Author and former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Wednesday that the indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies using a Racketeer Influence Corrupt Organization statute to charge them with interfering with the 2020 election is "awful."
"It's a terrible decision. The indictment itself is awful," Dershowitz said during "Eric Bolling The Balance." "It's an act of creativity. It reads to me like an exam answer to a question in law school: How creative can we be?"
Dershowitz said the error Monday afternoon when the Fulton County court clerk released a charging document on the website ahead of the grand jury's vote to indict was a "Freudian leak" in that District Attorney Fani Willis had already made up her mind to charge the former president.
"It was a way of telling [people] that it really doesn't matter whether the grand jury votes or doesn't vote. It's really the prosecutor who indicts," he said.
He said that if a prosecutor asks for an indictment, the grand jury usually acts as a "rubber stamp," but it does not mean that 23 people are convinced a crime occurred.
"It's just the prosecutor's decision," he said.
He said that although the indictment is "outrageous" and should be dismissed, that is not likely to happen.
"The only way justice will be gotten is if some of the defendants — and only some of them — can move to have the trial moved to federal court," he said. "Trump can do that. [Former White House Chief of Staff] Mark Meadows can do that. [Attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani can't do that."
He said that for the case to get moved, the defendants must have been a federal official at the time of the alleged crime and the alleged crime must have been within the scope of their duty and authority.
Dershowitz said it is likely Trump will be convicted in the four criminal cases he is currently facing because of the makeup of the jury pool in the jurisdictions, but he doubts the former president will do any time in jail.
"I think he will get bail pending appeal," he said. "Then the appellate court will reverse the conviction."
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Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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