DERSHOWITZ SAYS THE SENATE CANNOT TRY TRUMP BECAUSE HE WILL BE OUT OT OFFICE

 Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax TV: House Violated Constitution

By Eric Mack

Newsmax

January 16, 2021

President Donald Trump did not commit any impeachable offenses, but the House violated the Constitution to suggest he did and are, ironically, immune from reprisals, according to constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz on Newsmax TV.

"We are hear that the president is not above the law, but Congress is not above the law – when Congress impeached the president earlier this week, they committed six independent violations of the Constitution," Dershowitz told "Saturday Report."

"They violated the free speech provision. They violated the impeachment criteria. They violated the bill of attainder. They violated due process, on and on and on."

Ironically, lawmakers are protected from legal culpability from their congressional actions, so unlike they are doing with the president, they cannot be sought for the allegations against them.

"But the only sanction is to vote them out of office and to bring them to trial in the court of public opinion," Dershowitz told host Carl Higbie. "Senators and congressmen are immune from lawsuits for what they do or say on the floor of the Senate, so there can't be any personal lawsuits.

"And I wouldn't favor recriminations."

All House Democrats and 10 Republicans impeached the president for the second time this week for inciting the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, but the president's pursuit of an Electoral College challenge is not grounds for impeachment, Dershowitz noted.

"How can you impeach a president for a speech that is constitutionally protected?" he lamented.

Ultimately, impeachment should die in the Senate as it did the last time, according to Dershowitz, a member of the president's first Senate impeachment trial team.

"The Constitution is very clear, the purpose of impeachment is removal," he concluded, adding the president will be out of office by the time a trial can be held, pointing to the precedent of former President Richard Nixon's resignation ending an impeachment trial in the Senate.

"The Senate cannot try an ordinary citizen."