by Nick Givas
Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz compared attempts to use the 25th Amendment against President Donald Trump to a coup d’etat and said Thursday the measure is being abused.
“If [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s claims are] true, it is clearly an attempted coup d’etat,” Dershowitz said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Dershowitz said the 25th Amendment has nothing to do with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s possible ties to Russia and said critics of the president are conflating the issues in an attempt to remove him from office.
“Let’s take the worst case scenario. Let’s assume the president of the United States was in bed with the Russians, committed treason, committed obstruction of justice — the 25th Amendment simply is irrelevant to that. That’s why you have an impeachment provision,” he said. “The 25th Amendment is about [former President] Woodrow Wilson having a stroke. It’s about a president being shot and not being able to perform his office. It’s not about the most fundamental disagreements. It’s not about impeachable offenses.”
Dershowitz accused Justice Department personnel of committing crimes against the Constitution by trying to shape the 25th Amendment to fit their political agenda.
“Any Justice Department official who even mentioned the 25th Amendment in the context of President Trump has committed a grievous offense against the Constitution,” he said. “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 also challenged liberals to publicly defend the use of the 25th Amendment against the president.
“I challenge any left-wing person to get on television and to defend the use of the 25th Amendment. I challenge any of my colleagues who are in the ‘get Trump at any cost’ camp to come on television and justify the use of the 25th Amendment other than for physical or psychiatric incapacity,” he concluded.
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Nick Givas is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Nick on Twitter.
Photo “Alan Dershowitz” by DC Shorts.
