrongfully convicted defendants. When he went back to retrieve the letter, it was not in the file.
But these “Get Trump At Any Cost” partisans have rejected my call for an investigation, out of fear that it may turn up information that might tarnish the image of the special counsel who is investigating Trump. Instead, they criticize those of us who point out Mueller was “at the center” of the Justice Department and FBI while this miscarriage of justice occurred. All civil libertarians should want the truth about this sordid episode, and Mueller’s possible role in it, regardless of its impact, if any, on the Trump investigation. Mueller should welcome an objective investigation, which might eliminate any doubt about his role in this travesty. But too many former civil libertarians are prepared to sacrifice civil liberties and the quest for truth on the altar of “Get Trump.” –Washington Examiner
Watch, as Alan Dershowitz explains his thoughts on the FBI’s raid into Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen’s office:
