House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager, is slamming the argument by Donald Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz that abuse of power is not an impeachable offense as an “absurdist position.” The only reason the president’s legal team would even attempt to make that argument, he said, is if they know that the facts are “so dead set against” the commander in chief.

“You had to go so far out of the mainstream to find someone to make that argument,” Schiff said on ABC’s This Week. “You had to leave the realm of constitutional law scholars and go to criminal defense lawyers.” Dershowitz argued that even if proven, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress do not add up to impeachable offenses. “The logic of that absurdist position that’s being now adopted by the president is he could give away the state of Alaska, he could withhold execution of sanctions on Russia for interfering in the last election, to induce or coerce Russia to interfere in the next one,” Schiff said about the argument.

.@GStephanopoulos: "Is it your position that President Trump should not be impeached even if all the evidence and arguments laid out by the House are accepted as fact?"



Alan Dershowitz: "That's right." https://t.co/cqiFPziHtO pic.twitter.com/r4HZwCF149 — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 19, 2020

So far, the way Trump’s legal team has responded to impeachment shows that “the facts aren’t seriously contested,” Schiff said. “The only thing really new about the president’s defense is that they’re now arguing, I think, because they can’t contest the facts, that the president cannot be impeached for abusing the power of his office.”

Rep. Adam Schiff: "The only thing really new about the president's defense is that they're now arguing – I think because they can't contest the facts — that the president cannot be impeached for abusing the power of his office." https://t.co/weB5AekBmw pic.twitter.com/Rpe6e1vBr2 — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 19, 2020

Dershowitz pushed back against Schiff’s characterization, saying that the same argument was used in former President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial. “I am making an argument much like the argument made by the great Justice [Benjamin] Curtis, and to call them absurdist is to insult one of the greatest jurists in American history,” he said. “The argument is a strong one, the Senate should hear it. I am privileged to be able to make it,” Dershowitz said on This Week. “I have a limited role in the case. I’m only as counsel on the constitutional criteria on impeachment.”

Dershowitz says "you can't charge a president with impeachable conduct" if it doesn't fit criteria in Constitution.



"I'm a liberal Democrat who voted against President Trump and who voted for Hillary Clinton. I'm here to present a constitutional argument" https://t.co/su65A8bcwG pic.twitter.com/srgJyOQ2qV — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 19, 2020

In an interview with CNN, Dershowitz also said that if his legal arguments are successful, there will be no need to call witnesses during the Senate trial. “If my argument succeeds, there’s no need for witnesses. Indeed there is no need for even arguments, any further arguments,” he added. “If the House charges do not include impeachable offenses, that’s really the end of the matter.” Whether or not to call witnesses during the trial that begins this week has been a key point of disagreement between Republicans and Democrats.

Alan Dershowitz, President Trump's legal counsel: "I have been consistent in my views ... I'm a liberal Democrat making these arguments in a nonpartisan way" #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/pos7Wyd9n5 — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 19, 2020