Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American power, politics and society.

On each episode, I will talk to an American expert or an expert on America about something that's going on in America in

2023. I am delighted to be joined today by the lawyer and author of Get Trump, Alan Dershowitz,

and this was actually recorded first on Spectator TV, but I thought it was a... He had some pretty interesting things to say,

and so we're putting it on the Americano podcast.

The question we're talking about is,

are the Republicans making a big mistake in impeaching Joe Biden?

So Alan, a lot of commentators are saying that it's a big mistake to impeach

Joe Biden. Kevin McCarthy, the 58-year-old speaker, has perhaps been boxed in politically,

and that's why he's going ahead with it. Is it a mistake? And if so, why?

I think so. I think they're making the same mistake the Democrats made when they tried to impeach

President Trump twice on grounds that were not acceptable on the Constitution. There's no

basis in the Constitution for impeaching a president who has, quote, created a culture of

corruption, which is what McCarthy said about him. He has to have committed treason,

bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. I don't even think he has enough Republicans at

this point to bring about a vote in the House. He's just setting out the members of the

committee to investigate. It's designed largely for internal political purposes. Congressman from Florida and other

places have threatened the leadership of McCarthy unless he moves against Biden. So this is a

political decision. It will backfire in the same way I think that the Republicans made it backfire against the Democrats when Trump was

impeached. I predicted this. When I defended President Trump on the floor of the Senate,

I predicted that the Republicans would do the same thing, tit-per-tat. And it's wrong when either

side does it. And either side should be allowed to weaponize and distort the

...