Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz on Thursday further argued against President Donald Trump firing anyone in the Russia probe and instead emphasized Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should recuse himself.
"Firing is an act by the president," Dershowitz told Anderson Cooper on CNN. "I would be very much opposed to that.
"It would be a terrible mistake," he said, noting this position included Rosenstein, special counsel Robert Mueller "or anybody."
"That's a big difference between that and [Rosenstein's] lawyers taking a legitimate step that many lawyers would take of seeking recusal," he said.
Dershowitz has argued Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel last year after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, should recuse himself because he wrote the document that the president used to justify Comey's dismissal.
But on a Rosenstein recusal, Dershowitz did note to Cooper: "I'm not sure it even has an advantage for the president.
"If Rosenstein is recused, somebody else will take over, especially now there's a case in New York, there's a case here from the special counsel," he explained.
"From a tactical point of view, it just doesn't make any sense to try to interfere with the current personnel conducting the investigation.
"If I were Trump's lawyers, I would be focusing on defense, focusing on trying to make a deal with the prosecution to have a minimally intrusive series of questions," Dershowitz said.
"That's what I would be focusing on."