How could I host Barack Obama at the library? I have a meeting room where the capacity is 40.

Hierta said that policy would apply even if another political celebrity, former President Barack Obama, called. “If anybody believes that, I have an ocean in South Beach to sell them,” he said. Hierta stopped inviting him long before anyone knew Donald Trump as anything but a reality TV host, she said. Staff were being abused, and unable to deal with patron requests.”Īfter a discussion with the library trustees, the library changed its policy.

The meeting room holds 40 people, and he was pulling in 250 people. He can make an argument better than anyone I’ve ever met,” Hierta said.īut the crowds were out of control. She enjoyed his talks, even if she didn’t always agree with him. She once welcomed Dershowitz to speak at the library, beginning in 2008. “Nobody on the Vineyard believes any of that. “They can’t ban me because I defended President Trump.”Īsked if he may also be persona non grata because of his association with Jeffrey Epstein, Dershowitz said allegations made against him were unfounded. The library is a public institution,” Dershowitz said. “There’s interest by other organizations if I’m not allowed to speak. He’ll make a decision after Thursday’s meeting of the library board of trustees, which he said he intends to attend. He said if Hierta produced the hate mail, he would condemn it.Īs for the threat of lawsuit, Dershowitz said he plans to follow through.

“She should get a different job if she can’t take the heat.” Let her call the authorities,” he said of the mail Hierta said she received. “That doesn’t have anything to do with me. The main agenda item: “Discussion of threat by Alan Dershowitz to sue the library if he is not guaranteed a speaking engagement.” It has not yet been rescheduled.ĭershowitz said he was unaware of the hate mail to Hierta, but says it’s something he deals with on a daily basis. The trustees had called a meeting for Thursday, July 21, at 11 am, but postponed it. Hierta declined to release the email, saying Dershowitz has threatened to sue her and the library. I was identified in the national media by a right-wing hate group,” she said. She felt so threatened she installed “burglar bars” on her bedroom window. Dershowitz says he always votes and contributes to Democrats, but will defend conservative Republicans when their constitutional rights are being violated, as he says was the case with President Trump.Īfter his appearance on Bannon’s podcast, Hierta says she received a hate email from someone identifying himself as a Proud Boy. If it was someone who was a liberal Democrat, there would be a lot more concern and opposition to it,” Dershowitz said in an interview with The Times Wednesday. The library has refused to allow me to speak, and other institutions.

Cancel Culture by Alan M. Dershowitz