Alan Dershowitz: ‘Obama Was Not Motivated By What Was Good For America’

Alan Dershowitz in 2012. Image by Getty

By Ari Feldman December 6, 2017

Alan Dershowitz criticized the Mueller investigation and argued that there’s no way Donald Trump could have obstructed justice in a recent interview with Slate.

Dershowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor and a prominent conservative sparring partner on cable news, argued that because Trump is the president, he can fire whoever he wants.

Though Dershowitz said that Trump’s behavior in firing FBI director James Comey could make him worthy of impeachment, he said it was not illegal.

Dershowitz also compared former Trump adviser Mike Flynn’s lie to the FBI to Obama’s instruction for the U.S. to abstain on a UN resolution instead of veto it, saying both actions were political ploys. Flynn recently pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI as part of the ongoing Mueller investigation.

“What if I can prove to you, and I think I can, that President Obama was not motivated by what was good for America or what was good for world peace?” Dershowitz said. “He was motivated by anger, frustration, and pique at Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Dershowitz also criticized the Mueller investigation, saying it should have been an independent investigation, similar to the 9/11 commission.

“My opposition is institutional, not personal,” he said.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

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