Democrats have themselves to blame for Hunter Biden being subpoenaed to appear before a House committee probing President Joe Biden’s alleged influence peddling, legal scholar Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Wednesday.
Several hours earlier, Hunter Biden defied a congressional subpoena to appear privately for a deposition, insisting outside the U.S. Capitol that he will only testify in public.
Republicans and Democrats were quick to point fingers regarding the House probes. Dershowitz, appearing on "Newsline," said it's clear who’s to blame for the House investigations and the events surrounding the scheduled impeachment inquiry vote.
"Let's remember whose fault this all is. It's all [Maryland Democrat Rep.] Jamie Raskin's fault and the fault of the Democrats who impeached Donald Trump on baseless, unconstitutional charges," Dershowitz told host Bianca de la Garza. "Back then, when I defended President Trump, I predicted it was going to happen.
"If you impeach President Trump, who I didn't vote for, but if you impeach him on unconstitutional grounds, you can be sure the Republicans are going to play tit for tat, they’re going to come back, and then you impeach the next Democratic president."
Dershowitz said the partisanship being displayed by both parties calls for a special counsel.
"Look, none of us knows all the facts. That's why I've always said that a special counsel should be appointed," he told de la Garza.
"A very distinguished above-party-politics person should look into the relationship between Hunter Biden and President Biden. There's smoke, but right now there’s no fire, and I think the American public have a right to a nonpartisan investigation. They're not going to believe the results of a Republican-controlled house or a Democratic-controlled Senate."
Dershowitz, whose latest book is "War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism," said "there's plenty here" to investigate.
"Obviously, Hunter Biden was hired not because of his expertise, but because of his access," he said. "Clearly, there's fault there. The question is: What did Joe Biden know? When did he know it? How much did he know?
"My view is, there’s smoke. But I need to know whether the smoke is arson or whether there's a real fire, and that can be done largely through a nonpartisan investigation rather than a partisan investigation."
Dershowitz commented on other aspects of the Hunter Biden story, including:
- On Hunter Biden defying a House subpoena to appear for a deposition — "I think they [Biden’s legal team] win the case in the court of public opinion, but they probably lose it in the court of law."
- On Hunter saying Joe Biden was not involved "financially" in his business dealings — "He wasn't involved financially? Tell us in what ways he was involved."
- On lawyer Abbe Lowell's tactic to recommend his client comply with a public hearing subpoena but defy the House deposition subpoena — "It's a very interesting tactic that's being used and it might conceivably result in some legal benefit, but generally the courts say to the House, ‘Look, you conduct, your business. Article I of the Constitution provides for you being a judge of your own business. We, Article III judges. We're not going to intervene."
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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