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Alan Dershowitz On Mitchell Cross-Examination Of Ford: "She Was Totally And Completely Incompetent"
The Daily Caller ^ | 27 September 2018 | Katie Jerkovich

Posted on 09/28/2018 1:55:39 AM PDT by zeestephen

Alan Dershowitz did not hold back his thoughts when asked about Rachel Mitchell’s cross-examination during Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony Thursday on Capitol Hill.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: christineford; dershowitz; kavanaugh; rachelmitchell
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To: zeestephen

Suspect Dershowitz is thinking like a lawyer and a Democrat. This was not a court of law, it was political theater. The stratedgy was not to make Ford look bad, it was to make the Democrats look bad. And they did look very bad by the end of the day. For the thinking people watching Ford was descredited. But she was treated nicely and with respect for the sake of soft headed people who are hyper sensitive.


81 posted on 09/28/2018 4:45:08 AM PDT by AndyTheBear
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To: zeestephen

Dershowitz predicted this would happen, and he was right. I don’t know which Senator(s) decided on her, but he needs to be reprimanded. Severely.


82 posted on 09/28/2018 4:45:23 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Have an A-1 day.)
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To: liberalh8ter

They USed her... that is just what they wanted it to look like. She is a pussy hat Trump hating rabid libtard. The 4chan kids ferreted out her student’s evals.. Even in California they said she was a rabid feminist anti Trumper who repeatedly went on political tirades at the drop of a hat.


83 posted on 09/28/2018 4:45:32 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.uences.)
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To: Jimmy Valentine

The lesson? Never let someone else pay for your lawyer.


84 posted on 09/28/2018 4:46:23 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.uences.)
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To: zeestephen

“If the Hard Left is not assaulting you, that means they do not fear you.”

Or, if the hard left is not assaulting you, you’re not doing the job we hired you to do.

It’s like Satan. He doesn’t bother Christians who have backslidden, or non-Christians who are living bad lives. What would be the point? He already has them.

He targets and assaults those who are living good lives for God. THEY are a threat to his power.


85 posted on 09/28/2018 4:51:08 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Have an A-1 day.)
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To: caww

“Which if true she will have to be fired, possibly charged.”

Yeah. Like THAT’s gonna happen. They always skate.


86 posted on 09/28/2018 4:52:43 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Have an A-1 day.)
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To: zeestephen

That’s not really what he said- you are omitting an important detail. Trump very correctly was saying he was backing Kavenaugh but was not so closed-minded that he would ignore solid EVIDENCE that PROVED Kavenaugh had sexually abuse the woman. That wasn’t weakness on his part at all, that is exactly the correct and position for the chief law enforcement officer of the US to take.


87 posted on 09/28/2018 4:56:31 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: zeestephen
I disagree with Dershowitz completely on this.

She wasn't hired to shred Buzzy Ford's story. She was hired to expose the obvious holes in it without making her look like a liar.

This wasn't a TRIAL. It was political theater.

P.S. -- I believe Dershowitz has called on Kavanaugh's confirmation to be delayed pending an FBI investigation. His true leftist colors always come out in the end, don't they?

88 posted on 09/28/2018 4:58:05 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them ... like Russians will)
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To: Ann Archy

“It was most likely FLAKE that told Grassley to do it!”

The AZ connection. But why would Grassley take orders, or even recommendations, from Flake of all people?


89 posted on 09/28/2018 4:59:01 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Have an A-1 day.)
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To: StoneRainbow68

I agree. Was the whole thing their plan, probably not but whi cares because that was the outcome.


90 posted on 09/28/2018 4:59:13 AM PDT by frogjerk (We are conservatives. Not libertarians, not "fiscal conservatives", not moderates)
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To: avital2

“tailormade for the senators who are on the fence”

I don’t think any senators ever were on the fence. They had their minds made up long before showtime yesterday.


91 posted on 09/28/2018 5:01:14 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Have an A-1 day.)
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To: Justa
I completely agree with you and everyone else who supports what Mitchell did. After I write this, I'll look at what Dershowitz has to say but I know what I saw in watching the hearing yesterday.

Rachel Mitchell was put in the position of having to take apart a witness without looking like Michael Myers which I know a lot of people wanted to see. I don't know what her normal style is, but yesterday her style was to be gentle and she was in getting out all the information that she did.

She methodically built her case and you could see where it was going. It wasn't flashy, but it was effective. Finally it came down to Kamala Harris, batting last for the RATS and designated to blow Mitchell out of the water. Harris launched into a lengthy statement that seemed to do extreme harm to Mitchell by quoting from the Maricopa County attorney’s website on the guiding principles and best practices for what should happen with sexual assault cases, and how the proceedings they were currently in were against those guidelines. A direct and serious hit on Mitchell and her credibility and professionalism. I was a bit shaken by this and concerned because unlike a fellow Senator and under the circumstances, Mitchell could not crack back at Harris. So for that five minutes, things seemed to have turned for the worst despite what I felt was a good job by Mitchell. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris must have been busting to do a touchdown celebration as visions of 2020 glory danced in her head.

My mood really plummeted when Mitchell took her last five minutes and did not respond at all to Harris but instead said she wanted to do some cleanup questions. They concerned more things about Dr. Ford's friends not corroborating, but they also gave Dr. Ford another opportunity to recount how something bad happened to her that Mark Judge surely knows. Things looked really bleak and seemed to get even worse when Mitchell referenced the Maricopa County guidelines not to defend herself, but to compliment Dr. Ford on her knowledge. But then came the master stroke.

Mitchell used the guidelines that Harris brought in to discredit her to ask Dr. Ford if she knew the best way to deal with victims. It began as a joke about how it wasn't in five minute segments and everyone laughed. Soon, no one was laughing as Mitchell used her remaining time to pick up on the groundwork she had laid earlier in portraying Dr. Ford as being manipulated by the RATS to bore in that it was Dr. Ford's advisors who subjected her to the absolute wrong way to deal with a victim. It was a fascinating moment to watch as it unfolded how this very skilled prosecutor exposed to Dr. Ford and the world how she was nothing but a pawn whose well-being was sacrificed to get at Judge K.

I'll add something else about Rachel Mitchell. Lindsey Graham made the absolute correct call in taking back his time and going on offense. He was brilliant and led the way in bringing Judge K home after his amazing opening statement. However, what most people missed because it looked like it was a repudiation of Mitchell for Graham to take back his time, was what she did for Judge K in her three rounds of questioning before Graham took over. In fact, I wonder if there wasn't a plan to do that.

In any event, in those three rounds of questioning Judge K, Mitchell presented every assertion made by Dr. Ford which allowed him to refute her point-by-point. More than that, and I felt this was devastating, she asked Judge K about his calendar from 1982 and if he had altered it in any way since then to which he said no. The contrast of Judge K's unaltered calendar from 36 years ago that backs up his innocence against Dr. Ford altering her submitted materials multiple times in the hearing room just a few hours earlier—at the invitation of Mitchell to do that which was a great trap—was stunning.

Again, I think she did a great job.

92 posted on 09/28/2018 5:03:01 AM PDT by Dahoser
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To: wastoute

There was also the chain of custody Q & A regarding the letter that Ford sent to Feinstein. Boring stuff at the time, but it set-up this bombshell during Cruz’s closing statement:

“Some of the most significant testimony we heard this morning is Dr. Ford told this committee that the only people to whom she gave her letter were her attorneys, the ranking member, and her Member of Congress. And she stated that she and her attorneys did not release the letter, which means the only people that could have released that letter were either the Ranking Member and her staff or the Democratic Member of Congress, because Dr. Ford told this committee those are the only people who had it.”

Feinstein then denied on national TV that she or anyone in her office leaked the letter.

This was brilliant because if you believe Ford — as we have been repeatedly told that we must — then Feinstein is a liar, which emphasizes the GOP point that the RATs are the ones that have used and abused Ford for political purposes. If you believe Feinstein, then perhaps Ford was less than truthful when she testified that neither she or her attorney leaked the letter. Either way, this is a win-win for the good guys, and it all started with Ford’s “incompetent” cross-examination.


93 posted on 09/28/2018 5:03:21 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: Labyrinthos

Mitchell’s performance will probably never be recognized for how well she did. I don’t know but at a glance she appears to be a lesbo sex crime prosecutor who probably has a pussy hat in her closet. The fact she could rinse the blue dye out of her hair and work with Grassley is pretty amazing.


94 posted on 09/28/2018 5:06:58 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.uences.)
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To: zeestephen

That criticism came from “conservative blogger” for WaPo, our very favorite, Jennifer Rubin!!


95 posted on 09/28/2018 5:08:23 AM PDT by browniexyz
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To: zeestephen

I thought Ms. Mitchell was quiet, understated, non-threatening-— AND pointed out several lies Ms. Ford got caught up in.

She just didn’t go for the jugular and do a happy dance signaling victory. If she had, the Democrats would have been screaming today like they are about Lindsay and Kavanaugh.


96 posted on 09/28/2018 5:10:02 AM PDT by browniexyz
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To: zeestephen

Haven’t Republicans learned playing nice is losing.


97 posted on 09/28/2018 5:11:24 AM PDT by McGruff
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To: knarf
I believe you're right.

I'm reading and hearing many who are saying Mitchell did what she was hired to do. She wanted to expose that Ford was lying without attacking her. Once Republicans felt she had done her job, they pulled her from questioning Judge Kavanaugh.

Just now read a tweet from @RichLowry (emphasis mine): My understanding is that Rachel Mitchell, despite her lackluster performance at the hearing, was helpful at the conference meeting, explaining how there is no corroboration for Ford’s account, in fact negative corroboration

98 posted on 09/28/2018 5:11:35 AM PDT by Heart of Georgia
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To: caww

Heather Sawyer likely working with a new “former” staffer, Paige Herwig, now at Soros’ “Demand Justice” foundation, whose mission is guess what?

To “demand justice” for Christine Ford.

Senator McConnell, do your job!! Get rid of the festering swamp of seditious, treasonous, unlawful staffers and their cushy “foundation” positions by prohibiting them from trading on information they learn on “THE HILL”. Non-compete clauses, non-disclosure clauses, and restrictions on JOBS-AFTER-CONGRESS are now required!!!


99 posted on 09/28/2018 5:13:15 AM PDT by browniexyz
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To: Dahoser
I'll add something else about Rachel Mitchell. Lindsey Graham made the absolute correct call in taking back his time and going on offense. He was brilliant and led the way in bringing Judge K home after his amazing opening statement. However, what most people missed because it looked like it was a repudiation of Mitchell for Graham to take back his time, was what she did for Judge K in her three rounds of questioning before Graham took over. In fact, I wonder if there wasn't a plan to do that.

I agree with your entire post. And as you have pointed out, Mitchell's set the table for Graham's (and Cruz's) brutal closing argument.

100 posted on 09/28/2018 5:16:37 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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