Alan Dershowitz in 1998: A President Should Be Impeached If He ‘Corrupts the Office’ or ‘Abuses Trust’

Alan Dershowitz made headlines last week when he was named to President Donald Trump’s legal team for the Senate impeachment trial, but a newly unearthed video from 1998 shows the lawyer arguing the opposite position to one he’s taken in defense of Trump.

Dershowitz has been arguing that abuse of power by a President is not an impeachable offense. However, CNN discovered footage of Dershowitz telling Larry King in 1998 that is impeachable and a president’s actions don’t need to be criminal to warrant impeachment.

He told King that an impeachment “certainly doesn’t have to be a crime if you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don’t need a technical crime.”

As the CNN hosts pointed out, Dershowitz position in 1998 runs contrary to what he’s arguing now in defense of his new client, President Trump.

Just last week, after he was named to Trump’s defense team, Dershowitz told MSNBC’s Ari Melber: “Abuse of power, even if proved, is not an impeachable offense. That’s what the Framers rejected. They didn’t want to give Congress the authority to remove a president because he abused his power.”

These contradictions could serve to undermine Dershowitz vaunted expertise as the impeachment trial begins on Tuesday,

Watch the video above, via CNN.