Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said special counsel Robert Mueller would like to see former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort choose to testify against Trump rather than “die in prison.”
“[They’re hoping to say] look, you have two choices: Die in prison or testify against your former associate. And most people will take the ‘testify’ option rather than the ‘die in prison’ option,” Dershowitz said during an interview Monday on Fox News.
Dershowitz added that the jury is not likely to be sympathetic to him.
[Related: Paul Manafort reportedly being held in ‘solitary confinement‘]
WATCH: @BillHemmer @SandraSmithFox and our Headliner @AlanDersh discussed Paul Manafort and the Mueller investigation #nine2noon pic.twitter.com/2f5biTModF
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Manafort faces charges of bank and tax fraud in the Eastern District of Virginia stemming from his work for a Ukrainian political figure as uncovered by special counsel Robert Mueller. The trial is slated to begin Tuesday. Manafort is currently jailed at the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, which is a few blocks away from the federal courthouse he will be tried. He was sent behind bars by a federal judge in Washington, where he also faces charges related to his work in Ukraine stemming from Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
[More: ‘No chance’ Paul Manafort will cut deal with Mueller to avoid trial, lawyer says]
If convicted in Virginia, Manafort possibly faces decades in prison, unless Mueller offers him a lifeline in exchange for testifying against the president.
Dershowitz said Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, may also be compelled to strike a deal in exchange for providing evidence against the president. He said witnesses in these types of situations sometimes compose heir own evidence in exchange for a shorter sentence, Fox News Insider reported.
