On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz stated Special Counsel Robert Mueller is “very zealous.” He later added that Mueller won’t be content until he gets to President Trump or those “very close” to him and this is the danger of special prosecutors.
Dershowitz said that both parties are guilty of arguing that everything they disagree with is criminal and this behavior started with Republicans during the campaign with Hillary Clinton and then continued by Democrats.
Dershowitz then recalled his experience with Mueller. He stated that he talked to Mueller about prosecutorial and FBI misconduct and Mueller stated “It’s a non-starter to talk to me about FBI misconduct or prosecutorial misconduct. It’s a non-starter. He doesn’t want to hear about that. He is in the business of protecting the FBI, protecting prosecutors, at all costs. I don’t suggest he’s unethical, but he’s very zealous.”
He added that this makes Mueller “effective at his job, but the job of a prosecutor is to do justice, not to get as many notches on his belt as possible.”
Dershowitz further stated Mueller is “not going to be satisfied until he gets to the president, or people very close to him. That’s the danger of a special prosecutor.”
Dershowitz also stated the tactic of finding someone to prosecute in order to get them to talk is “dangerous” because people will “compose” and make things up to get a better deal. He continued, “Look, if an ordinary person walked over to somebody and said, ‘Unless you give up your rights, I’m going to have you criminally prosecuted,’ we’d call that extortion. But it’s allowed by prosecutors. And I’ve been railing against this for 53 years. now, Republicans agree with me. … Which side are you on has become so important.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett