Lisa Bloom, the lawyer for several of Bill O’Reilly’s accusers, clashed with Alan Dershowitz on Wednesday after he downplayed the impact of her clients coming forward to corroborate O’Reilly’s pattern of sexual misconduct.
Dershowitz relayed his theory that what brought down the former Fox News hosts was not the women coming forward, but an (as yet unproven) video tape that proved O’Reilly’s harassment.
“O’Reilly could not survive the release of that tape,” Dershowitz opined during CNN’s “Tonight with Don Lemon.”
Bloom jumped in to explain the tipping point was “giving them the evidence and witness to corroborate the claims,” adding “the lawyers at my law firm and I, we’ve been working very hard on this.”
“There’s no comparison between cumulative accusations and his voice on the tape,” Dershowitz replied. But Bloom stood her ground. “Have you heard the tape?” Dershowitz pressed. “Nobody’s ever heard the tape.”
“I’m very familiar with all these facts,” Bloom explained, noting she’s read a transcript of a tape with O’Reilly. Still, Dershowitz insisted there’s “no comparison” between reading a transcript and hearing the tape.
“Okay, but you’re just spitballing here!” Bloom shot back.
Dershowitz later repeated that more women coming forward doesn’t account for the network’s decision. “There’s something we don’t know,” he said. “I suspect it was the tape.” Another guest agreed with Dershowitz, pointing out perhaps it was the advertisers who finally got to the network.
By that time, Bloom was ready to strike.
“Or maybe it was a concerted effort by a group of women … who day after day after day were calling in complaints, who were going on TV despite the fear, who were putting the public pressure on, who were going to the advertisers,” she replied. “Maybe it’s the people who actually made this happen! Maybe that’s what happened!”
“These things didn’t just happen. They were made to happen by my clients, and I want those women to get credit,” she later added.
Watch the fiery exchange below, via CNN:
