Dan and Floyd Abrams on Lincoln, Media, and the Law

Springfield, February 12, 2019 — Chosen as the keynote speaker to address the Abraham Lincoln Association annual dinner, Dan Abrams, the ABC News Chief Legal Analyst, is joined by his father, the legendary attorney, Floyd Abrams. Together they comment on the changing nature of media, the impact of President Trump’s comments against journalism, and Dan Abrams shares his experience of writing his book, “Lincoln’s Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency.“

Dan Abrams shares how he learned there was a transcript of a murder trial, in which Lincoln was an attorney. It was in fact, Lincoln’s last trial — and the transcript had been unknown to exist until 1989. No book had been produced from this artifact, until it was brought to the attention of Dan Abrams. The trial occurred in 1859, a year after Lincoln came to the national attention following the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and a year before Lincoln’s successful run for the presidency.