Alan Dershowitz says lawyers are telling him they won't defend Trump because they don't want to be ostracized or 'canceled'
- Dershowitz said he had "concerns" about the caliber of Trump's legal team.
- He said, however, that six other lawyers had contacted him to say they wouldn't defend Trump.
Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who represented former President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial, said six lawyers have called him to say that they would not defend Trump for fear of being "canceled."
Dershowitz made these comments to Newsmax host Sean Spicer on Monday, saying that while he had some "concerns" about the caliber of Trump's current lawyers, many qualified lawyers are refusing to represent Trump.
"I can tell you that six lawyers so far called me and said, 'We will not defend Trump even though we'd like to because of what happened to you, Alan Dershowitz, because you have been canceled,'" Dershowitz said.
Dershowitz also said that he had lost jobs and speaking engagements after representing Trump, and those other lawyers had seen him as an example of what could happen to them if they took Trump as a client.
"People won't speak to you. People are furious at you. I had a lawyer say to me, 'I just don't want to be 'Dershowitzed,'" he said.
Dershowitz's comments came after a report from The Washington Post this month outlined how Trump had trouble finding good lawyers to represent him.
For his part, Dershowitz also said this month that lawyers at big firms were being asked by their companies not to touch cases involving Trump.
"These are firms that want to continue to have clients, and they know that if they represent Donald Trump, they'll lose a lot of clients," Dershowitz told Insider.
"Everybody who has called me has shown reluctance to do it," he added. "They say their law firms won't let them do it. Their husbands or wives won't let them do it. Their children won't let them do it. Their friends won't let them do it, even though they want to do it."
Trump is currently represented by lawyers including Alina Habba, a New Jersey parking garage lawyer, and former One America News anchor Christina Bobb.
Trump's slate of legal issues includes an investigation in New York into whether the Trump Organization violated banking, insurance, and tax laws and whether it engaged in financial fraud. He pleaded the fifth more than 440 times during his deposition in the case.
The former president could also be facing potential criminal charges following an investigation from the Department of Justice into whether he mishandled sensitive documents. According to the FBI's warrant for its search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this month — during which 11 sets of classified documents were seized — the DOJ is looking into whether Trump broke three federal laws, including the Espionage Act.
A representative at Trump's post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.