Alan Dershowitz: "Abuse of power is not an impeachable offense."

[DetlefK]

"It didn't happen."

"Okay, it did happen, but I had nothing to do with it."

"Okay, I had to do with it, but it's not my fault."

"Okay, it is my fault, but it's not a crime"




Alan Dershowitz: "Abuse of power, even if proved, is not an impeachable offense. That's exactly what the framers rejected. They didn't want to give Congress the authority to remove a President because he abused his power."

[mnmoderatedem]

1. ...said no one ever

except for him

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. ROFLMAO

Go back under the rock you crawled out of, doofus.

We declared our independence from the king specifically to get away from his abuse of power. Why do you think the framers (who were a lot smarter than you ever will be) included impeachment as a remedy to remove a president who is abusing his power? Every word of the Constitution was discussed and argued about before it was inserted in the final document. If this is not a circumstance they would not have considered an abuse of power, then what would fit that word?

The GAO has said a crime was committed. You're just throwing dog turds at the wall and seeing if anything sticks.

[smirkymonkey]

3. Can someone section him?

Because I really think he has lost it completely.

[ChubbyStar]

7. He is bat shit crazy

Which will make for interesting viewing. You have heard the expression "He stepped on his own dick", I believe Alan will not only step on his own dick but Trumps as well. In fact I think there will be some stomping involved. These are not competent people, third rate criminals rarely are.

[Midnight Writer]

30. Dershowitz can't "step on his own dick". He always keeps his underwear on.

[csziggy]

33. Then he must have a huge pants load!

I don't want to think about that any more...

[Dorian Gray]

4. So...

their strategy is to admit he abused his power...

Got it.

[Evolve Dammit]

12. and there's nothing you can do about it. FU America.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. If Nixon had that stance, he wouldn't have had to resign.

One of the three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon was abuse of power, multiple times. Technically, Dershowitz is correct, that a President has yet to be convicted and removed from office for abuse of power. Yet.

[True Blue American]

6. I heard one Government Official

Call Dershowitz a caricature of himself now.

[Cyrano]

8. "Liberal" Harvard Professor Alan (Epstein guest) Dershowitz

Name any Harvard Professor who has appeared on Fox more than Dershowitz. Name any liberal who has defended more right-wing causes than Dershowitz. Name any Harvard Professor who got "talked into a massage" at Jeffery Epstein's mansion. (By the way Alan, how old was that masseuse?)

Dershowitz is as much a liberal as Mitch McConnell. And to be fair, Dershowitz claimed that he "kept my underwear on during that massage."

Dershowitz either lost his brain decades ago, or he's making so much right-wing money he's addicted to it.

I'm willing to bet that Harvard wishes they could rescind every title they've ever given him.

Lawrence Tribe, the truly great liberal Harvard professor was being interviewed on some cable show last night and suggested that Dershowitz is "mistaken" in many cases. And then, if you listened closely, he all but stopped short of calling Dershowitz a rancid piece of shit. (My words, not Tribe's.)

[Martin Eden]

11. He's probably addicted to the RW money

And to his fleeting fame, however infamous.

[Cyrano]

29. Well, he's achieved infamy in the circles of

academics where people are capable of rational thought.

As for the money, it makes one ask just how big a whore can a noted academic become. I guess Dershowitz has answered that for us.

[disndat]

15. I thought there was a

perceptible look of peace on Dishwater face after the news of the Epstein "suicide.

[djacq]

9. Over 500 Legal Scholars disagree;

[link:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/12/06/politics/legal-scholars-letter-trump-impeachment/index.html&ved=2ahUKEwjaqLn6oI3nAhUqTt8KHcihC3sQFjABegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw07dKoAOEOKJQDEHhitJeqj&ampcf=1|

[papa3times]

10. Dershowitz is a joke

AD should be fired from Harvard law and every student whoever took a class from him should be refunded their money. He should be disbarred for legal malpractice and no one in the legal community should ever speak his name again!

[Evolve Dammit]

13. He is also part of Epstein's sexcapades. Trump, Barr, Dershowitz, Prince Andrew,

benefited from his "suicide." I hope the truth comes out about all that abused under-aged girls. Epsteins "manager" knows all the names. There are others that do as well. Based on another inmate, Epstein was heard screaming before his "suicide." Corrections officers not around, cameras inoperative, tapes missing, yada yada.
Could we have some justice for a change?? Oh Barr is the AG, who it appears visited Epstein at one point. Wonder what was discussed?

[MarcA]

27. Power, money and blackmail go together with this ilk. n/t

[ashredux]

14. Alan needs to cover his ass.....

He knows he screwed young girls on the “Island”......they are covering up a lot more than Ukraine

[Takket]

22. Exactly. And drumpf knows that too

And I’m sure Alan got the “if I go down, you are going down with me” speech.

[disndat]

16. Great blog!

DUers are the smartest people in the world.

[greatauntoftriplets]

17. Dersh needs to read the Constitution.

[Dopers_Greed]

18. Does Dersh keep his undies on...

When he thinks about Trump at night?

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. Holy shit!

Fucking WOW!

[warmfeet]

20. He is a lying sack of shit.

He knows it and we know it. He is counting on the orange assholes base to not know it or to simply deny it. High crimes and misdemeanors is the same thing as abuse of power. Dersh knows this but he is lying.

[Iggo]

21. Alan Dershowitz does not fuck little girls.

Allegedly.

[Buckeyeblue]

23. Once Dershowitz became famous he has had to find ways to stay famous

I think he was willing to do whatever it took, take on whatever argument was needed, to stay in the spotlight.

The problem is that while he has remained somewhat famous, the intellectual circles that he used to be part of have rejected him. That has made him bitter. So he has no choice but to double down. So he has decided to be intellectually dishonest to keep whatever popularity he has.

[moondust]

24. Try these, Dershy.

"President Trump wasn't even born yet when the law was written so it obviously doesn't apply to him."

"President Trump didn't sign the legislation so it's not legally binding."

"The framers didn't say anything about shooting someone on 5th Avenue so that means it's okay."

And of course the old standby:

"When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal."

[UniteFightBack]

25. He is trying his best to normalize this corrupt behavior. His arguments will fail except the Fox

Noise crowd who've been fed a steady diet of Democrats are the real enemy for years. It's troublesome.

[onenote]

26. Alexander Hamilton rises from the grave to say, "WTF?"

Alexander Hamilton wrote in1788 that impeachment proceedings were for “those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust.”

[Zolorp]

28. All that moron Dershowitz needs to do is read the documents

"Madison argued that the Constitution needed a provision “for defending the community against the incapacity, negligence, or perfidy of the Chief Magistrate.” Waiting to vote him out of office in a general election wasn’t good enough. “He might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation”— embezzlement—“or oppression,” Madison warned. “He might betray his trust to foreign powers.”

Randolph agreed on both these fronts. “The Executive will have great opportunities of abusing his power,” he warned, “particularly in time of war, when the military force, and in some respects the public money, will be in his hands.” The delegates voted, 8 states to 2, to make the executive removable by impeachment.

The Virginia delegates borrowed their model for impeachment from the British Parliament. For 400 years, English lawmakers had used impeachment to exercise some control over the king’s ministers. Often, Parliament invoked it to check abuses of power, including improprieties and attempts to subvert the state. The House of Commons’ 1640 articles of impeachment against Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, alleged “that he... hath traiterously endeavored to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Realms... and in stead thereof, to introduce Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law.” (The House of Lords convicted Strafford, who was hanged in 1641.)"

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-founding-fathers-debate-over-what-constituted-impeachable-offense-180965083/

[KPN]

31. It doesn't matter one iota whether this legal

theory is “bat-shit crazy” if the GOP Senate buys into and does not convict tRump.

Does anyone here really think they won’t use, if not 100%, agree with Dershowitz’s bat-shit crazy theory to avoid removing him from the WH? Of course they will. Dershowitz is being used because he’s their escape hatch.

They know they can get away with it. After Trump’s acquitted, all they’ll have to do to save their necks is steal the election! And why wouldn’t they? They’ve got nothing more to lose at that point.

[coti]

32. Then what IS an impeachable offense? Jaywalking?

WTF is wrong with this idiot?

[csziggy]

34. Obviously, lying about a blow job is an impeachable offence nt