In an interview that aired on Sunday’s “MediaBuzz” on the Fox News Channel, law professor Alan Dershowitz argued the Mueller team got the law wrong on whether or not President Donald Trump could be charged with obstruction of justice.
Dershowitz explained a president could not be charged with obstruction for carrying out his constitutional duties and noted that there is a past precedent for his claim.
“[I]n my introduction, I show how Mueller got the law completely wrong on obstruction of justice,” Dershowitz said. “And I lay out what the law on obstruction is. And you cannot be charged with obstruction if you’re the president and you simply exercise your constitutional authority to fire Comey or anyone else. I lay that out carefully.”
“And the best precedent for that is George H.W. Bush, who pardoned Casper Weinberger and five other people on the eve of the trial,” Dershowitz said. “The special prosecutor said he obstructed justice, but he couldn’t be charged with it. And they never mentioned the Bush case in the Mueller report. Mueller was in the Bush administration. Barr was in the Bush administration. And they deliberately omit as the leading precedent, which would preclude a president from being charged with obstruction for simply exercising his constitutional authority.”
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