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Alan Dershowitz said Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed charges against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as part of an effort to gather evidence on higher-level members of the Trump campaign and administration, including President Donald Trump himself.

Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were indicted by a federal grand jury on Monday on 12 charges, including conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to launder money.

"Although Manafort didn't do anything that had anything to do with the Russian probe or anything like that, his indictment has everything to do with Trump," Dershowitz said on "The Story" tonight.

He said they never would have indicted Manafort if they didn't think there's a possibility that he could turn on Trump or somebody else in the administration.

"This is dominoes. You knock down the first domino, it knocks down the second domino. Ultimately, what Mueller is aiming for is the big domino in the Oval Office," Dershowitz said. "Anybody who is close to Donald Trump at this point is a target."

He said the goal is to get somebody who has information or evidence and "squeeze" them to get them to flip, the same as they would with a mafia, terrorist or corporate crime investigation.

"They find the low-hanging fruit, they find a guy they can go after because his tax returns aren't perfect or he didn't file a form, then they threaten him," Dershowitz said.

Watch more above.

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