Alan Dershowitz says Trump's action towards Ukraine were 'not an impeachable offense,' but may impact his 2020 vote
- Attorney Alan Dershowitz told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that he will consider Donald Trump's pressure campaign in Ukraine while deciding who to vote for in 2020.
- "I will allow that to enter into my decision who to vote for, but it's not an impeachable offense," the former Harvard Law School professor said.
- Dershowitz also criticized Democrats for twisting his words on the Senate floor last week, noting, "I never said, I don't mean and I don't believe that a president can do anything if he thinks it's in [the] national interest."
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Constitutional lawyer Alan Dershowitz said on "Fox News Sunday" that President Donald Trump's decision to freeze aid to Ukraine until it investigated his political rivals will impact who he votes for in November.
Chris Wallace asked the retired Harvard law professor a question, noting that it was for "Alan Dershowitz, citizen."
"Do you find it troubling, problematic that a president would link in any way - forget his motive and I'm not saying it's criminal - his support for an ally and even military aid for an ally to investigating his political opponents?" He asked.
Dershowitz, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has identified as a Democrat, said he'd weigh it when he votes in November.
"On Election Day, as a citizen, I will allow that to enter into my decision who to vote for, but it's not an impeachable offense," he said. "I was there to argue a constitutional issue not to tell people who to vote for for president."
Public interest vs. quid pro quo
Wallace asked Dershowitz about an argument he presented in Trump's defense during the Senate trial Wednesday.
"Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest and, mostly, you're right - your election is in the public interest," Dershowitz said. "If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment."
Dershowitz denied that Trump determining an action to be in the "public interest" gave him "an extra level of immunity." He also said Trump participating in a "quid pro quo" would only matter if he had broken the law - which Dershowitz says he didn't.
"The president did something that is completely lawful, the fact that part of his motivation may have been to help his election cannot be the quid pro quo," Dershowitz said. "That's what I said. I never said, I don't mean and I don't believe that a president can do anything if he thinks it's in [the] national interest."
Dershowitz pointed to his support for the impeachment of former President Richard Nixon, who, he said, "thought that the five crimes he committed were all in the national interest."
'Deliberately and willfully' twisted words
Dershowitz also criticized House impeachment manager Adam Schiff and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for "distorting" his words when they saw his argument was resonating with some senators.
"[They] made it sound like I said, 'Oh, even if it's criminal, if the president thinks it's in [public] interest, it can't be an impeachment offense,'" an outraged Dershowitz said. "Nonsense. I never said that."
The question of motive wasn't "relevant" to his argument and "doesn't matter" to him, Dershowitz told Wallace. He addressed it because a question had been posed only to have his answer "deliberately wrenched out of context."
"I was very upset about that because it has hurt me," he said. "People actually think I believe that a president like Nixon can do anything he wants. It's exactly the opposite of what I've been teaching, arguing, and, as a civil libertarian, believing in for 50 years. How dare they deliberately and willfully distort my position and then not give me an opportunity to respond?"
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