Celebrity defense attorney Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday he'll help Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, resist efforts by the January 6 congressional committee to obtain his phone records.
Dershowitz told KVRR of Fargo, North Dakota, that he joined Lindell's legal team because the case raises constitutional issues, not because he agrees with the politics of the strident supporter of former President Donald Trump.
The committee has subpoenaed wireless provider Verizon for the pillow magnate's phone records from Nov. 1, 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021. Dershowitz said Lindell should be able to review those records to determine if any are confidential or shielded by attorney-client privilege.
"It's a great danger, particularly when the purpose is not legislative," Dershowitz told KVRR news. "We just don't want Verizon to turn this over willy-nilly to a government agency, particularly a congressional committee as loaded and one-sided as this one is."
Dershowitz continued that Congress can only issue subpoenas related to its legislative, oversight and other constitutional powers.
"All Americans have the right to be protected against intrusion into their private lives, into their cell phones, into their texts, unless the government can demonstrate a compelling and legitimate reason," he said.
Lindell brought a lawsuit earlier this month against the congressional probe seeking to block its subpoena for his phone records. The lawsuit argues that Lindell's vocal support for claims that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud are religious. Compelling the disclosure of Lindell's political and religious activities would violate his First Amendment rights, the lawsuit argues.
Describing himself as a liberal Democrat, Dershowitz told the station he doesn't share Lindell's politics. Dershowitz said Lindell is being targeted because of his support for Trump and for raising what he called "legitimate questions" about the last election. If the subpoena had been issued by a Republican committee to someone on the left, "liberal organizations would be objecting," said Dershowitz.
A Harvard Law School professor who represented Trump during his first impeachment trial, Dershowitz has offered help to Lindell and other allies of the former president.
Last year, Dershowitz agreed to similarly advise Lindell's legal team battling a $1.3 billion lawsuit from the Dominion Voting Systems. The lawsuit targets Lindell for his repeated claims that the company's voting machines improperly changed votes from Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election. Dershowitz previously said he's only helping the case on its First Amendment issues.
Dershowitz last year also agreed to help Rudy Giuliani's legal team after the former lawyer for Trump had his home raided by federal agents. At the time, Dershowitz called the raid "a very serious breach of privacy."
Newsweek has reached out to U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, the chair of the January 6 committee, for a response.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Jake Thomas is a Newsweek night reporter based in Portland, Oregon. His focus is U.S. national politics, crime and public ... Read more
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