By Bryan Richardson. Media: DC Enquirer.
Note: This article may contain commentary reflecting the author’s opinion.
Top lawyer and constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz is “absolutely confident” former President Donald Trump will not be indicted for the mishandling of classified documents, following recent revelations that Joe Biden mishandled similar documents during his time as vice president.
“If you have two people running for president against each other, both of whom have mishandled classified material, the idea of prosecuting the one who is running against the incumbent and not going after the one who is the incumbent wouldn’t pass the neutral principles test.” Dershowitz said on Newsmax’s “The Record with Greta Van Susteren” this Tuesday.
“I think, in the end, even if there was any possibility that Trump could have previously been indicted for the mishandling of classified material at Mar-a-Lago, that has gone out the window completely today,” Dershowitz added. “I think we can be absolutely confident that there will not be a criminal prosecution against Donald Trump for the mishandling of classified material.”
“I think the Mar-a-Lago thing has been essentially, to use a word, been trumped by the disclosures involving Biden,” Dershowitz remarked.
In a Tuesday statement to the Washington Examiner, Dershowitz argued that the circumstances surrounding the recent Biden revelation “cut both ways,” since Biden’s team immediately handed over the classified documents per reports. This was not precisely what occurred in the case of the documents handled by Donald Trump’s team.
“On the one hand, it helps Trump that Biden had classified materials in a private area, and it probably hurts Trump that the Biden people were so cooperative and came forward and revealed it and didn’t wait to be accused,” Dershowitz remarked.
Dershowitz did, however, express skepticism about the timing of the announcement, since these documents have been known about since before the 2022 midterm elections.
“Why has this information been revealed now and not earlier? That should be part of the investigation: whether the disclosure and the timing of the disclosure was in any way designed to achieve a partisan advantage. That’s the question,” Dershowitz told the Washington Examiner.