Alan Dershowitz Claims Cohen Plea ‘Not Lethal.’ Not Even Tucker Carlson’s Buying It.

Alan Dershowitz is claiming that the bombshell admission by Michael Cohen that President Trump directed him to pay hush money to two women in the days leading up to the election is not as “deadly as it is being portrayed.”
Dersh: Days events “not nearly as deadly lethal as some have portrayed it as being.” pic.twitter.com/L7rPsPhzx7
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 22, 2018
Appearing on the friendly confines of Fox News, the legal eagle turned Trump mouthpiece opined that pundits are making too much of the fact that Trump’s longtime trusted lawyer implicated the president in a scheme to evade federal campaign laws.
“It’s certainly not as deadly, lethal,” Dershowitz said.
Host Tucker Carlson looked perplexed by Dershowitz’s assessment of the potential problems posed by Cohen’s sworn claim and the likelihood he will spill more dirt to prosecutors.
“It’s certainly difficult to understand,” Carlson offered, perhaps trying to help millions of Trump supporters feel better about the brutal afternoon that including a jury’s finding ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort guilty on tax evasion and fraud charges.
Dershowitz began the discussion by playing down the significance that prosecutors may name Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Cohen case. Cohen says Trump ordered him to pay hush money to a porn star and a Playboy model to keep them quiet about alleged affairs.
The retired Harvard Law professor opined that it would be “very unfair” if prosecutors do that and pooh-poohed the implications of such a move. Without a hint of irony, Dershowitz noted that the same step was taken against Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace to avoid being impeached.
Some political analysts believe such a decision by prosecutors could lead to Congress starting impeachment proceedings against Trump, especially if Democrats retake Congress in the midterm elections.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 4
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Hillel CEO says he shares ‘concerns’ over campus deportations, calls for due process
-
Fast Forward Jewish Princeton student accused of assault at protest last year is found not guilty
-
News ‘Qatargate’ and the web of huge scandals rocking Israel, explained
-
News Who would protect New York Jews better? Cuomo and Lander trade attacks on the campaign trail
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.