Dershowitz Blasts ‘False Statement Prosecutions’: Crimes Committed as ‘Result’ of Mueller’s Appointment
On Fox News Channel, attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz on Thursday was on air by phone to offer commentary on the breaking guilty plea news about Michael Cohen and in part criticized the prosecution of perjury within the investigation. The prosecution creates crimes that didn’t or wouldn’t exist without Robert Mueller‘s investigation itself taking place, he said.
Anchor Bill Hemmer asked about a “perjury trap” in the investigation: “Do you think that all of these cases are based on that?”
“I think that a lot of them are,” said Dershowitz.”I think the weakness of Mueller’s substantive findings are suggested by the fact that he has to resort to false statement prosecutions, which really shows that he didn’t start with very much, and the very fact that he’s conducting an investigation has created these crimes.”
“These are not crimes that had been committed prior to his appointment,they’re crimes that were committed as the result of his appointment,” he continued, “and that raises some questions about the role of special prosecutors in creating crimes, or creating opportunities for crimes to be committed.”
“In the end, I don’t think Mueller’s going to come up with very much, in terms of criminal conduct, that existed before he was appointed, and that’s pretty shocking,” said Dershowitz.
Hemmer put in that it is a “low bar” legally, that if you “get a date wrong” or “get an email wrong” that “that would be under the definition perjury.” It was similar to a point repeated several times by Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night, when he said Mueller is ” threatening 72-year-old Jerome Corsi with prison because he couldn’t remember forwarding an e-mail.” But Dershowitz corrected Hemmer.
“Technically, it has to be willful, and knowing, and deliberate,” said Dershowitz, but adding there’s a burden on the witness to prove it was an error rather than a lie.
Watch the clip above, courtesy of FOX News Channel.
[Featured image via screengrab]
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