Special counsel Robert Mueller is "playing into the hands" of President Donald Trump's legal team by making every mistake that "arrogant prosecutors" make, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday.
"I think the administration is entitled to have a fair process going forward, and I do think that Mueller is playing into the hands of the Trump team," Dershowitz told Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria" program.
"He's made every mistake that arrogant prosecutors make in ordinary cases, because he is handling this like an ordinary case instead of a case in which the president of the United States is being targeted."
For example, Mueller picked the wrong people for his investigation, as too many of them supported 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, said Dershowitz, and it was revealed that two FBI agents, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, had been exchanging anti-Trump texts with each other.
"He then failed to get a search warrant for thousands and thousands of emails that are in a questionable status," said Dershowitz. "They come from the transition team that [is partly] public, partly private, and may contain some privileged information."
However, Dershowitz said he does not believe Mueller has a partisan bias against the president, but he does think the former FBI director has "handled the investigation in a very, very sloppy manner," which allows Trump's team and Republicans to make legal and political points.
He also said he believes Mueller should have taken more care when screening the people he added to his investigation, even though it would have violated a Justice Department rule to ask about their political affiliations.
"When you're investigating the president, you ask them, is there anything in your background that might create a perception of bias," Dershowitz said of questions that should have been posed.
He also said he thinks Mueller should have come forward sooner about his decision to remove Strzok from the investigation, even though much of the blame for the emails lies at the FBI agent's feet.
"This is different," Dershowitz said. "You have to be above board. Half the judges in America are Republicans and they are going to come to the process and the American public is divided. You have to give the American people the ability to believe the investigation is fair. You can't do it when you make different kinds of mistakes that I think Mueller has been making from the very beginning."
Meanwhile, Green Party candidate Jill Stein is being investigated for collusion with Russia, and Dershowitz said he is not surprised.
"Anything you say about Jill Stein, I believe," said Dershowitz. "She hates America. She hates any kind of liberal democracy. She hates the Democratic Party and Democrats. Needless to say she hates Republicans. Well, it sounds like a stretch, but it certainly ought to be looked into."
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.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.