The Dershowitz Dilemma

Alan Dershowitz's stock as a talking head has been tanking over thed past several years. Its downturn really started when he publishsd a book against impeaching Trump in 2018, at which time he complained

“But that is not good enough for some of my old friends on Martha’s Vineyard,” he wrote. “For them, it is enough that what I have said about the Constitution might help Trump. So they are shunning me and trying to ban me from their social life on Martha’s Vineyard.”

This fairly unremarkable claim ended up spurring a remarkable four New York Times articles with contributions from eight reporters[.]

In the wake of Jeffrey Epstein's 2020 jailhouse death, the run on Dershowitz stock intensified. Via Page Six,

Dershowitz — who in the past has been regarded as a close associate of Epstein — has distanced himself from the convicted sex offender.

“I haven’t seen him in years,” he told us. “We never had a friendship. I have no personal feelings. He was a client and someone who I had academic contact with. We didn’t have a personal relationship.”

But this isn't what he told Vanity Fair. In 2003, before Epstein's 2008 first case, Dershowitz told Vanity Fair:

In the Vanity Fair piece, Dershowitz told the magazine, "I'm on my 20th book. . . The only person outside of my immediate family that I send drafts to is Jeffrey."

Contoversies over how involved Dershowitz was in Epstein's sex trafficking have persisted since the 2014-5 lawsuits by Epstein victims. According to Wikipedia,

In a December 30, 2014 Florida court filing, Virginia Giuffre alleged she was sexually trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, who lent her to people for sex, including Dershowitz and Prince Andrew.

. . . Giuffre filed a defamation lawsuit against Dershowitz, in April 2019, alleging he made "false and malicious defamatory statements" against her, such as accusing her of perjury. The lawsuit sought punitive damages and included the previous claims that Giuffre was sex trafficked to Dershowitz by Epstein. Dershowitz stated that he would "prove without any doubt that she is lying about me. She is going to end up in prison." In June 2019, he filed a motion to dismiss Giuffre's suit (which was later denied) and a motion to disqualify David Boies' firm from representing her (which was later approved). Dershowitz accused Boies of pressuring Giuffre to provide false testimony, in response to which Boies sued Dershowitz in November 2019 for defamation. Giuffre repeated her allegations on camera as part of the May 2020 Netflix series Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, by stating that Epstein had trafficked her to Dershowitz for sex at least six times. Dershowitz responded by saying he planned to sue Netflix and repeated his denial of Giuffre's account; he also accused Giuffre of selling false allegations to news outlets. As of November 2020, no such lawsuit has been filed.

Dershowitz's appearances as a media talking head, especially on CNN, have greatly diminished since both the Trump and Epstein controversies. Apparedntly unable to stay out of the public eye, he now has his own YouTube channel, The Dershow, which maybe gives an insight into his character, but which I haven't found engaging. We can say with some assurance, though, that he's at least partly yet another victim of Epstein's downfall. Whether he was ever much of anything beyond a smart lawyer who excelled at self-promotion is an open question, but as he ages, he's slowly trailing into obscurity.

If you lie down with dogs, you're going to get fleas.