By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz tore into CNN during his appearance on the network over its coverage of his argument he made in opposition to the impeachment of President Trump.
Critics went after Dershowitz for arguing at the Senate trial on Wednesday since most politicians believe winning their election is “in the public interest” that Trump’s actions “cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”
Following his clarification he made on Thursday via tweets, Dershowitz was asked by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer how he was “misinterpreted,” but the professor insisted there was a “deliberate” attempt by the media to take him “completely out of context.”
“Unequivocally, I do not believe, I have never said that a president can do anything if he believes his election is in the public interest to get re-elected. That’s simply false,” Dershowitz began. “What I was doing was responding to an argument by the managers, which said, basically, that if a president has any motive, the slightest motive that is not in the public interest, that only serves an electoral interest, that’s a corrupt motive and that can form the ‘quid’ or the ‘quo’ in the ‘quid pro quo.’ And then I cited Abraham Lincoln, who sent the troops home from the battlefield to Indiana to help the Republicans win the election and help his political prospects. And I said how do you avoid that conclusion if you accept the argument made by the managers.”
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He quickly pivoted to attacking CNN.
“I never said, never suggested and it was a total distortion, not misunderstanding, distortion of my point that I want- I think a president can do anything if he thinks his election is in the national interest. I never said it, it’s nonsense, and your network should never have said that I said it repeatedly,” Dershowitz told Blitzer.
“Well, we were only playing clips of what you said on the floor,” Blitzer replied.
“Yeah, you played a clip that you selected, not the context,” Dershowitz shot back.
The Situation Room✔@CNNSitRoom
CNN’s @wolfblitzer and @JeffreyToobin challenge Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz’s controversial impeachment arguments about presidential power.1027:31 PM – Jan 30, 2020
The Harvard Law Professor then battled CNN legal analyst and former student of his Jeffrey Toobin, where he continued to lambast the anti-Trump network.
“I think all of you had a responsibility to answer my Lincoln analysis and nobody did, nobody looked at the context, nobody looked at what I was answering. All you did was take that one little snippet, took it out of context, and had everybody attack me for something I didn’t say, I don’t believe, and I didn’t even imply,” Dershowitz continued. “That’s my argument. Please present it fairly, then rebut it. But don’t make up an argument I didn’t say.’
Dershowitz later alleged that at least a “handful” of senators approached him and thanked him for “making that argument.”
“That was my point and to distort my point is to misinform your viewers,” he added.Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News.
