Washington (CNN) Alan Dershowitz, a member of President Donald Trump's impeachment defense team, on Thursday answered criticisms of an argument he had made on the Senate floor the previous day about impeachable conduct by distancing himself from the remarks.

Dershowitz argued on the Senate floor Wednesday that -- hypothetically -- a politician trying to win reelection is acting in the national interest, and therefore a quid pro quo aimed at boosting reelection chances cannot be impeachable.

After those comments, he faced considerable scrutiny from critics who said he was essentially arguing that politicians could do anything in service of reelection because they viewed their reelection as being in the national interest. However, Dershowitz said that's not what he was arguing and he "never said" a president can do anything to get reelected.

"I have never said that a president can do anything if he believes that his election is in the public interest to get reelected," Dershowitz told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" Thursday night. "That's simply false."

The Harvard professor emeritus had instead argued that a president could not be impeached for a quid pro quo that would benefit their reelection if that president believed the reelection was in the public interest.

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