Dershowitz: Stormy Daniels Is A "Nothing" Case And "Sideshow,"
Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz weighs in on the potential legal fallout over the president's former attorney striking a plea deal on campaign finance violations, in an appearance on Wednesday morning's 'FOX & Friends.'
"The death knell that they're sounding on cable television sounds a little bit exaggerated. There are many, many steps that have to be taken before the president is in legal jeopardy," Dershowitz said. "First of all, you have to show that it is a crime."
"If Mr. Trump the candidate contributed several hundred thousand dollars to his own campaign to pay hush money to women who were either truthfully or falsely alleging against him, that is not a crime. The candidate can contribute as much as he wants. If he directed somebody to do it, intending to pay it back, that is probably not a crime."
"The election laws are a morass of misdemeanors, felonies, crimes, non-crimes, with exceptions, so you have to get over the legal barrier first" also said. "Then you have to get over the credibility barrier. The only evidence that the president did anything that might be unlawful even arguably comes from a man who has admitted to be a liar, had a lawyer-client privilege with the president, there are a lot of barriers to what Cohen said yesterday in court. Remember, there has been no indictment, grand jury, only a statement, an elocution, by a man who has admitted to criminal conduct. So we are far away fro impeachable offense or a criminal offense against the president."
"I think if you read my book, The Case Against Impeaching Trump, I think it makes a very persuasive case that you can't impeach on the basis of minor derelictions or even crimes. You need a high crime and misdemeanor. Every campaign has violated some technical election law."
"The Democrats are going to run on 'Give us the House and we'll impeach the president.' That's what happened when President Clinton was impeached, and it ended up being a disaster for the Republicans because the Senate refused to remove him," he added. "I think impeachment will be an issue, but... at least according to my research... the president has not up to now committed any impeachable offenses."
