Epstein Estate Documents - Batch 7 / TEXT / 002 from House

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033268
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https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9bq6uj0p ... tracking=1

From: Larry Visoski
Sent: 1/9/2018 1:04:53 AM
To: Je vacation [[email protected]]
Subject: Friday POTUS
Jeffrey
Boston / Bedford are not gateway airports to PBI.
Only airports that are gateway into Palm Beach are:
White Plains
Teterboro
Orlando
Dulles
Orlando
Fortlauderdale
Most operators are using Boca for arrivals when Trump is in town. Parking reservation at Boca are required
since the ramp fill up. Other options is Fort Lauderdale when Boca is full.
POTUS arrival — Friday, January 12th, time TBD (likely PM)
POTUS departure — Monday, January 15th, time TBD (likely PM)
Should I request parking at Boca?
Thx
Larry
Sent from my iPhone
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033268

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033269
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From: Richard Kahn_______________________________
Sent: 1/17/2018 7:08:41 PM
To: Jeffrey Epstein [[email protected]]
Subject: Porn star: Trump said I reminded him of lyanka after sex New York Post
Importance: High
https://nypost.com/2018/01/17/porn-star ... interview/
Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033269

Porn star: During our affair, Trump said I reminded him of Ivanka
by Oli Coleman and Ruth Brown
New York Post
Published Jan. 17, 2018
Updated Jan. 17, 2018, 9:21 p.m. ET
https://nypost.com/2018/01/17/porn-star ... interview/

[x]
Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels. Composite; Getty Images

Porn star Stormy Daniels admitted in a magazine interview that she had sex with Donald Trump right after his wife, Melania, gave birth in 2006 — although she said he didn’t give the kind of XXX-rated performance she’s used to, according to a report Wednesday.

“[The sex] was textbook generic,” Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — told In Touch Weekly in 2011. “[It] was nothing crazy. It was one position. What you would expect someone his age to do.’’

The magazine didn’t publish the interview at the time — after Trump’s team threatened legal action, a source told The Post. But it surfaced Wednesday ahead of the magazine’s upcoming Jan. 29 edition.

The report comes a week after The Wall Street Journal said Daniels was paid $130,000 in hush money in October 2016, just weeks before the presidential election, to keep quiet about the tryst. Both she and Trump quickly denied the Journal’s story, including that they had an affair.

But the buxom blonde had already spilled the dirty details years ago, according to In Touch, which said it confirmed her account at the time with her friends and had her sit for a polygraph test, which it says she passed.

She and the then-60-year-old real-estate mogul met a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in July 2006 — after Trump had married Melania and when their son, Barron, was 3 months old, she told the mag. A photo on her Myspace page at the time showed them together at the event grinning, Trump in a yellow polo shirt and Daniels in a skimpy tank top.

She says she agreed to go back to his hotel room, where she found him wearing pajama pants — and she proceeded to tease him about his hair while he evaded her questions about Melania. “He goes, ‘Oh, don’t worry about her,’ ” she told the mag.

Eventually, Trump made his move, she said.

“He was sitting on the bed, and he was like, ‘Come here.’ And I was like, ‘Ugh, here we go,’ and we started kissing,” she said.

“I actually don’t even remember why I did it, but I do remember while we were having sex, I was like, ‘Please don’t try to pay me.’ And then I remember thinking, ‘But I bet if he did, it would be a lot,’’ she told the mag, adding that the sex was unprotected. Afterward, he asked her to sign a copy of her latest porno comedy, “3 Wishes,” Daniels said.

Trump then became “smitten” and started calling her every 10 days, promising to get her on “The Apprentice” and referring to her as “honeybunch,” she said.

She also recalls Trump comparing her to his daughter. “He told me once that I was someone to be reckoned with, beautiful and smart just like his daughter,’’ Daniels said, presumably referring to Ivanka, since Tiffany was only about 13 in 2006.

Despite Trump’s unremarkable performance between the sheets, the two continued to meet up, including in his office at Trump Tower, his vodka release party in Hollywood in 2007 and then at the Miss USA pageant later that year, Daniels said, according to the magazine.

[x]
Stormy Daniels at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in 2006. Getty Images

“Whether you’re a fan of his or not, which I never really was, you gotta admit he’s pretty fascinating,” she said of their ongoing relationship. “We had really good banter.”

In July 2007, Trump invited her to his suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he admitted he couldn’t get her on his TV reality show.

“He just kept brushing my hair off my shoulder and kissing my neck. And he was like, ‘So, can you stay?’ and I was like, ‘No, I gotta go.’ I left, and he kept calling me less and less over the coming months,” she told In Touch, adding that he finally stopped phoning her in 2010.

The story about Trump and Daniels’ sex romp first appeared in media circles in 2006, shortly after the golf-course encounter, according to a longtime media-industry insider.

“Everybody knew about it,” the insider said.

In Touch’s publisher refused to explicitly explain why the gossip mag spiked its Stormy scoop in 2011 — and never revived it in the intervening years — saying only that Trump is a more relevant figure today.

“When The Wall Street Journal published its account of Stormy Daniels receiving a payoff from Donald Trump for her silence, In Touch reporters who worked on the story originally brought In Touch’s 2011 interview with Stormy Daniels to our attention, including the transcript, polygraph tests and other documentation,” Bauer Media publicist Kelsi Ignomirello said in a statement. “Donald Trump is clearly a more relevant public figure now than he was in 2011.”

But a source says the publisher held the interview after Trump’s team threatened legal action. Bauer declined to comment on that claim. The source added that Daniels was offered only a few thousand dollars for the interview because interest in Trump was ebbing at the time.

Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Daniels reportedly began shopping her story around again to numerous other outlets, including Slate, “Good Morning America,” the Daily Beast and Fox News — as well as to Trump himself.

[x]
Getty Images

“Daniels said she was talking to me and sharing these details because Trump was stalling on finalizing the confidentiality agreement and paying her,” Slate editor in chief Jacob Weisberg wrote Monday. “Given her experience with Trump, she suspected he would stall her until after the election and then refuse to sign or pay up.”

She also sent Weisberg photos of an unsigned addendum from the proposed settlement agreeing that the parties would be referred to by pseudonyms in the final document — she would be “Peggy Peterson.”

Weisberg says his discussions hit a wall because he wouldn’t pay Daniels for her story.

Her comments were on the record and he corroborated them with three friends, he says — but she stopped talking to him about a week before the election and a friend of hers said she’d “taken the money from Trump after all,” so Weisberg assumed Daniels would just “disavow” the story if Slate did run it.

The Daily Beast, too, says it confirmed the story with three people — including another porn star, Alana Evans, who was Daniels’ neighbor and friend at the time.

Evans says the duo phoned her the night of the golf tournament and Trump tried to talk her into joining them — an offer she declined.

Later, Daniels claimed the future president had chased her “around his hotel room in his tighty-whities,” Evans told the Daily Beast.

They’re not the only porn stars linked to Trump — Jessica Drake claimed in October 2016 that Trump offered her $10,000 for sex at the same golf tournament where he hooked up with Daniels. And Playboy model Karen McDougal allegedly sold a story about having an affair with Trump to the National Enquirer’s parent company, which never ran it.

Trump has denied all of the allegations.

In Touch plans to run the full 5,500-word transcript of Daniels’ interview later this week, a source told the Daily Beast on Wednesday, promising details of “pillow talk” and “what he’s like down there.”

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033270
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From: Paul Barrett
Sent: 1/25/2018 7:43:30 PM
To: jeffrey E. [[email protected]]
Subject: EUR
Attachments: image001.jpg
Importance: High
Any thoughts on the EUR up here? I just bought some 3 month puts as I think Trump will push the strong USD policy
tomorrow.
Paul Barrett
Alpha Group Capital LLC
142 W 57th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10019
ALPHA GROUP
CAPITAL
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033270

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033271
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From: Richard Kahn
Sent: 1/30/2018 2:30:10 AM
To: Jeffrey Epstein [[email protected]]
Subject: Dershowitz: There's No Obstruction, President 'Has Constitutional Authority to Do What Trump Is Alleged to Have
Done'
Importance: High
https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w- ... ident-has-
constitutional -authority-do
Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexingt
on Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033271

Dershowitz: There's No Obstruction, President 'Has Constitutional Authority to Do What Trump Is Alleged to Have Done'
by Michael W. Chapman By Michael W. Chapman
January 29, 2018 | 4:51 PM EST
https://web.archive.org/web/20180129235 ... thority-do

Commenting on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, famed attorney and constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz said "collusion is not a crime" and that Mueller is now "trying to create crimes out of the way the president allegedly defended himself against the charges of collusion."

But there is no evidence of "obstruction," said Dershowitz, who added that a U.S. president has the "constitutional authority to do what President Trump is alleged to have done."

"[T]here’s no credible case because under the Constitution a president cannot be charged for merely exercising his constitutional authority under Article 2," said Dershowitz, the emeritus Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard University and the author of 33 books.

Alan Dershowitz is a liberal Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. Over the years, as a defense attorney, Dershowitz has represented clients such as Claus von Bulow, Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson and Jeffrey Epstein.

During the Jan. 27 edition of Fox & Friends Weekend, Dershowitz was asked, “Is there an obstruction case being built against this president and, if so, is it a credible one?”

"I think the answer is yes and no," said Dershowitz. "I think that the special counsel is trying to build an obstruction case. That’s why he’s interviewing people who are witnesses to the alleged obstruction. But there’s no credible case because under the Constitution a president cannot be charged for merely exercising his constitutional authority under Article 2."

“What Senator [Richard] Blumenthal (D-Conn.) referred to were cases where a president destroys evidence," said Dershowitz. "There’s no evidence of that. That’s what President Nixon did. Nixon was charged with obstruction of justice for ordering his underlings to lie to the FBI, paying hush money, and destroying evidence. President Clinton was charged with obstruction for lying to the grand jury and at a deposition."

Dershowitz continued, "But if the president simply exercises his constitutional authority, namely firing an underling, which he’s entitled to do; telling the FBI not to investigate a particular person, which he’s entitled to do; pardoning people, which he hasn’t done yet; thinking about whether he should fire the special counsel – that’s not obstruction of justice under the Constitution."

Fox & Friends then asked, "Wasn’t this supposed to be about collusion?"

Dershowitz said, “It is supposed to be about collusion but they soon discovered that collusion is not a crime. So now they’re trying to create crimes out of the way the president allegedly defended himself against the charges of collusion. It’s a typical prosecutorial tactic. You can’t get him for the substantive crime so you get him for the alleged coverup or obstruction."

"That’s why Martha Stewart went to jail," he said. "But Martha Stewart wasn’t the president of the United States. The president of the United States has constitutional authority to do what President Trump is accused or alleged to have done."

"It would create a constitutional crisis and a separation of powers issue if a president were ever charged with merely exercising his constitutional authority because the prosecutor didn’t approve of his motive," said Dershowitz. "Everybody has mixed motives and to start creating thought crimes out of a president’s motives would create a serious constitutional conflict.”

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033272
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From: Larry Visoski
Sent: 1/30/2018 4:57:53 PM
To: Je vacation [[email protected]]
Subject: POTUS
Jeffrey
Trump is due to arrive PBI Friday 6pm and depart Sunday 8:30pm
Times may change, I'll keep you posted.
Teterboro is an arrival gateway to PBI when TFR is in effect, NO airMarshal is needed, just 24hour
advance Passenger list and Prescreening at departure airport.
Thx
Larry
Sent from my iPhone
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033272

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033273
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https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9bq6uj0p ... tracking=1

From: Richard Kahn
Sent: 2/16/2018 12:56:55 PM
To: Jeffrey Epstein [[email protected]]
Subject: Bombshell report emerges of alleged Trump affair with Playboy model I New York Post
Importance: High
https ://nypost. com/2018/02/16/ronan-farrow-details-alleged-trump-affair-with-playboy-model-in-new-yorker-
piece/
Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033273

Bombshell report emerges of alleged Trump affair with Playboy model
by Yaron Steinbuch
New York Post
February 16, 2018 | 6:40am | Updated
https://web.archive.org/web/20180216134 ... ker-piece/

Donald Trump had an affair with former Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal — whom he met at a party for “The Apprentice” in 2006 while married to his wife Melania, according to an explosive report on Friday that details the great lengths the future president took to conceal his alleged indiscretions from the press.

McDougal wrote in an eight-page, handwritten note her friend, John Crawford, shared with The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow that Trump “immediately took a liking to me, kept talking to me – telling me how beautiful I was etc.

“It was so obvious that a Playmate Promotions exec said, ‘Wow, he was all over you – I think you could be his next wife,’” according to the piece, entitled “Donald Trump, a Playboy Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity.”

She said she was initially wowed by Trump.

“I was so nervous! I was into his intelligence + charm. Such a polite man,” she wrote. “We talked for a couple hours – then, it was “ON”! We got naked + had sex.”

But McDougal added that she stunned that Trump offered her money as she was getting dressed after their romp.

“I looked at him (+ felt sad) + said, ‘No thanks – I’m not ‘that girl.’ I slept w/you because I like you – NOT for money’ – He told me ‘you are special,’” she wrote, according to Farrow’s account.

McDougal wrote that after their first tryst she “went to see him every time he was in LA (which was a lot).”

Trump eventually introduced her to members of his family and took her to his private homes, including at Trump Tower, where he pointed out Melania’s separate bedroom, McDougal claimed.

He “said she liked her space,” McDougal said, “to read or be alone.”

During a 2007 party for Trump Vodka in Los Angeles, she said she was sat at a table with The Donald, Donald Trump Jr., his pregnant wife Vanessa and Kim Kardashian.

And at an “Apprentice” bash at the Playboy Mansion, McDougal said Trump told her he had asked his son Eric “who he thought was the most beautiful girl here + Eric pointed me. Mr. T said ‘He has great taste’ + we laughed!”

McDougal ended their nine-month affair in April 2007, according to the article.

The White House said in a statement that Trump denies having had an affair with McDougal.

“This is an old story that is just more fake news. The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal,” a spokesman told The New Yorker.

The story comes as porn star Stormy Daniels is planning a tell-all about her own tryst with Trump.

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033274
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From: [email protected]
To: [email protected];
Subject: Alert - trump im palm
Sent: 2/16/2018 2:19:27 PM


February 16, 2018 9:00 AM : trump im palm

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033275
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From: Richard Kahn
Sent: 2/27/2018 6:50:45 PM
To: jeffrey E. [[email protected]]
Importance: High
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/27/trump-taps-texan-brad-parscale-his-2020-re-election-campaign-
manager/
Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033275

Trump taps Texan Brad Parscale as his 2020 re-election campaign manager. A pioneer in the San Antonio tech scene who worked with Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 will run the president's full campaign in 2020, according to multiple reports.
by Matthew Watkins
texastribune.org
Feb. 27, 2018 1 hour ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20180227175 ... n-manager/

[x]
Brad Parscale, Digital Director at Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. Brad Parscale Facebook Page

President Donald Trump has picked a San Antonio-based digital guru to run his 2020 re-election campaign.

Brad Parscale, whose San Antonio web design firm played a leading role in Trump's digital efforts in the 2016 race, will be campaign manager for 2020. Parscale worked for Trump long before Trump became a political candidate, and Parscale's firm was paid millions of dollars during the 2016 campaign.

“Brad was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run," said Trump's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, in a press release. "His leadership and expertise will be help build a best-in-class campaign.”

The decision, first reported by The Drudge Report and later confirmed in a press release, comes nearly 1,000 days before the 2020 election, and Trump changed campaign managers multiple times during the 2016 race. But early on, it places a Texan in one of the most prominent positions of the 2020 cycle.

The Trump campaign also said it plans to be engaged in the 2018 elections, "providing candidates with general support, endorsements, and rallying the support of the political grassroots by engaging Trump supporters in districts and states."

Parscale did not respond to a phone message and an e-mail seeking comment.

Parscale is a Kansas native who graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio in 1999. He began working for Trump in 2011, starting with some contracts in real estate. He created Trump's exploratory website, and worked to hire contractors, buy advertising and manage small-dollar fundraising efforts.

In a press release, the president's son Eric Trump said Parscale "has our family's complete trust."

Parscale has also been a big player in the San Antonio tech scene, though his efforts supporting Trump turned off some in that community. He was involved in the effort to bring the ride-sharing service Uber back to that city after a tussle over local regulations. The radio station WOAI called him the "public face of the city's breathtaking Tech Evolution of 2015" when it named him San Antonian of the year.

After the election, Parscale remained in the president’s orbit. A Trump-supporting super PAC paid him more than $130,000 in 2017, according to the Federal Elections Commission. That work was for digital design, fundraising and consulting, according to the report.

The finance reports also indicate that Parscale may have relocated outside of Texas. The super PAC’s expenditures are directed to the firm Parscale Strategies, which lists an address in Pompano Beach, Florida, less than an hour drive from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Disclosure: Uber has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033276
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From: Richard Kahn
Sent: 3/14/2018 4:59:21 PM
To: jeffrey E. [[email protected]]
Subject: Trump plans to name Larry Kudlow his top economic advisor, replacing Gary Cohn
Importance: High
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/14/trump-t ... ement.html
Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033276

Larry Kudlow to replace Gary Cohn as Trump's top economic advisor
by Eamon Javers | Jacob Pramuk
cnbc.com
Published 12:46 PM ET Wed, 14 March 2018 Updated 5:16 PM ET Wed, 14 March 2018
https://web.archive.org/web/20180321204 ... ement.html

• Larry Kudlow will take the job of top economic advisor to President Donald Trump.
• He would replace Gary Cohn as National Economic Council director.
• Kudlow is a free trade advocate who may disagree with some of Trump's protectionist views.

Larry Kudlow will take the job of top economic advisor to President Donald Trump, replacing Gary Cohn.

On Wednesday, Kudlow and the White House confirmed the economist and senior CNBC contributor accepted the post of National Economic Council director. The president offered Kudlow the job on Tuesday night after other conversations between the pair on Sunday and Monday.

"I've known him and interviewed him for over 20 years. I'm very comfortable with him and I can't wait to start," Kudlow told CNBC.

In a statement, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration "will work to have an orderly transition and keep everyone posted on the timing of him officially assuming the role."

Kudlow, 70, is set to replace Gary Cohn, who resigned last week after losing his fight against tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Kudlow advocates for free trade and generally opposes tariffs. Kudlow said he has been in near constant contact with Cohn in recent weeks.

When Cohn left, Kudlow expressed his disappointment with the move and Trump's tariff actions. However, he has appeared to warm to at least some targeted trade actions.

On Tuesday, the president said he would welcome disagreement from Kudlow if he chose him for the post.

"We don't agree on everything, but in this case I think that's good," Trump said. "I want to have different opinions. We agree on most. He now has come around to believing in tariffs as a negotiating point."

Kudlow told CNBC he got a call from Trump on Tuesday night as he got into an Uber after dinner. He had a conversation with the president in the car, and the driver "had never seen anything like this," Kudlow said.

By bringing in Kudlow, Trump adds an advisor who supports his push for lower taxes, fewer regulations and a so-called merit-based immigration system. But he may find an occasional critic of his trade policies.

The National Economic Council director advises the president on economic issues and works to implement policy goals. Cohn helped to shepherd the Republican tax overhaul, Trump's signature achievement in office so far, through its passage in December. Kudlow also supported the tax bill, and told CNBC "there may be more action on that front."

Trump won the presidency partly on his promises to shred or renegotiate U.S. trade deals and crack down on trade practices he deems unfair. He argued that the North American Free Trade Agreement, in particular, sapped manufacturing jobs from the United States.

On Wednesday, Kudlow told The Associated Press he opposed Trump's tariffs but is "in accord with his policies."

Kudlow was a budget aide during the Reagan administration. He was chief economist at Bear Stearns from 1987 to 1994. He informally advised Trump on taxes and other economic issues during his 2016 run for president.

Talking to CNBC on Wednesday, he highlighted his "strong relationships" with lawmakers in Congress. Kudlow said House Speaker Paul Ryan called him in recent days and "is very, very enthusiastic" about him taking the job.

He added he is "looking forward to working with" Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and noted that trade advisor Peter Navarro was a regular guest on the CNBC show "The Kudlow Report." Navarro, who has pushed for aggressive actions to counter China's trade practices, sparred with Cohn over tariffs.

Kudlow said his job will be "not to rehash things but to execute" policy.

"I'm looking forward to serving the president," he said. "The way I was brought up in the Reagan years, you talk it out and you argue it out, but once the president has made a decision, that's it. My job is to execute. You don't go through these endless bureaucratic things and delays. The National Economic Council is in some ways an information broker and I look forward to that role."

[admin]

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033277
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From: Richard Kahn
Sent: 3/30/2018 5:50:50 PM
To: Jeffrey Epstein [[email protected]]
Subject: Dershowitz On Special Counsel: The Investigation Should End « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
Importance: High
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/03/29/ders ... iet-union/
Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 033277

Dershowitz On Special Counsel: The Investigation Should End. "That's What They Did In The Soviet Union, 'Show Me The Man, And I'll Find You The Crime'"
By Jack Fink | Geoff Petrulis
CBS 11
March 29, 2018 at 10:38 am
https://web.archive.org/web/20180330210 ... iet-union/

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Civil Liberties attorney Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that he is fearful of the criminalization of political differences in today’s discourse and that he doesn’t think special counsels are the right way to approach criminal justice.

Dershowitz spoke to CBS 11 political reporter Jack Fink about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to affect the outcome of the 2016 election.

“I think the investigation should end and I think the Congress should appoint a special non-partisan commission,” said Dershowitz. He said he thinks a Congressional committee would be too partisan.

“That’s the way it’s done in other western democracies,” he continued. “They don’t appoint a special counsel and tell them to ‘Get that guy…’ that’s what they did in the Soviet Union. Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the KGB said to Stalin, ‘Show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime!'” That’s what special counsel does.”

Dershowitz was quick to point out that he was not making a direct correlation between the United States and the former Soviet Union. “I’m not comparing obviously the Soviet Union and the United States. We have structural protections in our Bill Of Rights but it’s going down the wrong direction.”

“The issue of criminalization [of political differences] has not been subject to rational discourse,” said Dershowitz. “Democrats hate when they politicize and criminalize political differences against Democrats… when they did it with Bill Clinton. Republicans hate when they do it against their people… President Trump. But each one supports it when they’re against their enemies and partisanship prevails over principle. It’s very hard to have a reasonable discussion.”

Dershowitz said that citizens should fear the direction of this investigation for their own sake. He warned that today criminalization of political differences appears – now – to only affect presidents and political leaders. “Tomorrow it can affect you and me. If you give the prosecutor the ability to stretch the criminal law to fit a target, it’s very dangerous.”

Dershowitz said that special counsels are not the right way to approach criminal justice. “When you appoint a special counsel you give them targets and you say, ‘You better get that guy or the people around him…and we’re going to give you tens of millions of dollars. And if you come up empty handed you’re a failure.'”

Dershowitz said that if an ordinary prosecutor goes months without finding a crime then “that’s great, no… there have been no crimes committed.” He says not so with a special counsel. “Special Counsel always has the goal of ‘getting the people.’ They’re going to find crimes, or they’re going to manufacture crimes or they’re going to stretch the criminal law to fit the ‘crimes’ because they’re not going to come away empty handed.”

Dershowitz was asked what he thinks should happen now. Should Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein curtail the investigation? “I think Rod Rosenstein needs to say to the special counsel, ‘Do not investigate the private finances of the president before he became president; do not investigate his relatives; do not investigate his sex life.’ Don’t do – to President Trump – what Ken Starr did to President Clinton,” said Dershowitz . “It started with Whitewater and ended up with a blue dress. That’s not the appropriate way a special counsel should operate.”

Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States.

Dershowitz had some strong words for Rosenstein. “I think Rod Rosenstein is concerned more about his reputation than anything else. I don’t understand why he’s not recused,” said Dershowitz. “He is the key witness in the firing of Comey.”

Dershowitz said if he were President Trump’s lawyer, Rosenstein would be the first witness he would call asking him, “Rod Rosenstein, you wrote the memo… you justified the firing… explain how you justified the firing. Did the President tell you to do it? Did you tell the President to do the firing?”

Dershowitz said the American public is quickly losing faith in the justice system and he called that a terrible, terrible tragedy. “We need neutral objective people administering justice. You can’t have an FBI agent like Strzok who is writing messages saying ‘oh we have to stop Trump from becoming President.'”

Dershowitz was referring to text messages between FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, a senior FBI lawyer who was also working on the Mueller team.

During the campaign, Strzok led the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while Clinton was Secretary of State. The texts sent between Page and Strzok were dated between August 2015 and December 2016, the duration of the campaign. They raise concerns about Strzok’s impartiality and were likely to prompt more questions about the investigation into Clinton’s server.

Strzok was dismissed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team in August, 2017.

“The American public insists that justice not only be fair, but be seen to be fair – appear to be fair. You need the appearance and the reality of justice. We’re not having that today,” said Dershowitz.

Dershowitz said he thought Trump should not have fired former FBI Director James Comey in the way that he did. “Look, Comey should have been fired. I think Clinton would have fired him had she been elected,” said Dershowitz. “[Comey] did a terrible, terrible thing during the election and he may have influenced the election. That’s not the job of the FBI. He should have been fired but I think it was a mistake for the President to fire him in the manner that he did,” he continued. “I don’t think it was illegal – I think it was a constitutionally authorized act – but I think we wouldn’t have a special counsel today if not for that firing.”

Dershowitz said he sees absolutely no evidence that there was either collusion between Trump and the Russian government and/or obstruction of justice. “I would think by this time there would be some public disclosure of any such charges,” said Dershowitz.

“Collusion – if it happened, and there’s no evidence that it happened – would be a sin, it would not be a crime,” said Dershowitz. “It is not a crime to collude about an election unless there are payments made, or violations of the federal law involving gifts to campaigns from foreign governments. But collusion itself is not a crime.”

“I think that the president cannot be charged with obstruction of justice for exercising his constitutional authority. He has the authority to fire anybody in the executive branch – the Supreme Court has said that.”

Regarding a possible impeachment, Dershowitz said “no one knows” whether or not there has to be a crime committed by the President – while he is in office – for him to be impeached.

“I believe the Constitution says what it means. The Constitution says in order to be impeached, the President must have committed bribery, treason or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” said Dershowitz. “I take that seriously. And I don’t think a President can be impeached for doing something that isn’t criminal.” He said he did not think President Bill Clinton should have been impeached either.

Dershowitz said he believes that no party should take up impeachment unless they are sure they can remove the President.

“You don’t go after the President unless he’s committed an act which would warrant removal. And for that to happen, [there] would have to be wide bipartisan support,” said Dershowitz. “There is no bipartisan support for impeachment of this president today.”

Dershowitz said he has taken a lot of heat from friends because some of his positions appear to “help” President Trump. “I didn’t vote for President Trump, I voted for Hillary Clinton. But I’m going to be honest about the law, whoever is the President.”

Dershowitz was in town to speak before the Institute of Policy Innovation’s Hatton W. Sumners Distinguished Lecture Series Wednesday. The Institute of Policy Innovation is a free-market think tank based in Irving.