Alan Dershowitz cheers attacks on Mueller: 'He'll lean over backwards to make close calls for Trump'

Attorney Alan Dershowitz encouraged Republicans to keep undermining special counsel Robert Mueller, because he said their efforts to influence the investigation were working.

The Harvard Law School professor emeritus appeared Wednesday morning on "Fox & Friends," where he argued President Donald Trump would be foolish to get Mueller removed.

"I would play the refs, I would keep the pressure on Mueller," Dershowitz said. "Mueller is very concerned about his reputation."

Republicans -- with the help of Fox News -- have attacked Mueller's credibility by accusing him of conflicts of interest, political bias and improperly obtaining evidence, and Dershowitz said that could tilt the investigation in the president's favor.

"They have him where they want him," Dershowitz said. "He'll probably want to lean over backwards now to make any close calls in favor of Trump, so I think it would be now foolish to try to fire him, which would create a political scandal, probably move toward impeachment -- although there'd be no justification for that."

"They should leave it be," he added. "If they want to keep the pressure on, keep the pressure on."

Host Steve Doocy agreed the president's allies were working the refs, so to speak, and Dershowitz said the strategy was working brilliantly.

"He's playing right into their hands," Dershowitz said. "I have to tell you, I had an enormous amount of respect for Mueller having seen him up close when he was in Boston and in the government. He is not playing this effectively, he is being sloppy."

He again cited purported improprieties hyped by Fox News in recent weeks, including politically charged text messages from an FBI agent removed from the probe, and the obtaining of transition team emails from the General Services Administration and then from Trump's lawyers.

"You wear belt and suspenders when you are going after the president, you get a warrant," Dershowitz said.