There would not be a "worse choice" than Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general, as he'll be the main witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's collusion case against President Donald Trump, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said Thursday.
"He is the guy, who, according to [Bob] Woodward gave the president the idea to fire [James] Comey and wrote the memo authorizing the firing of Comey," Dershowitz told Fox News' "America's Newsroom," while commenting on a lawsuit filed by the state of Maryland opposing the appointment of Sessions' chief of staff Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.
Rosenstein, said Dershowitz, should be recused, and the idea of making him the acting attorney general "would be absurd."
Further, said Dershowitz, he believes presidents have the right to fill vacancies temporarily, and besides, he doesn't think a person should be permanently assigned immediately when someone is fired or resigns.
"You want the president to think about it," he said. "Presidents have always made interim appointments before they've made permanent appointments."
Dershowitz also rejected an argument from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said Whitaker hasn't gone through Senate confirmation.
"All interim appointments are not confirmed for the position that they are filling," he said, and even Rosenstein hasn't been confirmed as attorney general, but just as his deputy.
He also denied that the appointment should be rejected on constitutional grounds.
"I think it is a mistake to challenge everything on constitutional grounds," said Dershowitz. "The president may be wrong in his appointment. Being wrong doesn't make it unconstitutional."
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.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.