It's a political stunt because we're talking about it. Everybody is. But then CNN made a decision to doctor and edit my recorded remarks so as to eliminate all references to "unlawful" or "illegal" conduct. They wanted their viewers to believe that I had told the Senate that a president could do anything -- even commit such crimes as "bribery" and "extortion" -- as long as he was motivated by a desire to be reelected. That, of course, was precisely the opposite of what I said. And that is precisely the reason by CNN edited and doctored the tape the way they did: namely to deliberately create the false impression that I had said the president could commit any crimes in order to be reelected, without fear of impeachment. The bolded is going to be impossible to prove.
The issue we're discussing occurred during impeachment. It's highly political. Look, I don't know what Dershowitz's motives are, but he does not intend on getting $300 million because CNN snipped a sentence from his statement. The sentence that was snipped didn't address abuse of power, and the sentence that was discussed has its own merits, independent of Dershowitz's preceding words. Dershowitz is claiming things that he cannot prove. He surely knows this, so you tell me what his motives are?
That's my impression. Dershowitz may be a strange character, IMO, but he's not stupid. News organizations clip segments of speeches all the time. This is the segment in question. “The only thing that would make a quid pro quo unlawful is if the quo were in some way illegal. 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.” CNN chose to focus on the second sentence. I haven't seen the discussion CNN aired, which Dershowitz is pointing to, but even I can see the contradictions and vagueness in Dershowitz's answer. First of all, Trump was impeached for abuse of power, not an illegal act. Dershowitz addresses legality, saying that as long as the "quo" is not illegal, a president can ask whatever he wants. He doesn't address the possibility of whether the "quid" could be illegal. But the second sentence is even more open to examination. Dershowitz claims that an abuse of power is entirely decided by the president. I see huge problems with this line of thinking, and so did CNN. They have a 1st Amendment right to discuss it. Dershowitz claims of libel ring hollow.
I trust CNN to sell me fake news and misinformation. They haven't let me down since Candi Crowley interfered with the Obama/Romney debate, wrongly, I might add...
~ FOX has a history of being accurate in reporting 80% of the time and separating fact from opinion. That is why their ratings are up - and network news ratings are down.
