Trump’s lawyer says his Capitol riot incitement was ‘moral sin‘

Attorney downplays second impeachment trial involvement while declaring Capitol riot ‘a disaster’

An attorney allegedly being considered by Donald Trump to represent him at a potential second impeachment trial, Alan Dershowitz, has said the president committed a “political and moral sin” by provoking supporters to storm Congress.  

Mr Dershowitz, who has been tipped to represent the US president a second time, added on Tuesday that telling supporters to march on the Capitol with “strength” was wrong, but also constitutionally protected in the same way the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan would be.  

Speaking to the Today programme, Mr Dershowitz went on to argue against a second impeachment process against Mr Trump, despite last week’s riots leaving six dead in the aftermath.    

“I think the events of last Wednesday were a disaster for him personally, for his presidency and for the American people,” said the attorney, who added: “What he did was constitutionally protected, he had the right to do it, but that doesn't make it right.”

Responding to plans by House speaker Nancy Pelosi to start impeachment proceedings as soon as Wednesday, with one article alleging the president’s "incitement of insurrection," Mr Dershowitz said the proceedings were “wrong”.

“It’s wrong to impeach him for it, because he didn't commit an impeachable offense, but he committed a terrible and political and moral sin, and I think it will hurt the Republican party for years to come.”

Asked whether or not he would represent Mr Trump at a second impeachment trial in the Senate, which would come after the House passes the impeachment article for “insurrection”, the attorney downplayed his involvement, but did not rule out representing the president.  

Saying he would “stand up for the constitution” and the First Amendment protecting free speech, Mr Dershowitz said there would not be a second trial because there was too little time, and that Mr Trump’s words were “typical” in political circles.

“Labour leaders, suffragettes, civil rights leaders, on the other side, the Klu Klux Klan, the Nazis, have all made speeches like that,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “It’s a typical speech so it's protected by the constitution.”

Mr Dershowitz added that he would not defend the president “on the merits and demerits of what he said”, and that impeachment was not supposed to remove a president after they had departed the White House.

“You can't just haul people off the street and impeach them,” he said of Mr Trump, who could face an impeachment trial some weeks after his presidency ends.

The leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has however suggested that the earliest the Senate could consider the impeachment articles passed by the House was right after Mr Trump’s presidency ends, according to reports.

Jim Clyburn, the House majority whip, has meanwhile called for the House to delay sending the impeachment articles – and thus a trial – to avoid disrupting the first 100 days of Joe Biden’s presidency.

According to CNN, in the event a second impeachment trial does take place, Mr Dershowitz was rumoured to be appointed alongside Rudy Giuliani to represent Mr Trump.  

Two other attorneys who also represented the president at his last impeachment trial, Jay Sekulow and Jane Raskin, are not expected to be involved, reported CNN.

Mr Dershowitz also told Politico that "It would be my honour and privilege to defend the Constitution of the United States and the First Amendment against partisan efforts to weaponize the Constitution".