The federal charges against former President Donald Trump in connection to classified documents at his Florida home do not constitute a "slam dunk" case or the "kind of case that should be brought against a man who's running against the incumbent president of the United States," Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said on Newsmax on Sunday.
"This will be on television and every American will make their own decision based on the evidence, not through the prism of The New York Times, or CNN, or MSNBC," Dershowitz said on Newsmax's "Sunday Agenda."
Further, much of the case will depend on whether the court will exclude conversations Trump had with his attorneys, which may be covered by lawyer-client privilege, he said.
And when Dershowitz was asked if he thinks the case amounts to political persecution of Trump, he replied that it's "politically motivated."
"I think that Trump fell into the trap that was politically motivated by saying the things he said on tape and by saying the things he said to his lawyers, so there's some fault on both sides," he said.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Records Acts may or may not come into play as part of Trump's defense, said Dershowitz.
"Clearly, it has some application," he said. "It does allow for civil disputes about who owns personal presidential material to be resolved civilly without a criminal trial, but it doesn't expressly apply to classified material which might be in the possession of the president."
Further, materials can be both classified and personal at the same time, said Dershowitz.
"For example, if the president takes notes about something or writes a letter to his wife or colleague about something that's classified, it can be both classified and personal, so the issue should be resolved civilly by a civil court," he said. "A criminal charge should be an absolute last resort, especially when the person against whom it's directed is running for president against the incumbent president of the party of the prosecutor."
The case, he added, "should have been resolved civilly and it would have been resolved civilly if President Trump had given the papers back as his lawyers recommended that he do, so there's fault on all sides."
However, Dershowitz said he does not think a special prosecutor should have been appointed to investigate Trump, but instead to look at the problems caused when former officials take material home.
But to a special prosecutor, "every piece of evidence only focuses on the person who's being targeted by the attorney general who appoints him to especially look into a particular person," he said.
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