Excerpts from a book written by former National Security Adviser John Bolton were recently leaked to The New York Times, and in them it is claimed that President Trump explicitly said that the now-controversial aid to Ukraine would only be released on the condition that officials in that country opened an investigation into “Democrats.”
However, liberal attorney and legal scholar Alan Dershowitz was left unimpressed by the so-called revelations that have the left salavating. Dershowitz is part of the president’s impeachment defense team, and on Tuesday he argued that even if what was reportedly said in Bolton’s book is accurate, it still doesn’t matter, Breitbart reports.
“If a president — any president — were to have done what the Times reported about the content of the Bolton manuscript, that would not constitute an impeachable offense,” Dershowitz declared before the Senate.
Not impeachable
“Let me repeat: nothing in the Bolton revelations, if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense,” Dershowitz continued.
“You cannot turn conduct that is not impeachable into impeachable conduct simply by using words like ‘quid pro quo’ and ‘personal benefit,” he added.
“I’m sorry, House managers,” Dershowitz told the Democratic representatives arguing for removal. “You just picked the wrong criteria.”
“You picked the most dangerous possible criteria to serve as a precedent for how we supervise and oversee future presidents,” the retired Harvard law professor concluded.
As Dershowitz put it, the Founding Fathers intended impeachment to be used only in cases of “criminal-like conduct akin to treason and bribery.”
In contrast, the Democrats’ nebulous allegations concerning “abuse of power” are much more consistent with the concept of “maladministration,” a charge that the Framers rejected as valid grounds for impeachment, Trump’s legal team has maintained.
Bolton’s rocky tenure
John Bolton was appointed as Trump’s National Security adviser in April of 2018 and served for 17 months before being suddenly ousted last September amid rumors of deep divisions between the two in a number of key areas, including the proper approach to take with regard to North Korea.
In a tweet posted at the time, Trump said he fired Bolton after having “disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration.” However, Bolton disputed that characterization of events, contending instead that he had offered his resignation, but Trump did not immediately accept.
“I offered to resign last night and President Trump said: ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow,'” Bolton responded in a tweet of his own.
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