Trump impeachment trial

Alan Dershowitz just argued presidents can do whatever they want to get re-elected

January 29, 2020

.polaris__post-meta--date { display: none; } .polaris__post-meta--date.no-script { display: block; padding-left: 45px } January 29, 2020

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Well, that's one way to spin it.

President Trump's lawyer Alan Dershowitz argued Wednesday during the Senate impeachment trial that Trump's alleged Ukraine quid pro quo wasn't impeachable because he was actually just acting in the "public interest." Dershowitz's reasoning didn't have to do with rooting out corruption or anything of that sort, however. Instead, he was making the case that because every president believes it's in the public interest to win an election, any action geared toward securing victory is immune from impeachment.

A Trump lawyer just argued that "every public official that I know" believes their own re-election is in the public interest, and "mostly you're right," and so a quid pro quo to help get yourself re-elected, "in the public interest," is not impeachable. https://t.co/l4RCIfNvn5
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 29, 2020

You may have some questions — like, say, by that logic shouldn't Watergate have been acceptable? — and you're not alone.

Using Dershowitz's logic, couldn’t Nixon have justified that both the break-in and the cover-up of Watergate (which were both purely for his political interest) as “in the national interest,” and therefore not impeachable?
— Mo Elleithee (@MoElleithee) January 29, 2020

Dershowitz's comments reportedly left some Democratic lawmakers flabbergasted, as well. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) apparently turned to Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and silently express his incredulity, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Jeff Merkely (D-Ore.) were left visibly frustrated, and a slow grin crept its way on to the face of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).