Representing Trump during his first impeachment trial, Dershowitz ended his answer to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz by saying, “Every public official that I know believes that his 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.” During coverage that evening, CNN political analyst Paul Begala said, “The Dershowitz Doctrine would make presidents immune from every criminal act, so long as they could plausibly claim they did it to boost their re-election effort.” Dershowitz says this was a misleading statement of his views that has damaged his scholarly reputation, and he is suing for $300 million. – The Hollywood Reporter
