As President Trump offered up his support to the Covington Catholic student whose family is suing The Washington Post for defamation, one of his most vocal defenders jumped on the bandwagon.
During an interview with The Hill’s “Rising” online TV channel Wednesday, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz called the lawsuit “reasonable” and suggested “the world was guilty of libel” against the high school students after videos of their encounter with a Native American activist at the National Mall went viral.
“These poor kids seemed to be doing exactly the right thing, and then suddenly because they are thought to be white, privileged kids, suddenly everyone’s ganging up on them,” Dershowitz told The Hill. “I’d be interested to see how the case unfolds, I mean they’re asking for a lot of money, I don’t think that’s going to be taken too seriously. … But I do think that they have a significant case and it will be interesting to see how The Post defends against their reporting in the case.”
The family of Covington student Nick Sandmann sued the Post for $250 million for defamation Tuesday, alleging their coverage of the incident ruined Sandmann’s reputation. Sandmann is the MAGA hat-clad student whose reaction to a Native American activist’s drum performance during a protest sparked outrage. Sandmann appeared to smirk and stare inches from the activist, Nathan Phillips’s face. Other footage of the encounter shows that the students may not necessarily have been mocking Phillips and other Native Americans.
The dispute caught the attention of the President — a frequent critic of the Post — who tweeted his support for Sandmann on Wednesday morning.
Sandmann’s legal team did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
