President Donald Trump's attorneys made the right decision to have him answer special counsel Robert Mueller's questions in writing, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said Monday while responding to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's call for Mueller to subpoena the president.
"He doesn't even have a basis for casting doubt," Dershowitz told Fox News' "Outnumbered Overtime." "No reasonable lawyer would ever allow the president to sit down. President [Bill] Clinton did that and he paid a very heavy price doing that."
By sitting down and answering questions personally, Mueller could have snared Trump in a "perjury trap," which can happen even when a client tells the truth, said Dershowitz.
"If the president gave absolutely truthful testimony and [former Trump attorney] Michael Cohen contradicted him, and the prosecutors decided to believe Michael Cohen, that would be a perjury trap," Dershowitz said. "So, I see no reason for the president to sit down to have a live testimony. He's not going to do it. That was made clear right from the beginning."
However, Dershowitz did say he does not see anything wrong with Schiff and his staff speaking with Cohen before his congressional hearings.
"Congressional staffers and members of Congress meet with favorable witnesses all the time," Dershowitz said. "The only problem would be if it was coaching."
He added he thinks Cohen has "real difficulty giving straight answers," but witness preparation is done "every day."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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