Alan Dershowitz 'Retracts' 1998 Impeachment Remarks After Facing 'Bullies' On CNN
Alan Dershowitz, an attorney on Donald Trump’s legal team, has “retracted” his old views on impeachment now that he’s defending the president in the Senate impeachment trial.
Dershowitz’s retraction on Tuesday follows a feisty exchange with CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Jeffery Toobin over resurfaced footage that highlighted the difference between Dershowitz’s arguments at the time of former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment and his arguments now as he defends Trump.
“To the extent there are inconsistencies between my current position and what I said 22 years ago, I am correct today,” Dershowitz began his four-part Twitter thread. “During the Clinton impeachment, the issue was not whether a technical crime was required, because he was charged with perjury.”
“To the extent therefore that my 1998 off-the-cuff interview statement suggested the opposite, I retract it,” he concluded. “Scholars learn to adapt and even change old views as they do more research.”
(2of 3
Therefore, I didn’t research the issue; I relied on the academic consensus that a crime was not required. In Trump impeachment, on the other hand, that is the critical issue, because abuse of power and obstruction of congress are neither crimes nor criminal- like behavior.— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) January 21, 2020
(3 of 3)So I have now thoroughly researched the issue and concluded that although a technical crime with all the elements may not be required, criminal like behavior akin to treason and bribery is required.
— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) January 21, 2020
Over the weekend, CNN uncovered footage from 1998 of the defense lawyer and Harvard Law professor emeritus weighing in on the Clinton impeachment process.
“It certainly doesn’t have to be a crime,” he said on CNN at the time. “If you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don’t need a technical...
