Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz, a frequent defender of President Donald Trump, said today the forthcoming report on Russian interference in the 2016 election from special counsel Robert Mueller will be “devastating” politically to the President.
“I think the report is going to be devastating to the President,” Dershowitz, a fomer Harvard law professor, said on “ABC This Week.” “And I know that the President’s team is already working on a response to the report.”
“At some point when the report’s made public — and that’s a very hard question considering the new attorney general who has the authority to decide when and under what circumstance to make it public — it will be made public probably with a response alongside,” he added, referencing Matthew Whitaker, the new acting attorney general who replaced the fired Jeff Sessions after the November midterm election.
Mueller was appointed to lead the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election after Trump fired then FBI Director James Comey in May 2017 while he was leading the initial investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump has repeatedly derided Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt” and insisted there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia.
Dershowitz said despite his expectation for a “politically very devastating report,” he doesn’t think criminal charges will be brought forward.
“When I say devastating, I mean it’s going to paint a picture that’s going to be politically very devastating,” he said. “I still don’t think it’s going to make a criminal case, because collusion is not criminal.”
Dan Abrams, ABC News chief legal analyst, pushed back against Dershowitz’s assessment however, arguing that the report could lead to a criminal case.
“Alan is taking the position that the president effectively can’t obstruct justice,” Abrams pointed out.
Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign team has been the subject of an ongoing probe into alleged collusion with the Russian government.
Thus far, the investigation has resulted in 32 individuals indictments and six guilty pleas, including that of the president’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Last week, Trump submitted written responses to questions from Mueller in connection with the inquiry.
With Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives in January, speculation has mounted that the opposition party will launch impeachment proceedings against the president.