President Trump quoted Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz Thursday night to defend himself amid renewed talk that Justice Department officials weighed asking Cabinet members to consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.
“Any Justice Department official who even mentioned the 25th Amendment in the context of President Trump has committed a grievous offense against the Constitution,” Dershowitz told Fox New’s Tucker Carlson on Thursday.
“The framers of the 25th Amendment had in mind something very specific and trying to use the 25th Amendment to circumvent the impeachment provisions or to circumvent an election is a despicable act of unconstitutional power grabbing,” Dershowitz continued.
Trump tweeted a version of those comments Thursday night.
“Trying to use the 25th Amendment to try and circumvent the Election is a despicable act of unconstitutional power grabbing…which happens in third world countries. You have to obey the law. This is an attack on our system & Constitution.” Alan Dershowitz. @TuckerCarlson
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2019
The New York Times reported in September that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had discussed using the amendment and wearing a wire to record his conversations with the president. Rosenstein denied the report.
Whether Justice Department officials had such conversations was pushed back into the headlines Thursday when “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley said former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told him there were meetings “in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment.”
Pelley said the matter was discussed in the days after Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey.
Rosenstein again rejected that the 25th Amendment had been discussed in a statement released by the Justice Department on Thursday.
“As the Deputy Attorney General previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment,” the statement said.
