Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz slammed the efforts of almost a dozen House Republicans to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, saying they are laying the groundwork for Democrats to impeach President Trump just because they “disagree with what he has done.”
Reps. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, announced Wednesday they had filed a resolution with nine other colleagues to impeach Rosenstein, accusing the second ranking Justice Department official of trying to stymie congressional oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The resolution was filed as a non-privileged motion, meaning House Speaker Paul Ryan would have to approve it for a vote on the House floor. But Meadows said they could instead file it as a privileged motion, requiring a vote on the House floor within two days.
“It is the most shortsighted, and I have to say, stupid thing I have heard in a long time,” Dershowitz told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday.
Dershowitz argued the efforts will backfire on House Republicans if Democrats retake control of the lower chamber in the 2018 midterm elections.
“The big issue will be, can you impeach a president or anyone else when you don’t charge him with specific crimes, just because you disagree with what he’s done. And now, you have the Republicans making the case for the Democrats who want to impeach the president by offering bills of impeachment against Rod Rosenstein that don’t charge crimes,” he said.
Meadows has alleged that under Rosenstein’s leadership, the Justice Department has obstructed congressional oversight by not turning over documents related to the ongoing Russia investigation as well as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
More than 880,000 pages of documents have been made available to the House Judiciary Committee through a subpoena, the Justice Department said. Two subpoenas from the House Intelligence Committee have also been fully complied with, according to Justice Department officials. Dershowitz argued Thursday that House Republicans could instead charge Rosenstein with contempt of Congress, although he phrased it as “contempt of court.”
“If you don’t like the way Rod Rosenstein is responding to your subpoena, charge him with contempt of court. Bring him to court, but do not use impeachment. That just helps the Democrats who are trying to impeach President Trump,” Dershowitz said.
