{"id":132383,"date":"2025-09-02T11:25:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/02\/dershowitz-learns-that-being-wrong-on-television-isnt-the-same-as-being-defamed\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T11:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:25:49","slug":"dershowitz-learns-that-being-wrong-on-television-isnt-the-same-as-being-defamed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/02\/dershowitz-learns-that-being-wrong-on-television-isnt-the-same-as-being-defamed\/","title":{"rendered":"Dershowitz Learns That Being Wrong On Television Isn\u2019t The Same As Being Defamed"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"410\" width=\"620\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/12\/alan-dershowitz-620x410.jpg?resize=620%2C410&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: alan-dershowitz.jpg\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As last week careened into Labor Day weekend, Alan Dershowitz received some bad news from the Eleventh Circuit, who affirmed the lower court\u2019s ruling and kicked Dershowitz\u2019s defamation claim against CNN to the curb. This is the saddest Dershowiz has been since the Martha\u2019s Vineyard pierogi stand <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/07\/alan-dershowitz-suing-pierogi-stand-for-aggravated-no-one-likes-me-on-marthas-vineyard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">refused to sell him a potato dumpling<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Did you know, that since <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/08\/getting-to-the-delicious-center-of-alan-dershowitz-and-pierogigate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PierogiGate<\/a>, Martha\u2019s Vineyard turned out to <a href=\"https:\/\/vineyardgazette.com\/news\/2025\/08\/06\/after-dershowitz-dustup-islanders-line-pierogis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wait in line for pierogies to support Dershowitz\u2019s vendor nemesis?<\/a> USA! USA!<\/p>\n<p>Back to the topic at hand. Dershowitz had sued CNN in the wake of his role advocating for Donald Trump\u2019s right to threaten cutting off President Zelenskyy if the Ukrainian leader didn\u2019t scratch Trump\u2019s increasingly bloated back in building a corruption case against Joe Biden over Hunter Biden\u2019s job or something something. The conspiracy theory was always stupid and the geopolitical risk in withholding Ukrainian aid was always very real \u2014 tragically proven right soon after \u2014 that Congress impeached Trump for trying to use U.S. foreign policy to fuel his fundraising. Trump survived the trial, mostly because Democrats did not have 67 seats in the chamber, but Dershowitz helped too. <\/p>\n<p>In the course of his effort to get Trump off the hook, Dershowitz made the claim that presidents can engage in foreign policy quid pro quo, even if the president is negotiating for his personal \u2014 and not the country\u2019s \u2014 gain, so long as the president sees his personal fortunes as key to the national interest. Would that extend to an excuse as flimsy and self-serving as reelection? Dershowitz said\u2026 quite possibly!<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>[A] complex middle case is: I want to be elected. I think I am a great President. I think I am the greatest President there ever was, and if I am not elected, the national interest will suffer greatly. That cannot be [an impeachable offense].<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If the president does it, it isn\u2019t illegal as the saying goes. <\/p>\n<p>The mainstream media jumped on Dershowitz indulging in the insane theory that the law contemplates presidents engaging in foreign policy for personal gain. Little did they know at the time that we would soon have the <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2024\/07\/scotus-greenlights-seal-team-6-solution\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Supreme Court endorsing presidents deploying SEAL Team 6 to murder political opponents<\/a> based on a president\u2019s subjective faith in their own election. Everyone dragged Dershowitz for his suggestion that presidents can have a little corruption as a treat. <\/p>\n<p>But Dershowitz complained that this straightforward interpretation of his fairly explicit remarks was incorrect. For their part, CNN brought Dershowitz on to explain. So he sued CNN for $300 million. The Eleventh Circuit responded with \u201cLOL, no.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/09\/Dersh-Appeal.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dersh Appeal<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/09\/Dersh-Appeal.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-e1ad7dc9-4740-4f75-9e05-714c2a508dbb\" download rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/09\/dershowitz-learns-that-being-wrong-on-television-isnt-the-same-as-being-defamed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dershowitz Learns That Being Wrong On Television Isn\u2019t The Same As Being Defamed<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"410\" width=\"620\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/12\/alan-dershowitz-620x410.jpg?resize=620%2C410&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: alan-dershowitz.jpg\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As last week careened into Labor Day weekend, Alan Dershowitz received some bad news from the Eleventh Circuit, who affirmed the lower court\u2019s ruling and kicked Dershowitz\u2019s defamation claim against CNN to the curb. This is the saddest Dershowiz has been since the Martha\u2019s Vineyard pierogi stand <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/07\/alan-dershowitz-suing-pierogi-stand-for-aggravated-no-one-likes-me-on-marthas-vineyard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">refused to sell him a potato dumpling<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Did you know, that since <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/08\/getting-to-the-delicious-center-of-alan-dershowitz-and-pierogigate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PierogiGate<\/a>, Martha\u2019s Vineyard turned out to <a href=\"https:\/\/vineyardgazette.com\/news\/2025\/08\/06\/after-dershowitz-dustup-islanders-line-pierogis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wait in line for pierogies to support Dershowitz\u2019s vendor nemesis?<\/a> USA! USA!<\/p>\n<p>Back to the topic at hand. Dershowitz had sued CNN in the wake of his role advocating for Donald Trump\u2019s right to threaten cutting off President Zelenskyy if the Ukrainian leader didn\u2019t scratch Trump\u2019s increasingly bloated back in building a corruption case against Joe Biden over Hunter Biden\u2019s job or something something. The conspiracy theory was always stupid and the geopolitical risk in withholding Ukrainian aid was always very real \u2014 tragically proven right soon after \u2014 that Congress impeached Trump for trying to use U.S. foreign policy to fuel his fundraising. Trump survived the trial, mostly because Democrats did not have 67 seats in the chamber, but Dershowitz helped too. <\/p>\n<p>In the course of his effort to get Trump off the hook, Dershowitz made the claim that presidents can engage in foreign policy quid pro quo, even if the president is negotiating for his personal \u2014 and not the country\u2019s \u2014 gain, so long as the president sees his personal fortunes as key to the national interest. Would that extend to an excuse as flimsy and self-serving as reelection? Dershowitz said\u2026 quite possibly!<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>[A] complex middle case is: I want to be elected. I think I am a great President. I think I am the greatest President there ever was, and if I am not elected, the national interest will suffer greatly. That cannot be [an impeachable offense].<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If the president does it, it isn\u2019t illegal as the saying goes. <\/p>\n<p>The mainstream media jumped on Dershowitz indulging in the insane theory that the law contemplates presidents engaging in foreign policy for personal gain. Little did they know at the time that we would soon have the <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2024\/07\/scotus-greenlights-seal-team-6-solution\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Supreme Court endorsing presidents deploying SEAL Team 6 to murder political opponents<\/a> based on a president\u2019s subjective faith in their own election. Everyone dragged Dershowitz for his suggestion that presidents can have a little corruption as a treat. <\/p>\n<p>But Dershowitz complained that this straightforward interpretation of his fairly explicit remarks was incorrect. For their part, CNN brought Dershowitz on to explain. So he sued CNN for $300 million. The Eleventh Circuit responded with \u201cLOL, no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-e1ad7dc9-4740-4f75-9e05-714c2a508dbb\" href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/09\/Dersh-Appeal.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dersh Appeal<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/09\/Dersh-Appeal.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-e1ad7dc9-4740-4f75-9e05-714c2a508dbb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As last week careened into Labor Day weekend, Alan Dershowitz received some bad news from the Eleventh Circuit, who affirmed the lower court\u2019s ruling and kicked Dershowitz\u2019s defamation claim against CNN to the curb. This is the saddest Dershowiz has been since the Martha\u2019s Vineyard pierogi stand refused to sell him a potato dumpling. Did [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":132384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/alan-dershowitz-620x410-TkH0XN.jpg?fit=620%2C410&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}