- Alan Dershowitz said Epstein's crimes were "terrible" but "exaggerated" in public perception
- Dershowitz denied Epstein had ties to Mossad or CIA, confirming no intelligence links
- Epstein had no compromising material on Donald Trump, per Dershowitz's statements
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's former lawyer Alan Dershowitz revealed that what he did was "terrible" but not as bad as he has been "portrayed". He stated there are unproven claims that have now been accepted as facts.
Dershowitz was a key member of the legal team that negotiated Epstein's controversial 2008 non-prosecution agreement. This deal allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser state charges, serve just 13 months in a county jail with daily work release, and granted immunity to potential co-conspirators.
Epstein Had No Connections To Mossad Or CIA
Speaking to Pod Force One, a political podcast hosted by New York Post columnist and author Miranda Devine, Dershowitz said that Epstein had no connections to either the Mossad, Israel's national foreign intelligence agency, or the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He said that he knew it for a "categorical fact" that Epstein had no connections to intelligence agencies.
"I asked him specifically. I said, 'If you had any connection to any intelligence agencies, I can get you a better deal.'"
"And he said, 'Alan, I had no connection. What intelligence agency would ever hire me or rely on me?'"
Dershowitz said that he had "confirmed that with the Mossad" and said that he does not believe in the claim that he had connections in the CIA.
Epstein Was Not Running Blackmail Scheme
Epstein's former lawyer downplayed the claim that he was running a massive blackmail scheme.
"I don't think he was blackmailing people, though I think he was interested in collecting information about people, and maybe he would have used it to defend himself, but I don't think he ever affirmatively blackmailed people," he said.
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The lawyer stated that Epstein did not have anything on US President Donald Trump and that the Republican leader "had done nothing wrong whatsoever". He said that Epstein only had something on a "well-known" person who was not a political figure.
Epstein Not A "Paedophile"
Dershowitz said that Epstein was not a paedophile but was only interested in 16- to 18-year-olds.
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"I have no information about any paedophiles in the Epstein circle. A paedophile, medically, is somebody who is interested in prepubescent people. Prepubescent people, 10, 11, 12," he said. "That was not his modus operandi. He was interested in 16-year-olds, 17-, 18-year-olds. That's a terrible thing."
He explained that although he regrets defending Epstein, many of his crimes have been "exaggerated".
Epstein "Terrible, Terrible Evil Man"
When asked about clients he regretted defending, he said, "Jeffrey Epstein, obviously, I regret defending. I wish I had never met him. He was a terrible, terrible evil man, but even in that case, many of his crimes are exaggerated."
He said that there are real victims of Epstein, but the "vast majority" of women who claim to be his victims either kept coming back to give him massages for $250 or themselves became recruiters of others.
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He claimed that there were women who never met Epstein and "just made it up".
"I would like to see the whole truth come out in Epstein," Dershowitz said. "It's a terrible truth. What he did was terrible, but it's not nearly as bad as the way it's been portrayed."
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