# Alan Dershowitz > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Alan Dershowitz," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/alan-dershowitz/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *American attorney and Harvard Law professor; John Kiriakou describes debating him on Piers Morgan's show over Jeffrey Epstein, telling Dershowitz he would have wanted to see him "hanging from a tree" had he sought leniency for Epstein as an Israeli spy, and cites attorney David Boies's on-air statement that Dershowitz was far more than Epstein's lawyer, also serving as his publicist, friend, and a guest on Epstein's island.* - **Role:** American attorney; Harvard Law professor - **Piers Morgan debate:** Kiriakou calls it a "smackdown" - **David Boies's characterization:** Not just Epstein's lawyer, also his publicist, friend, and island guest **Alan Dershowitz** is an American attorney and Harvard Law professor. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says he debated Dershowitz head-to-head on Piers Morgan's show over the [Jeffrey Epstein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jeffrey-epstein) case, an exchange Morgan himself called a "smackdown." Kiriakou told Dershowitz that, had Dershowitz gone to the White House seeking a lighter sentence for Epstein on the grounds that Epstein was spying for a foreign country, Kiriakou would have wanted to see him "hanging from a tree" after being convicted on espionage charges.[1] ## Kiriakou's assessment of him Kiriakou's characterisation of Dershowitz is deliberately two-sided. *"On the one hand he's a very kind and generous man,"* he says; *"on the other hand, when it comes to Israel, he's irrational."* Pressed on how, he sets out two things: that in Dershowitz's account *"there's literally nothing that the Israelis can do that's wrong"*, and that he will not let an interlocutor finish, *"if he thinks that you might possibly criticize Israel, he's going to interrupt you until you just give up and move on."*[2] Kiriakou concedes the antagonism is partly his own: *"I just can't help myself sometimes when Alan Dershowitz and I are in the same room."*[3] He also relays, as a piece of trivia, that Dershowitz named Ted Cruz the most talented law student he ever taught.[4] ## David Boies's characterization Kiriakou cites attorney David Boies, whom he calls one of the greatest criminal defense attorneys in modern American history, stating on a later Piers Morgan appearance that Dershowitz's problem was that he had been far more than just Epstein's lawyer: he was also Epstein's publicist and friend, and had been a guest on Epstein's island, appearing in his underwear alongside a 16-year-old girl. Boies also mocked Dershowitz's continuing claim that he could have gotten Epstein a better deal had Epstein actually been a Mossad agent, noting Epstein, in Kiriakou's telling, was in fact a Mossad asset.[5] ## The exchange on Piers Morgan Kiriakou has described a televised argument with Dershowitz over whether [Epstein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jeffrey-epstein) was working for Israel: *"I got into a spirited debate with Alan Dershowitz about this on the [Piers Morgan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/piers-morgan) show a few weeks ago, and I thought the man was going to have a stroke when I said that Jeffrey Epstein was most likely working on behalf of the Israelis."*[6] What interests him is the shape of Dershowitz's rebuttal, which he calls *"completely backward."* Dershowitz's argument was that he had been Epstein's attorney, and that if Epstein had been working for the Israelis he would have told him, and that Dershowitz *"would have used that information to get Epstein an even lighter sentence."*[7] Kiriakou's answer treats that as a claim about American law that cannot survive being stated plainly: *"wait a minute, professor. If you're saying that you would have gone to the White House to say, my client is committing espionage for the Israeli government, you think that would have gotten him a lighter sentence? I think he would have been hanging from a tree."* Pressed, he put it without the figure of speech: *"he would have been put in prison for the rest of his life, or put to death."* The yardstick he reaches for is [Jonathan Pollard](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jonathan-pollard).[7][8] ## See also - [Jeffrey Epstein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jeffrey-epstein) - [Peter Mandelson](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/peter-mandelson) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. Ex-CIA John Kiriakou — War On Whistleblowers: The High C (2026-02-27), at 32:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtvG1MS2pAQ&t=1969s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-the-ripple-effect-podcast/ 2. #356 — Nuclear War, Vault 7, Mossad in Iran (2025-11-18), at 20:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MFGJFh4Ps&t=1242s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-18-nuclear-war-vault-7-mossad-in-iran/ 3. #356 — Nuclear War, Vault 7, Mossad in Iran (2025-11-18), at 20:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MFGJFh4Ps&t=1212s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-18-nuclear-war-vault-7-mossad-in-iran/ 4. #356 — Nuclear War, Vault 7, Mossad in Iran (2025-11-18), at 1:06:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MFGJFh4Ps&t=3971s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-18-nuclear-war-vault-7-mossad-in-iran/ 5. Ex-CIA John Kiriakou — War On Whistleblowers: The High C (2026-02-27), at 34:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtvG1MS2pAQ&t=2063s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-the-ripple-effect-podcast/ 6. How Epstein Was Used by Mossad, CIA & MI6 (2026-02-08), at 06:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUGHG0Yy6BA&t=402s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-08-how-epstein-was-used-by-mossad-cia-mi6/ 7. How Epstein Was Used by Mossad, CIA & MI6 (2026-02-08), at 07:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUGHG0Yy6BA&t=432s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-08-how-epstein-was-used-by-mossad-cia-mi6/ 8. How Epstein Was Used by Mossad, CIA & MI6 (2026-02-08), at 07:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUGHG0Yy6BA&t=462s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-08-how-epstein-was-used-by-mossad-cia-mi6/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/alan-dershowitz/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt