Alan Dershowitz: Rosenstein talk of 25th Amendment showed he was ‘watching House of Cards instead of reading the Constitution’

.

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz mocked Justice Department officials Friday, saying they were getting ideas on how to enforce the laws from the Netflix drama “House of Cards.”

“You know, these guys are watching ‘House of Cards’ instead of reading the Constitution,” Dershowitz told Fox News during a discussion about Justice Department officials contemplating invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove President Trump from office. “The Constitution is clear as can be. The 25th Amendment is applicable only if you’re incapacitated.

“It’s not a substitute for impeachment, it’s not a substitute for an election and if [deputy attorney general] Rod Rosenstein actually thought about and suggested wiring the president, invoking the 25th Amendment, he should be fired before he has the opportunity to resign. He should be disgraced.”

It was reported last year that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had discussed using the amendment and wearing a wire to record his conversations with the president. Rosenstein has rejected that such conversations took place.

More kindling was given to that story this week when “60 Minutes” reported that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe had said there were meetings “in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment.”

Dershowitz said: “This is as close as this country has ever come to the consideration of a coup d’etat, a constitutionally unlawful coup d’etat against the duly elected president,” he said. “When you have a deputy attorney general thinking of circumventing the 25th Amendment that is close to constitutional crisis.”

Melissa Schwartz, spokeswoman for McCabe, said the latest reports about invoking the 25th Amendment had been overblown: “To clarify, at no time did Mr. McCabe participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th Amendment, nor is he aware of any such discussions. He was present and participated in a discussion that included a comment by Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein regarding the 25th Amendment.”

Related Content

Related Content