Alan Dershowitz says none of the revelations in John Bolton's new book constitute an impeachable offense for Trump
Associated Press
Alan Dershowitz, one of the lawyers representing President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial, dismissed the idea that evidence in John Bolton's coming book might prompt the president's removal from office.
"Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense," he told the Senate late Monday evening.
In his coming book, reported on by The New York Times ahead of its publication, Bolton reportedly says Trump explicitly linked Ukraine military aid to investigations Trump wanted into his political opponents.
Trump's critics want Bolton to deliver the evidence as formal testimony, believing it would lend a critical blow to Trump's defense.
President Donald Trump's high-profile lawyer Alan Dershowitz says none of the acts said to be described in John Bolton's coming book constitute an impeachable offense.
In Bolton's book, reported on ahead of its publication by The New York Times, the former US national security adviser reportedly says Trump told him in 2019 that he would withhold military aid from Ukraine until President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to investigate Trump's political rivals.
Trump's critics view the claim as a deadly blow to Trump's impeachment defense should it be submitted as formal testimony. The Trump team says the president withheld the aid over corruption fears and burden-sharing concerns.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
But Dershowitz told the Senate on Monday evening that the reported Bolton claims, disruptive as they might be, did not constitute impeachable offenses even if true.
"If any president had done what The Times reported about the content of the Bolton manuscript, that would not constitute an impeachable offense," Dershowitz said.
"That is clear from the history," he said. "That is clear from the language of the Constitution."
Dershowitz said he felt obligated to defend the US Constitution and cited former Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Curtis' defense of President Andrew Johnson during his impeachment.
"You cannot turn conduct that is not impeachable into impeachable conduct simply by using words like 'quid pro quo' and 'personal benefit,'" Dershowitz said.
Several legal experts have said the details attributed to Bolton's book give overwhelming weight to the case that Trump broke the law.
Bolton's revelation "directly contradicts Trump's absurd defense on the facts," Jeffrey Cramer, a former longtime federal prosecutor who spent 12 years at the Justice Department, told Business Insider.
"The Senate can hear the story as part of their responsibilities, or they can hear it on Bolton's book tour."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who like Dershowitz previously worked as a Harvard Law professor, criticized Dershowitz's oration on Monday night, saying: "I truly could not follow it."
Associated Press
"His characterization of the law simply is unsupported. He is a criminal law professor who stood in the well of the Senate and talked about how law never inquires into intent and that we should not be using the president's intent as part of understanding impeachment," Warren said, according to The Hill.
"Criminal law is all about intent," she said. "Mens rea is the heart of criminal law. That's the very basis of it. So it makes his whole presentation just nonsensical."
Bolton is yet to be called by the Senate to testify, but he said on January 6 that he was willing to if issued a subpoena.
On Monday, numerous legal experts called on Chief Justice John Roberts, who is overseeing the trial, to issue subpoenas himself, if the Republican-dominated Senate refused to.
Reuters
The legal scholars Neal Katyal, Joshua Geltzer, and Mickey Edwards wrote in The New York Times that Roberts had full authority to do so under the 1868 Senate impeachment rules.
Trump's legal team also includes Ken Starr and Robert Ray, each of whom investigated President Bill Clinton during his impeachment; the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone; Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow; and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Dershowitz is a Harvard emeritus law professor and constitutional and criminal law scholar. He has often defended Trump in appearances on Fox News.
Trump and his allies have dismissed the impeachment as a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."
Read the original article on Business Insider
