Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen has "a serious problem" if the leaked tape of his private conversation with President Donald Trump was protected by attorney-client privilege.
"If, in fact, this material was originally leaked by Cohen when it was still privileged — if Cohen is the source of the leak, he has a serious problem," the Harvard Law School professor emeritus told "Fox and Friends."
"Remember, a judicial officer found it to be privileged," he explained. "It then was leaked — and only after it was leaked did [Rudy] Giuliani waive the privilege as to this in order to protect the privilege of any other possible conversations.
"This was a conversation between a lawyer and a client that should never have been heard," Dershowitz said.
Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, leaked to CNN a recording between Trump and Cohen regarding a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal over an alleged affair.
Special Master Barbara Jones, who was appointed by Federal District Court Judge Kimba Wood in New York to review items seized by FBI agents from Cohen in raids last month, said Monday that 12 audio recordings had been released to prosecutors.
Dershowitz told Fox that nothing on the tape incriminated Trump nor proved that any laws had been broken.
"Not even a close question," he said. "There's no crime.
"Even if, and the tape is unclear, Trump raised the word 'cash,' it was then a discussion," Dershowitz added. "The lawyer said, 'no, no, no' — and President Trump said, 'no, we'll do it by check.'
"The end result, cash, was not used. No payments were made.
"The context of the tape all suggests that the president wanted it to be papered.
"So, I think the big picture is no crime," Dershowitz said. "It sounds like Cohen is not as loyal to the president as he once was."
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