Lawyer Alan Dershowitz has tips for President Trump on how the weather special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation and the ensuing legal drama involving his former associates.
“Look, my advice to the president — I never gave it to him privately because I’m not his lawyer, but on television — is don’t fire, don’t pardon, don’t tweet, and don’t testify,” Dershowitz said during a panel interview with ABC’s “This Week.” “And if he listened to those four things, he’d be in less trouble than he is today.”
Dershowitz said Trump has the authority to dismiss Attorney General Jeff Sessions, with whom the president exchanged bards last week over the leadership of the Justice Department, but stressed that he would not recommend it.
“He’s perfectly entitled to do so,” Dershowitz said of Trump pushing out Sessions. “I think it would be a mistake to fire anybody.”
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort last Tuesday was found guilty by a federal court in Virginia of eight out of 18 tax and bank fraud charges stemming from Mueller’s investigation. On the same day, ex-Trump personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in front of a New York federal court to eight charges that emanated from a U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York probe following a referral from Mueller.
In the days since, Trump has not ruled out pardoning Manafort, who faces yet another trial in September in Washington. He called Manafort “a good man” shortly after the jury returned the partial guilty verdict.
Trump has not displayed the same level of public support for Cohen. He took to Twitter Wednesday to poke fun at his former employee’s legal prowess. “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” he tweeted.
Dershowitz’s comments come as Trump’s outside legal team continues to negotiate with Mueller’s team regarding the possibility of the president sitting down with federal prosecutors for their investigation.
