It’s a curious thing to see a former Justice Department official appear in a Sixty Minutes segment and openly describe how he conspired with others to overthrow the duly elected president of the United States, as Andrew McCabe did in a recent teaser for next Sunday’s show.

The discussion was quite a jaw-dropper, but it illustrates how the servants of the Deep State believe in its power to protect them, even from a hanging offense. But why wouldn’t they believe, when a gaggle of corrupt officials have recently been punished with nothing more than the loss of security clearance or firing?

McCabe’s CBS interview may have been a step too far in promoting a new book, judging from the rapid walk-back after a media explosion, perhaps fueled by Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz’s condemnation of the conspiracy as planning a coup d’etat.

The professor appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Thursday, where the host set up the situation by showing the McCabe clip and Professor Dershowitz defined the crime in no uncertain terms:

TUCKER CARLSON: In his “60 Minutes” interview, McCabe admits that his attempt to undermine the President began almost immediately after his boss, Jim Comey was fired and it was, of course, due to Russia.

FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR ANDREW McCABE: I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage and that was something that troubled me greatly.

CBS CORRESPONDENT SCOTT PELLEY: How long was it after that that you decided to start the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations involving the President?

McCABE: I think the next day I met with the team investigating the Russia cases and I asked the team to go back and conduct an assessment to determine where are we with these efforts and what steps do we need to take going forward.

CARLSON: Alan Dershowitz is a retired Harvard Law School Professor. He is the author of the book, “The Case against the Democratic House Impeaching Trump,” and he joins us tonight. Professor, thanks very much for coming on.

So now the suspicions of many are confirmed by one of the players in it. The Department of Justice discussed trying to remove the President using the 25th Amendment. What’s your reaction to that?

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Well, if that’s true, it is clearly an attempted coup d’etat. Relating to what your former guest said, let’s take the worst case scenario. Let’s assume the President of the United States was in bed with the Russians, committed treason and committed obstruction of justice. The 25th Amendment simply is irrelevant to that. That’s why have you an impeachment provision.

The 25th Amendment is about Woodrow Wilson having a stroke. It’s about a President being shot and not being able to perform his office. It’s not about the most fundamental disagreements. It’s not about impeachable offenses.

And any Justice Department official who even mentioned the 25th Amendment in the context of President Trump has committed a grievous offense against the Constitution. The framers of the 25th Amendment had in mind something very specific and trying to use the 25th Amendment to circumvent the impeachment provisions or to circumvent an election is a despicable act of unconstitutional power grabbing.

And you were right when you said it reminds me of what happens in third world countries. Look, these people may have been well-intentioned. They may have believed that they were serving the interest of the United States, but you have to obey the law and the law is the Constitution. . .

Andrew McCabe needs to be tried for his crimes, or these treasonous acts will continue. Punishment is the only answer.