Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano said that it would be a poor decision for President Donald Trump to plead the Fifth Amendment in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Doing so would be "prophylactic legally, but it would be catastrophic politically," Napolitano told Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria."
It would not look good for Trump, who has publicly criticized the idea of pleading the Fifth, Napolitano said.
At a campaign rally in 2017, Trump said, "The mob takes the Fifth. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?" The Hill noted.
By pleading the Fifth Amendment, a witness invokes the right to refuse to answer questions where the answers might incriminate them.
Napolitano referred to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who said Friday that Mueller would need to reveal a legitimate basis for a probe into Trump's campaign before they would grant Mueller an interview with him, The New York Times reported.
"It is inconceivable that the prosecutor would show his cards to politicians before he has played the cards… the prosecutors and the police and the FBI have every right to keep that stuff to themselves until they indict or exonerate," Napolitano told Fox Business
"In my view, this is a very sophisticated way for him to say, 'The president's not sitting down with you,'" Napolitano said.
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