NEW: Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz argues in the impeachment trial that a quid pro quo that benefits the president politically is fine because all politicians believe their elections are in the public's interest, and therefore, he has no corrupt motive.
Dershowitz said there were three possible motives for a quid pro quo in foreign policy: the public interest; personal political interest; and personal financial interest."Every public official I know believes" their election"is in the public interest," Dershowitz added.
The House charged Trump with abusing his power by pushing Ukraine to announce those probes into Democrats while withholding hundreds of millions in aid and an official meeting for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, contending that Trump did so in order to"cheat" in the upcoming presidential election.
Trump and his allies have denied any link between the withholding of aid and the investigations he sought. But earlier this week,published details of former national security adviser John Bolton's unpublished manuscript that claimed Trump directly linked investigations and aid in an August discussion. Trump denies having done so. NBC News has not seen the manuscript or verified the claim.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was given the chance to respond to Dershowitz's argument, one he said he thought was providing"carte blanche" for such quid pro quos in the future.
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