Despite "fundamentally" disagreeing with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol demonstrators over the 2020 presidential election, attorney Alan Dershowitz has taken one on as a client.
Dershowitz will defend Brady Knowlton, 41, who’s facing five counts for entering the Capitol.
"For me, it’s a simple one — I’m defending Brady’s First Amendment right to petition the government," Dershowitz told Newsmax on Friday from New York. "We’ve seen the video that shows he believed, and reasonably believed, he was welcomed to enter the Capitol as long as he did no damage and left when he was told to leave. He did that."
The legal scholar told Newsmax that "I never pick my cases based on agreement or disagreement with my clients."
He added that Knowlton was "a principled young man" who "would have graduated with very good grades" from law school if not for the Jan. 6 allegations.
"My job is generally to defend people I disagree with, and this is an easier case than most because I happen to like Brady," Dershowitz, with a laugh, told Newsmax.
"Him being a law student is part of it, but there are a lot of law students I don’t like either," he added with a laugh.
Dershowitz credited Knowlton with helping to produce a video that they say prove his innocence. Footage in the video was added to Justice Department clips released previously.
"Brady’s a pleasure to work with because he’s not only a client, he’s a great lawyer," Dershowitz told Newsmax. "He knew better than any of us which parts of the Capitol to ask for."
The video highlights what law enforcement officers were doing, stopping at key points to explain what is happening. A speaker says that 250 demonstrators entered through a side door in the upper terrace, and Capitol police officers can be seen welcoming some of them.
Knowlton, who held up his cellphone to film the event, entered the lobby, Rotunda, and Senate chamber before leaving.
While saying the body language of the officers clearly tells the story, Dershowitz told Newsmax he’s demanding the release of audio under a federal law that requires prosecutors to turn over all exculpatory evidence to the defense.
"Brady has told us that the police used words that allowed them to come in. We don’t see the words," Dershowitz told Newsmax. "I thought about hiring a lip reader but the film is too far away. So, we need the words, and we know the government has some audio."
Knowlton, a Utah resident, was a fisherman a decade ago and starred in several episodes of "Catfishin’ Kings" on Animal Planet. He also was a financial consultant in the Texas energy sector, the Washington Examiner reported.
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