Retired constitutional law professor Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Tuesday that to be credible, witnesses must always be cross-examined, and that none of the Jan. 6 committee hearing witnesses has been.
''As a professor of criminal law for many years, and as one of the most experienced litigators, never believe anyone who is not cross-examined,'' Dershowitz said on ''The Chris Salcedo Show.''
''And none of these [Jan. 6 committee] witnesses are cross-examined.''
''It's as if a basketball team was sent out on the court, and the other team is held back and not allowed to present its defense of the players,'' he continued. ''It's one-sided. Don't believe it.''
Dershowitz said that the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol building breach would have been much more credible had it accepted the Republicans initially selected to serve on the committee.
''They would have asked hard questions, they would have cross-examined, they would have presented contrary evidence and then the American public could make a decision,'' he said.
Instead, the hearings are being conducted in an entirely partisan way, Dershowitz said, much as the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings were.
He said that the goal of the Jan. 6 committee is to ensure that former President Donald Trump cannot run for president again.
''Although I voted against President Trump twice, I want to see a fair process,'' said Dershowitz, a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat. ''I want to see a fair election. I want to see no partisan misuse of House committees.''
Earlier in the show, Dershowitz said that when he watched the Jan. 6 committee hearings, the discussion revolved around threats that were made to people during the events of the day.
In light of the threats to conservative Supreme Court justices and their families over the potential overturning of the landmark 1973 abortion case Roe v. Wade, Dershowitz said that ''it’s so hypocritical.''
''Threats only seem to matter to Democrat politicians if they're directed against them, not if they're directed against people that they oppose,'' he said. ''We shouldn’t tolerate a double standard: A threat is a threat, violence is violence, no matter who it is directed against.''
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