Alan Dershowitz says Russian indictments are proof a special counsel is unnecessary

Civil liberty icon Alan Dershowitz said Friday that the indictments against Russians officials in the special counsel's investigation into election interference are proof that the special counsel was unnecessary.

Here's why he's saying that

Dershowitz said on Fox News that the indictments could have been pursued by other than a special counsel investigation. He was asked to respond to a tweet from Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's lawyer, opining that the special counsel investigation needs to be shut down.

"Well you know it proves, this indictment proves that we never needed a special counsel," Dershowitz responded.

"This indictment could have been brought by ordinary prosecutors, ordinary FBI agents, there's no conflict here, it's Russians they are going after," he added. "There's no president, there's no people around the president, there's no conflict between the attorney general and the deputy attorney general, and Americans, it's all Russians."

"Why do we need to spend twenty, thirty, forty million dollars, have special counsel appointed, to do a routine national security investigation, number one?" he asked.

"Number two we'll never find out the extent of the guilt of these people because of course they're never gonna go on trial," he continued. "They're indicted but they'll never go on trial."

"You think the Russians are going to extradite them?" he asked rhetorically. "You think they're going to travel to the United States, go to Disneyland to get arrested?"

"Of course that's not gonna happen, so it will be the end of the process, and indictments are just one-sided allegations, they're not proof," he concluded.

Watch Dershowitz's comments below:

The famed civil libertarian has been an ardent foe of independent federal investigations for decades. On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein revealed 12 more indictments against Russian officials implicated in the attempt to influence the 2016 election.