Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz on Thursday suggested Michael Cohen’s plea deal with Robert Mueller is another example of how special counsels can create wrongdoing.
“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 that the very fact that he’s conducting an investigation has created these crimes,” Dershowitz, a frequent critic of Mueller’s federal Russia probe, told Fox News.
“These are not crimes that had been committed prior to his appointment,” he said. “They’re crimes that were committed as the result of his appointment, and that raises some questions about the role of special prosecutors in creating crimes, or creating opportunities for crimes to be committed.”
Cohen on Thursday pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to “knowingly and willfully made a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement and representation” to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in 2017 about a Trump real estate project in Russia. Cohen admitted to lying about when discussions regarding the possibility of a Trump Tower in Moscow concluded, about never agreeing to travel to Russia for the project, and never encouraging President Trump to visit Russia ahead of a prospective deal.
Cohen could still face up to six months in prison for the charge, laid in exchange for ongoing cooperation with Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Cohen will also likely face time in prison after pleading guilty in August to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud as part of a separate case brought by federal prosecutors in New York based on a referral from Mueller. The former longtime Trump lawyer and fixer is set to be sentenced for that case on Dec. 12.
Mueller has so far indicted more than 30 people and a handful of companies over the course of his investigation.
