Yesterday, one of President Donald Trump’s attorneys, Alan Dershowitz, made a particularly jarring statement during Senate questioning at the impeachment trial. He suggested that if a president engages in a quid pro quo to gain re-election “in the public interest,” his actions couldn’t be impeachable.

In other words, presidents who use potentially unethical quid pro quos to support their campaigns are in the clear.

Dershowitz suggested on Twitter that his comments were mischaracterized. That’s incorrect.

Wait, what’s he saying now?

Today, Dershowitz said this: “They characterized my argument as if I had said that if a president believes that his re-election was in the national interest, he can do anything. I said nothing like that, as anyone who actually heard what I said can attest.”

But what did he say yesterday?

Trump’s legal team was asked if it matters if Trump used a quid pro quo and if that tactic is often used in foreign policy.

Dershowitz didn’t provide an answer for the second part of the question, but he did talk about quid pro quos – a Latin phrase for receiving a favor in exchange for something else. In Trump’s case, he withheld aid to Ukraine and demanded the country announce investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election.

Dershowitz argued that if the motive for a quid pro quo is the public interest, then it isn’t illegal or an impeachable offense.

From there, he said this: “Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest, and mostly you’re right. Your election is in the public interest, and 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.”

Is Dershowitz correct that his statement was mischaracterized?

He didn’t literally say a president can do anything if he believes he’s acting in the public interest. His comments yesterday were also focused on quid pro quos, not other kinds of potential misdeeds.

However, it’s Dershowitz who is mischaracterizing what he said yesterday. He did suggest public officials can engage in any quid pro quo if it’s conducted in order to gain re-election.

Contact Big If True editor Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@bigiftrue.org. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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