Attorney Alan Dershowitz urged “everyone” to “keep an open mind” about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s cohort Ghislaine Maxwell after the FBI arrested her Thursday.
Dershowitz, who has acted as an attorney for notable figures including both President Donald Trump and Epstein himself, spoke out in defense of Maxwell in a Friday op-ed for The Spectator.
Dershowitz formerly helped negotiate a plea deal that gave federal immunity to Epstein and his co-conspirators in 2008, requiring Epstein to serve 13 months in jail in Palm Beach with practically daily work release.
The former Epstein attorney has been accused of sexual abuse by Virginia Giuffre and Sarah Ransome in civil lawsuits that allege Dershowitz had sex with them through Epstein when they were teenagers. Dershowitz denies that he did so and sued Guiffre for defamation.
“Everyone should keep an open mind about Maxwell as they should about others who have been accused by Epstein’s alleged victims,” Dershowitz wrote in his American Spectator op-ed.
He continued: “The truth-testing mechanisms of cross-examination and confrontation must be employed against these witnesses, as they are against other accusers. Only after a full trial, in which both sides are presented should reasonable people come to conclusions about Ghislaine Maxwell.”