Despite his liberal leanings and Democratic Party affiliation, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz has consistently defended President Trump throughout the Mueller investigation; now that the full report has been released, he has given the media the grade of “F” for their terribly biased coverage.
Speaking on Fox News this past Sunday, Dershowitz said that the media’s reporting in the wake of the Mueller report has been so biased that CNN will not allow him on the network to give his expert legal analysis.
“CNN, which used to have me on all the time, on Anderson Cooper, on Cuomo, on Lemon, as an analyst, as a centrist analyst, they decided no, no, it is okay to have extreme Trump supporters, because people just use them as a stick figure exhibits,” Dershowitz said on Sunday. “What they didn’t want was a centrist liberal that went against their narrative.”
Later, Dershowitz said he asked Zucker why he had suddenly been blackballed from the network. “I asked [Zucker] how come I am not on anymore, and he said, oh, no, no, no, you will be on, but since the summer I’ve never been on a single time,” Dershowitz said. “I have been on all of the other networks repeatedly. But clearly, they made a decision. They did not want my kind of analysis.”
The veteran Harvard Law School professor said the media earned an “F” grade for their coverage these past two years, which would not be alleviated even if the grade were subject to inflation.
“Even with grade inflation, I just think the media comes off awful, terrible, for the most part,” Dershowitz said. “I think we are seeing an elimination of the distinction between the editorial page and the news pages in some of the leading media in the country, and that’s a shame. Walter Cronkite could not get a job in the media today.”
Worse still, Dershowitz had trouble fathoming the fact that CNN chose Michael Avenatti’s legal opinion over his own throughout the Mueller probe — the same Michael Avenatti who has been hit with a 36-count indictment alleging that he stole millions from his clients and cheated on his taxes.
“They had a choice of a Harvard Law professor for 50 years who has been getting it right, a centrist liberal and who has credibility, or Michael Avenatti,” Dershowitz said. “And they picked Michael Avenatti. He became their go-to guy. Every one of his predictions turned out to be false.”
As to the actual Mueller report, Dershowitz said that the special counsel got the law “completely wrong on obstruction of justice.”
“[I]n my introduction, I show how Mueller got the law completely wrong on obstruction of justice,” Dershowitz said. “And I lay out what the law on obstruction is. And you cannot be charged with obstruction if you’re the president and you simply exercise your constitutional authority to fire Comey or anyone else. I lay that out carefully.”
“And the best precedent for that is George H.W. Bush, who pardoned Casper Weinberger and five other people on the eve of the trial,” Dershowitz continued. “The special prosecutor said he obstructed justice, but he couldn’t be charged with it. And they never mentioned the Bush case in the Mueller report. Mueller was in the Bush administration. Barr was in the Bush administration. And they deliberately omit as the leading precedent, which would preclude a president from being charged with obstruction for simply exercising his constitutional authority.”