President Trump and his legal team should be more focused on the Southern District of New York’s investigation rather than special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, attorney Alan Dershowitz said on Fox News Monday.
“I’ve said from day one that the greatest risk to President Trump, his presidency and his businesses are in the Southern District of New York, not with Mueller,” Dershowitz told “Fox and Friends.”
Michael Cohen, a former longtime attorney to the president, pleaded guilty last week to eight criminal accounts, including tax fraud, false statements to a bank, and campaign finance violations.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York brought the charges against Cohen, following a referral from Mueller. Prosecutors granted immunity last week to longtime Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to provide information about the hush money Cohen paid to two women. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the two made allegations that they had previous affairs with Trump. Trump ally and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker was also granted immunity.
“The problem is that with the Southern District there are no constitutional defenses. These are business investigations,” Dershowitz said. “Of course, the president can’t be indicted but his businesses can be indicted. They can look into loans that he may have secured, foreign investments, foreign involvements. He has fewer defenses.”
“The U.S. Attorney’s office can do all the investigations that are necessary and if I were Trump’s lawyers, I would be focusing all of my defense efforts on the Southern District and let the Mueller probe go,” he said.
