statements. here the statements were malicious, repeated, they continued to occur even after the verdict. there s no excuse for it. howard: obviously, not just cnn. you also mentioned the new yorker and other news organizations. but with all of that and mistakes were made, and maybe it s more than just mistakes, but the tone and the attitude of the coverage isn t vigilantes a pretty strong word? no, i don t think. vigilante is somebody who wants to impact the outcome of a case, to put the elbow on the scale of justice without any basis at all. i was using the term only because they used the term against rittenhouse. now, that s not a defamatory term, vigilante. white principle cyst is. white supremacist. there are cases that say you can sue them for defamation. that s not an opinion, that s a fact. and it s the people on cnn and msnbc, the people who called him a white supremacist in the media
howard: in the days before a kenosha jury acquitted kyle rittenhouse, judge bruce schrader unloaded on the coverage. when i talked about problems with the media when in this trial started, you re there in part because of grossly irresponsible handling of what can comes out of this trial that s really quite frightening. howard: joining us now from new york, alan dershowitz, author of the book the case for vaccine mandates. you were ripping the coverage saying that cnn and other networks were acting like vigilantes. explain. this is the worst case of coverage of a criminal trial in more than a half century that i have been observing media obsessions with criminal trials including the o.j. simpson case.
though the facts didn t fit the scenario and the narrative. howard: right. i don t have a problem with people criticizing aspects of the trial, but it was more like this sends a terrible message to americans, to other people who might take the law into their own hands. you felt so strongly about the evidence of self-defense that you said this should never even have gone to a jury trial. but in a way, isn t it a good thing, the fact that it was televised, that people got to see the details so they understood why he was found not guilty on all counts? yeah. thank god for live coverage of trials. it s a check and balance on media. because don lemon can t get away with saying they were crocodile tears when millions of people watched him and believed him. and so the the actual televising of trials is a protection. it protects against the media mischaracterizing the case. look, in many cases when you see the case live on television the, you know it s going to come out a certain way.
a not guilty verdict but somehow admirable, which i find repelling. yeah. as they talk to the media, should the rittenhouses be concerned about potential civil suits? i think they should be very concerned about that. just to refresh people s memory with the o.j. simpson case. he was acquitted of murder, as everyone remembers, and then the family sued and received a very large damage judgment because it s a civil proceeding has a lower standard of proof. jail is not on the table. so i think the victims here might well sue rittenhouse for civil damages, you know, whether thfrp ultimately recover any money and actually be paid that money is a separate question. but i think he is very much at risk for a civil suit from the families of the victims.
improved upon, by the way, this should have never made its way to a courtroom. it was clearly self-defense. while it s imperfect, it is the best criminal justice system to ever grace the face of this planet. howard: tara, let me bring this into your area of expertise, which is politics. jerry nadler says he wants the justice department to review this case. apparently, doesn t like what a wisconsin jury decided to do. governor gavin newsom in california says this shows armed vigilantes can get away with it. senator tom cotton wants joe biden to apologize. are the media flogging this as a story because, obviously, there s so much public interestsome. yes. and i think the public interest is actually, is infused by the interests by our leaders. i mean, they are our political leaders have turned this into a political case. you have president trump putting out a statement after howard: [inaudible] exactly. and then you have the president of the united states carefully trying to say i