Friday's arrest of political consultant Roger Stone was a "show" put on by special counsel Robert Mueller's office to influence public opinion, Attorney Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax TV.
Dershowitz appeared on "Newsmax Now" hours after the FBI showed up at Stone's Fort Lauderdale home before dawn, pounded on the door, and took him into custody as part of Mueller's Russia probe.
"You arrest this guy in a dawn raid, handcuff him, put him in shackles, and then you don't even ask the judge to raise the bail. $250,000, which is nothing bail. Clearly this was just a show, an attempt to put pressure on him," Dershowitz said.
Dershowitz's full interview will re-air on Newsmax TV Friday at 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET.
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Dershowitz noted that the FBI conducts dramatic arrests like this one — which was caught on camera by a CNN crew — when they're dealing with the mafia or if they think the subject will try to run.
"But obviously the government doesn't think he's gonna flee, or else they would have asked for him to be remanded or would have asked for a higher bail than $250,000. This was a show arrest, and as civil libertarians, we ought to be very concerned about that," he said.
Stone was indicted, appeared for a judge Friday morning, and was charged with obstruction, giving false statements, and witness tampering. He later said he would plead not guilty to all the charges.
Dershowitz was critical of what he called the "singing indictment" of Stone, which he said "tells a lot of stories about WikiLeaks."
"They're just their stories, and he can't defend against them because if he's put on trial, he's not accused of anything related to WikiLeaks," Dershowitz said. "He's only accused of giving false testimony and tampering with witnesses. So what we're seeing is the indictment is puffed up with all kinds of allegations and stories.
"I think we're seeing in the indictments [of other Mueller targets] manipulation in order to prevail in the court of public opinion."
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