Dersh drowns in a bucket of lukewarm water
by digby
The great civil libertarian Alan Dershowitz says it might not be a good thing for a president to try to use the power of his office to throw his political opponents in jail on trumped up charges, but apparently there’s nothing to be done if he does:
Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz — who has gained notoriety in the Trump era as a frequent cable news supporter of the President — criticized President Trump on Wednesday for attempting to weaponize his Justice Department to attack his political foes.
“It’s a terrible mistake,” Dershowitz told “Fox and Friends” Wednesday morning. “You don’t want to weaponize the political differences.”
Dershowitz was responding to a Tuesday evening New York Times report that revealed Trump tried to get his Justice Department to prosecute his political nemeses Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, before getting pushback from former White House counsel Don McGahn.
McGahn reportedly told Trump that taking that action would be an impeachable offense, a sentiment that Dershowitz did not share.
“No, it’s not an impeachable offense but it’s the wrong thing to do,” he said. “If you don’t like what people have done, run against them, use political weapons, do not use the criminal justice system.”
Well, try not to use it, anyway. But if you do it wouldn’t be good but it’s not impeachable. So whatevs.
Dershowitz seems to have concluded that only presidents have civil liberties. Interesting take.
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