Dershowitz to Newsmax: 'Hypocrisy' to Seek Impeachment on Policies

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz Tuesday on Newsmax slammed a Republican congressman's call for the impeachment of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, arguing that it is "utter hypocrisy" to seek proceedings for them on policy issues while rejecting the impeachment of former President Donald Trump for the same reasons.

"I have to tell you right now if they try to impeach President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris, I will defend them as strongly as I defended President Trump," Dershowitz said on Newsmax's "National Report." "This is about principle. Don't turn impeachment into a partisan weapon. That's what's going on. It's going on on both sides. I stand for the Constitution, not for Democrats or Republicans."

Earlier on National Report, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told Newsmax that he has filed articles of impeachment against Biden and Harris over the weaponization of the Justice Department and the allegations about the Biden family and the alleged connection with foreign entities. He also said he's seeking impeachment over the situation at the southern border.

Dershowitz commented that when he represented Trump in his first impeachment, "we argued that you cannot impeach the president unless they've committed treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

"All the Republicans agreed with that," he added. "Now this Republican congressman dares to want to impeach President Biden and Vice President Harris on precisely the same kinds of grounds that he opposed and others opposed impeachment. It's hypocrisy in the extreme. … How dare you call for the impeachment of a president on the very grounds that you opposed the impeachment of a prior president? Shame on you."

Dershowitz said he predicted when Trump was impeached for a second time that a Democrat would eventually be targeted, as Democrats such as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were "using impeachment as a weapon."

"[Ogles] said he wants to go after Kamala Harris on incompetence," said Dershowitz. "That's exactly what the Constitution forbids. Go back. Read the Constitution. Read my book, 'Defending the Constitution' about Trump and you'll see that there's no basis for impeaching a president if you don't like their policies on the wall or immigration, or if you don't like their policies on the Justice Department."

Impeachment, Dershowitz said, has to be about "bribery, treason, or other crimes and misdemeanors. The same rules have to apply to Republicans and Democrats."

By calling for impeachment for other reasons, "congressmen like the one you had on are helping to destroy the neutrality of our criminal system and making it impossible for lawyers and constitutional scholars like me to try to keep the Constitution pristine and unrelated to partisan preferences," said Dershowitz.

Newsmax has reached out to Ogles for comment about Dershowitz's statements.

The retired law professor also called it "hypocrisy" for GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to announce that he is going to pardon Trump "even before he hears the evidence."

"He's targeting President Trump in exactly the opposite way from the way the prosecutors are targeting Trump," Dershowitz said. "The hypocrisy of both sides is beyond belief."