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Tags: alan dershowitz | senate | articles of impeachment | trial

Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax TV: Move to Dismiss Impeachment

(Newsmax TV's "The Chris Salcedo Show")

By    |   Tuesday, 07 January 2020 07:20 PM EST

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on Tuesday told Newsmax TV he would like to see the Senate move forward on President Donald Trump's impeachment by moving to dismiss the process because the president has not been charged with impeachable offenses – rather than trying to gather evidence in the matter.

"It's much like, for example, if a prosecutor charged a man and a woman of different races with getting married," Dershowitz told "The Chris Salcedo Show." "You wouldn't get the evidence on that [for a trial]. You would say that's unconstitutional."

The charges against Trump on grounds of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are likewise not impeachable offenses, Dershowitz said, and there is not enough evidence in the allegations to warrant a trial. 

"I would just say there's not enough in the allegations to warrant any kind of a trial, and we thereby dismiss the impeachment as unwarranted," Dershowitz said. "Under the Constitution, they could do that."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday he has the votes to start Trump's impeachment trial if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., releases the articles of impeachment, winning GOP support on postponing a decision on whether to call witnesses until after the trial begins.

Dershowitz, when asked if there is a timeframe requirement for Pelosi to hand over the articles, said there is nothing mandating that in the Constitution.

"The Constitution only says that the House is the sole judge of impeachment and the Senate is the sole judge of conviction of trial," Dershowitz said. "It doesn't say anything else."

However, the Constitution is clear, "you can't have impeachment without having a trial," as the rules for a speedy trial would apply.

"I think all the considerations favor moving this quickly, and if it doesn't get moved to the Senate within a reasonable amount of time, the Senate could, say, declare the impeachment is null and void," Dershowitz said.

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Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Newsmax-Tv
Rather than trying to gather evidence in the matter, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on Tuesday told Newsmax TV he would like to see the Senate move forward on President Donald Trump's impeachment by moving to dismiss the process.
alan dershowitz, senate, articles of impeachment, trial
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2020-20-07
Tuesday, 07 January 2020 07:20 PM
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