Deschowitz: Mueller report "will blur the line between crimes - and sins" to put Trump in bad light. Posted: Dec 8th, 2018 - 11:28 am
Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said Friday that special counsel Robert Mueller's final report "will blur the line between crimes and sins and write a report designed to put" President Trump "in a bad light."
In an appearance on Fox News, Dershowitz said he believes Mueller "won’t be able to find any specific violations of federal criminal statutes" unless "vague laws" around obstruction of justice are stretched "beyond recognition."
“I don’t see any crimes," Dershowitz told host Tucker Carlson. "Collusion itself is not a crime. Using information given by Russia to WikiLeaks would not be a crime unless the campaign participated with WikiLeaks in the hacking itself. There’s no evidence to support that."
"So what I’m afraid is going to happen is this special counsel whose job it is only to find crimes, not sins, only crimes, will blur the line between crimes and sins and write a report designed to put the president in a bad light," he continued. "But in the end, they won’t be able to find any specific violations of federal criminal statutes unless they stretch these vague laws like obstruction of justice beyond any recognition.”
Dershowitz's comments came hours after court filings from special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosectors in New York were made public.
In a filing, Mueller described Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime attorney, as having gone to “significant lengths” to cooperate with his Russia investigation, including meeting with attorneys from Mueller's office on seven occasions and voluntarily providing information on a number of topics.
Mueller also wrote that Cohen’s information was “credible and consistent” with other evidence discovered in his special counsel investigation into Russian interference.
In a separate filing, prosecutors recommended that Cohen receive a “substantial” prison term for several federal crimes, despite his cooperation with ongoing law enforcement investigations, including in Mueller's Russia probe.
The document states that Cohen "acted in coordination with and at the direction of" Trump in steering payments to silence Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, two women claiming they had affairs with Trump, before the 2016 presidential election.
In the filing, Cohen claimed "Individual-1" asked him to approve illegal payments, an apparent reference to then-candidate Trump.
Prosecutors argue that the payments were meant to influence the election, thereby violating campaign finance laws. Cohen previously implicated Trump when he pleaded guilty in August to violating campaign finance laws in relation to the payments.
In a tweet following the filings' release, Trump claimed the documents "totally clear" him of any wrongdoing.
In response to the filings, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that the documents related to Cohen contained "nothing of value that wasn't already known."
“The government’s filings in Mr. Cohen’s case tell us nothing of value that wasn’t already known," Sanders wrote. "Mr. Cohen has repeatedly lied and as the prosecution has pointed out to the court, Mr. Cohen is no hero.”
Dershowitz, who is an opinion contributor for The Hill, has emerged as a regular voice on television shows defending Trump on legal issues.
LINK/URL: Deschowitz: Mueller report "will blur the line between crimes
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