Government

Jeffrey Toobin Tells Alan Dershowitz, 'This Is Not Who You Used To Be,' On Live Television

It's like a sad, failed lawyer intervention

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Alan Dershowitz (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu)

Alan Dershowitz was on CNN this morning, doing his thing, agreeing with Donald Trump that special counsel Robert Mueller should never have been hired.

Jeffrey Toobin, a former student of Alan Dershowitz, was on to argue the other side, and it got sad really quickly. After Dershowitz decided that “collusion is not a crime,” and “obstruction might not be a crime,” Toobin responded that there were such conflicts of interest that required a special counsel.

Then, Toobin said: “Alan, I don’t know what is going on with you.”

Dershowitz continued his attacks on the special counsel and the “criminalization” of political differences. In fairness to his position, Dershowitz said that Trump shouldn’t “fire” Mueller. Even though he thinks Mueller shouldn’t have been hired, Dershowitz agreed that firing him would be the wrong move and would trigger a constitutional crisis.

Still, Toobin was incredulous that Dershowitz believed that a special counsel was not required in this case. Taking Dershowitz’s arguments to their logical conclusion, Toobin said that Dershowitz was basically against any special counsel ever. Dershowitz agreed.

And then Toobin said what I think nearly everybody who has worked with or learned from Alan Dershowitz has been thinking these past few months:

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“How has this come about that in every situation over the past year you have been carrying water for Donald Trump?” Toobin said. “This is not who you used to be. And you are doing this over and over again in situations that are just obviously ripe with conflict of interest. And it’s just, like, what’s happened with you?”

Dershowitz, voice raising, accused Toobin of “liberal bias” and claimed his positions were entirely consistent. Toobin tried to explain that Trump had unique conflicts that made Dershowitz’s analogies to the Clinton years facile. Anderson Cooper looked on like a med student dropped into the middle of motion practice, following along but not really.

Cooper eventually declared that the segment was like “getting a Harvard Law School education without paying the Harvard tuition.” It was not. It was more like… talking with your boy who just got out of lock-up and has some new theories about how the Illuminati are controlling you through your ear buds.

Dershowitz declared that Toobin would still get an “A+” in his class.

You can watch the full segment here.

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Jeffrey Toobin has done all he can. Larry Tribe, I nominate you to speak next at the Dershowitz intervention.

Jeffrey Toobin Accuses Alan Dershowitz of ‘Carrying Water’ For Trump in Tense CNN Battle: ‘This is Not Who You Used to Be’ [Mediate]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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