Law professor Alan Dershowitz asserted on Sunday that House Democrats are exercising their constitutional right to impeach President Donald Trump in a "quasi-criminal" way.
"Congress is not above the law," Dershowitz complained to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. "They just can't make it up as they go along. The constitution provides specific criteria for impeachment. And I think these hearing demonstrate beyond any doubt that these criteria haven't been met."
Dershowitz, who defended Trump throughout special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, complained that "all" of the Democrats' objections to Trump are "about policy."
"Nothing that I've seen during the these weeks of impeachment testimony has moved the ball at all toward impeachment," Dershowitz opined. "If he's impeached, it will be partisan."
Bartiromo noted that Republicans have focused on "process" arguments like complaining about which witnesses can be called.
"It's very, very unfair," Dershowitz agreed. "I mean, the impeachment process is quasi-criminal in nature. And the person being accused is supposed to have rights comparable to the rights of somebody being accused of a crime."
"The Constitution talks about high crimes and misdemeanors," he continued. "And yet, the process has been skewed and one-sided and partisan."
Dershowitz predicted that impeachment "can't go forward to the Senate without a full opportunity to cross-examine all of the relevant witnesses" including the person who initially blew the whistle on Trump.
Democrats have argued that Trump's actions amount to bribery, which is spelled-out in the U.S. Constitution along with "high crimes and misdemeanors."
