President Joe Biden might have struck the right note on his call for unity, but Democrats are making a "tactical and moral mistake" to move forward with impeaching former President Donald Trump, according to constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz.
"It's distracting attention away from the Biden Administration," Dershowitz told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. "It's dividing America even more. It's not helping us bring anybody together
"It was a tactical and moral mistake on the part of the Democrats to push the second impeachment," Dershowitz continued to host John Catsimatidis, adding "I don't think it helps them, and it certainly doesn't help heal America."
It will ultimately fail in the Senate anyway, because the Constitution does not provide for a Senate trial of private citizens, nor does it permit First Amendment violations of controlling speech that is unpopular to political partisans, Dershowitz said.
"It's a show trial," he told Catsimatidis. "The reason I'm not in it as a lawyer — as I was in the last [impeachment] — is because I'm neither an actor nor politician. And it's political theater.
"The Senate has no authority under the constitution to try a former public official," he continued. "They can only remove somebody who is then sitting in office. James Madison said that in the Federalist papers. And also they're trying to remove him based on Constitutionally protected speech. Congress is not above the law. It can't violate the Constitution. It can't violate the First Amendment."
Dershowitz said the best possible outcome is a verdict that will end the Democrats' push to abuse congressional and constitutional authority for political gain.
"I hope there will be an acquittal, [which] will send a message that you don't abuse the impeachment power for partisan political purposes," Dershowitz concluded.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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