Alan Dershowitz, who is serving as a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team during the Senate impeachment trial, tried to back down from comments he made Wednesday evening suggesting that a president can cheat to get reelected if he thinks such a move is in the “national interest.”
Specifically, Dershowitz had this to say to senators:
“Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest. And if a president does something, which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”
And yet, on Thursday morning the former Harvard Law professor went on Twitter and argued that the media had twisted his words, even though there’s video of exactly what he said:
Taking advantage of the fact most of their viewers didn’t actually hear the senate Q and A, CNN, MSNBC and some other media willfully distorted my answers. More to Come
— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) January 30, 2020
They characterized my argument as if I had said that if a president believes that his re-election was in the national interest, he can do anything. I said nothing like that, as anyone who actually heard what I said can attest.
— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) January 30, 2020
That ridiculous posting was met with laughter and scorn by others on social media:
You said exactly that. https://t.co/GxlaAZixvR
— (((Howard Forman))) (@thehowie) January 30, 2020
We played the video. You’re starting to reverse yourself hourly rather than just every few years.
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) January 30, 2020
The walk-back begins!
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) January 30, 2020
Nope. I heard, real time, EXACTLY what you said. You exonerated any sitting president of any thing constituting impeachment as long a he THOUGHT it was in the public’s interest.
This will be your legacy. Defending a fascist and alignment with a CHILD sex trafficker.
— My soap box is purple (@jojob005) January 30, 2020
You do know that the hearings are televised, and that the Senate controls the camera, right? You really are an embarrassment to the legal profession…. and to the human race, Capt. Underpants.#ImpeachmentHearings
— L. Murdock (@murdock_l) January 30, 2020
That’s totally insulting. As insulting to our country as your words yesterday.
Americans are watching this farce of a trial. We are listening. And we heard you turn your back on the rule of law yesterday. There’s no way out of this dersh. You have been bought.
— B Didier (@Bev_Did) January 30, 2020
Later today when the next Q & A session begins, perhaps Professor Dershowitz can explain to us all how the sun doesn’t really rise in the East and set in the West, along with other “Dershoisms” that he’ll try to deny a few hours after they leave his mouth.
Featured Image Via YouTube Screenshot
