Dershowitz: DC-area grand jury gives Mueller ‘tactical advantage’ over Trump

Harvard law professor and noted attorney Alan Dershowitz said on Friday that the grand jury impaneled by special counsel Robert Mueller has a significant “tactical advantage” against President Trump: Its jurors are based in Washington, D.C.
Dershowitz argued on WABC Radio that D.C. is a heavily Democratic area and would be unfavorable to Trump and his administration.
“It gives the prosecutor the power to indict in the District of Columbia, which is a district that is heavily Democratic, and would have a jury pool very unfavorable to Trump and the Trump Administration,” Dershowitz told WABC radio host Rita Cosby. “So it gives the prosecutor a tremendous tactical advantage.”
{mosads}”The District of Columbia, which is always solidly Democratic and has an ethnic and racial composition that might be very unfavorable to the Trump Administration, so I see the significance not so much that he impaneled the grand jury — you have to impanel the grand jury to get subpoena power — but where he impaneled it,” he continued.
Dershowitz called it a “tactical move” for a potential future prosecution.
“I think it’s a tactical move designed to send a message that if the prosecutor decides to prosecute, he will have a real advantage with the jury pool where the case will be held, provided there is jurisdiction in the District of Columbia, and there would be generally jurisdiction almost anywhere,” he said.
Dershowitz’s comments follow a report by The Wall Street Journal that Mueller had impaneled a grand jury including 23 grand jurors looking into subpoenas and witness testimony and who will have a say over what criminal charges are appropriate.
Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in May to investigate alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian election interference during the 2016 election.
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