President Trump defense team member Alan Dershowitz delivered another fiery defense in the Senate on Wednesday. This time the constitutional lawyer argued that if a president believes his re-election is in the "public interest," then a quid pro quo is not grounds for impeachment.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said on CNN that Dershowitz's presentation "generated eye rolls" throughout the chamber.
"I think professor Dershowitz has generated a lot of eye rolls during the course of his testimony because a lot of what he says is inconsistent with what he has said before, with what the consensus of scholarly and historical opinion is," Whitehouse said. "With what he has said in these very proceedings, in this case with common sense and decency."CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota nodded in agreement with the senator and said that the professor's presentation was "beyond laughable."
"If that's not an abuse of power," her colleague Jim Sciutto asked, "what is?"
"This is something Dershowitz is essentially making up" and so we shouldn't give it any weight, said CNN National Security and Legal Analyst Susan Hennessey.
We have to "put a marker" on this moment, Sciutto added.
Dershowitz has also argued that a president needs to commit a crime in order to be removed from office. His phone call with Ukraine, the lawyer explained, does not meet that standard. In their side of the argument, the impeachment managers appeared to admit as much too.
While the potential for witnesses threatened to delay the trial, the process could be wrapped up by Friday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appears to have enough votes to block additional witnesses.
Whitehouse acknowledged the end may be in sight, while charging the Republicans with trying to get this trial over with in time for the Super Bowl. That's funny, because it wasn't too long ago that the House Democrats appeared to be bulldozing through the impeachment inquiry in time for Christmas.
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