Friday on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle,” Harvard University law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz reiterated his position that there was no actionable obstruction of justice committed by President Donald Trump based on the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Dershowitz said Trump cannot be guilty of obstruction for performing duties allowed under his constitutional presidential powers.
“[I]n my introduction in the Mueller report, I go through the elements of obstruction of justice,” he said. “The act itself has to be illegal. It can’t be an act that is authorized under Article Two of the Constitution.”
That included the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey, he contended.
“It’s not even a close case,” Dershowitz explained. “The best analogy is president George H. W. Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger on the eve of his trial in order to stop the Iran-Contra investigation. The special prosecutor said he did it for that reason. Nobody suggested obstruction. It can’t be obstruction of justice if the president is acting within his authority. Nixon obstructed justice because he acted outside his authority, destroying evidence, paying hush money, telling his subordinates to lie to the FBI.”
Dershowitz warned Democrats, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), there would be consequences if Democrats continued to pursue impeachment.
“I am telling her all of the time,” he added. “She better start listening, because it’s going to come back to hurt the Democrats. I am a Democrat. I’m a liberal. I want to see the Constitution complied with, I want the Democrats to do the right thing, get back to the business of legislating.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.