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by Alan M. Dershowitz • July 26,
2018 at 6:00 pm
- The reason this is
important to all Americans, beyond the immediate parties to
this taped conversation, is that it may well discourage
clients, patients, penitents and others from confiding in
their lawyers, doctors, priests and the professionals who promise
them confidentiality.
- Cohen promised
confidentiality and yet the world heard what his client
confided in him.
- Obviously, people
who are willing improperly to leak confidential material may
also be willing to lie about it under oath, but the
consequences of lying under oath are greater than leaking,
since leaking is not a crime but perjury is.
Pictured:
Michael Cohen, (left) former personal lawyer for President Donald
Trump, exits the United States District Court in New York on May
30, 2018. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
Someone leaked the lawyer/client confidential tape
containing a conversation between President Donald J. Trump and his
lawyer Michael Cohen. A former judge, assigned by the presiding
judge to evaluate the seized tapes, reportedly concluded that this
conversation was privileged. Yet someone leaked their contents. The
President Trump's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, then waived the
privilege as to that tape. He said he never would have waived it
had its existence and content not been improperly leaked.
So, the question remains: Who leaked this privileged
material? If it was anyone in the Trump camp, there would be no
violation of confidentiality, as the privilege belongs to the
client, namely Trump, who can waive it. But no one else, most
especially his lawyer, may properly waive the privilege. And
Giuliani has categorically denied that it was leaked by Trump or
anyone on his behalf. Indeed, he has expressed outrage at the leak.
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