In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday, Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz weighed in on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump , reports RealClearPolitics .
Host Maria Bartiromo opened the discussion asking about the recently-held public hearings. According to Dershowitz, the hearings did not help House Democrats build a convincing case against the president. In fact, they demonstrate that Trump is being impeached over policy differences.
“If he is impeached it will be partisan,” Dershowitz said, before addressing concerns raised by Republican lawmakers. Republicans such as Rep. Devin Nunes have long argued that they’re being shut out of the entire process, taking aim at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
According to the lawyer, the impeachment process has been “very, very unfair.”
“I mean, the impeachment process is quasi-criminal in nature and the person being accused is supposed to have rights comparable to the rights of somebody being accused of a crime,” he said, reasserting that the inquiry seems to be “partisan” and “one-sided.”
As Bartiromo pointed out, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham has argued that impeachment will be dead on arrival in the United States Senate, unless the White House whistleblower is allowed to testify.
According to Dershowitz, the anonymous official will eventually testify, and all Senators will be given the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses. The lawyer explained that the GOP can subpoena the whistleblower, noting that the person’s safety needs to be protected.
“We have to balance the right of the whistleblower against retaliation against the right of the person to produce witnesses,” he said.
Dershowitz also discussed the upcoming report from the Justice Department’s Inspector General, which will be published on December 9. According to the lawyer, the report will help the public determine what transpired during the 2016 presidential election.
“Let’s reserve the criminal justice system for real crimes, not political sins,” Dershowitz said, warning that neither Republicans nor Democrats should be “weaponizing” the criminal justice system to advance their own interests.
According to the anonymous intelligence community whistleblower, Trump pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The president, according to the official, froze military aid in order to put pressure on the eastern European country.
Democrats in the House of Representatives claim Trump’s actions toward Ukraine constitute impeachable offenses.
Numerous current and former Trump administration officials have testified before the United States Congress, seemingly corroborating the whistleblower’s allegations.
High-ranking administration officials such as Mike Pompeo are allegedly implicated in the scandal, as is the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
