Legal Pundits Baffled By Alan Dershowitz’s Claim That Manafort Shouldn’t Be in Jail: Turned Into ‘MAGA Zombie’

By Tamar AuberJun 16th, 2018, 1:09 pm
 

Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz insisted that it was unfair that Paul Manafort was sent to jail on CNN Friday night.

“My own view is it is unfair for Manafort to join thousands of others sitting in jail with the presumption of innocence,” Dershowitz said while battling it out with CNN’s Jeff Toobin. “We don’t know whether he tampered with witnesses… This so undercuts the presumption of innocence when we put people in jail, poor or rich, without a trial, without a hearing.”

Then, on Saturday, Dershowitz repeated his claims this time on Fox & Friends.

“There are thousands of people in jail,” he began, adding that Manafort is joining them “based on an indictment” which he said is not supposed to have a “real impact.”

He added: “We still have a presumption of innocence. Under the law, Manafort is no more guilty of contacting witnesses or attempting to obstruct justice than any of us.”

Then he lamented, “Why does the government get to win without a hearing, without a trial?…There is something very wrong with a system that presumes guilt this way.”

Dershowitz’s comments did not sit well with some legal pundits. In addition to prompting a fierce debate with Toobin on CNN Friday, others weighed in on Twitter in response to his latest head-scratching remarks.

“Dershowitz knows the answer to this question and should stop misleading the public,” former prosecutor and current CNN legal analyst Renato Mariotti tweeted out. “Manafort is in jail because the judge found that he committed a crime while he was out on bond. He is still presumed innocent and will face trial.”

CNN’s Susan Hennessey also questioned if Dershowitz’s concerns were even genuine.

Does Dershowitz “have any prior record of criticizing the bail system or pre-trial detention in other contexts?” she wrote. “It’s entirely possible he has, but if this is the first time he’s speaking out on the issue it would be nearly impossible to credit his concerns as genuinely held.”

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, though, apparently sides with Dershowitz and said on Friday that he does not think Manafort should be in jail either because “You put a guy in jail if he’s trying to kill witnesses, not just talking to witnesses.”

Commentator took to Twitter with confusion over how Dershowitz was apparently unaware of how the U.S. bail system works, accusing him of shilling for Trump.

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com

Filed Under: