Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz , who defended President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, claims that the Democratic Party needs new leadership if it wants to hold power in the United States Congress, according to The Hill .
Speaking with radio host John Catsimatidis on Sunday, Dershowitz said that Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “have to go” if the Democrats want to win elections.
“I think they need new leadership. I think Schumer and Pelosi have to go. Schumer because of his history of lying. You know, Pelosi actually called for me to be disbarred,” the lawyer said. “I think the Dems need new leaders if they have any chance of returning to power.”
Dershowitz is apparently upset Pelosi called for him to be disbarred and bothered by Schumer’s comments about the arguments he made during the impeachment trial.
Defending Trump against Democratic accusations, Dershowitz suggested that Trump’s actions toward Ukraine do not constitute a quid pro quo agreement worthy of impeachment.
“If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment,” he argued on the Senate floor.
“By Professor Dershowitz’s logic, President Nixon did nothing wrong in Watergate,” Schumer said in response to the lawyer’s statement, adding that his reasoning was a “load of nonsense.”
According to Dershowitz, however, Schumer and the media distorted his remarks.
As The Hill notes, Dershowitz’s comments come just days after the Republican-controlled United States Senate voted to acquit Trump. The Democratic-controlled House voted to impeach the president in December on allegations that he abused the power of his office in order to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was the only Republican to go against the party line, voting to convict Trump on the charge of abuse of power. The senator has faced tremendous backlash for his decision, from Republican lawmakers and the president himself. Some of Trump’s media allies joined the conversation as well, blasting Romney for voting against the commander in chief.
On Saturday, Fox News anchor Jeanine Pirro called Romney a “snake,” suggesting that he voted to convict Trump out of jealousy. The host also urged Romney to vacate his seat in the Senate, accusing him of trying to appease the “Trump-hating left.” Pirro also questioned Romney’s honesty, calling him a “phony” for stating that his faith compelled him to vote to convict Trump.