Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that he will do everything he can to make the Democrat-led impeachment effort “die quickly” in the Senate.
“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” he said.
A critic of Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, Graham affirmed he wants the Senate to end the impeachment saga “as soon as possible for the good of the Senate, for the good of the country.
“I think the best thing for America to do is get this behind us,” Graham said, adding that he didn’t think it would be helpful to hear from any more witnesses and would prefer to proceed to a vote, based on the records presented to the House.
“I don’t want to call anybody. I don’t need to hear from Hunter Biden, I don’t need to hear from Joe Biden,” he said.
Graham also denounced the Democrat-led House impeachment effort as “partisan nonsense” during the interview.
“If you don’t like President Trump, you can vote against him in less than a year. It’s not like a politician is unaccountable if you don’t impeach them,” Graham said.
“Clearly, I wasn’t a fan of his campaign, right? But here’s the way it has to work. When you lose, accept it.
“Personally, I think President Trump will come out of this stronger, and the good news is that everybody in politics in America needs to prove to the American public we’re not all completely crazy. So there may be a spirit of compromise coming post-impeachment, born of political necessity, if anything else,” he said.
“It could go down the path of calling witnesses and basically having another trial, or it could decide—and again 51 members could make that decision—that they have heard enough and believe they know what would happen, and could move to vote on the two articles of impeachment sent over to us by the House," he said.
During an interview with Fox News before House Judiciary Democrats approved the articles of impeachment, McConnell said he will coordinate with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president to figure out how to handle the impeachment process in the Senate.
“There will be no difference between the President’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can,” he said, adding, “We have no choice but to take it up.”
He also told Fox News that there was “zero chance” that Trump will be removed from office and that one or two Democratic senators may vote with his caucus.
Trump says he doesn’t have a preference for either a long Senate trial or a short one.
“Look, there is—we did nothing wrong. So I‘ll do long, or short,” he told the reporters. “I’ve heard Mitch, I’ve heard Lindsey. I think they are very much in agreement on some concept. I’ll do whatever they want to do. It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t mind the long process, because I'd like to see the whistleblower, who’s a fraud.”
