Attorney and White House defense team member Alan Dershowitz defended the Senate’s decision not to hear from additional witnesses during President Trump’s impeachment trial.
Dershowitz, 81, argued that the foundation for the House’s impeachment was illegitimate and did not require additional testimony from witnesses during an interview on Fox News Sunday. The Constitutional scholar said the Senate was justified in its decision to ignore revelations from John Bolton because he doesn’t believe anything the former national security adviser claimed about Trump was an impeachable offense.
“If somebody were accused of the crime of abuse of power or dishonesty, something that’s not a crime, what you do is make a motion to dismiss,” Dershowitz explained. “And the other side says, ‘No, we want to introduce evidence.’ No, no, no, no. You can’t introduce evidence if there’s no legitimate indictment.”
He continued, “Here, the articles of impeachment did not charge an impeachable offense. So the right answer is to dismiss it and cut it off right there. No amount of witnesses could have changed that conclusion.”
Alan Dershowitz on whether or not there was a legal argument to not call more witnesses for the impeachment trial. #FNS #ImpeachmentTrial #FoxNews pic.twitter.com/pJN4f9GIr0
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) February 2, 2020
The Senate voted on Friday to conclude the Senate trial without hearing from witnesses. Only Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine voted with Democrats to allow additional testimony. The impeachment trial is expected to end on Wednesday when the Senate holds its final vote to convict or acquit the president.
