South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was 1 of 5 Republican senators Saturday to vote in favor of calling witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. But Graham did so as a way of helping Trump.
That’s because Graham has said for days that if witnesses are called, they should include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a witness to testify at the Senate impeachment trial in order to discuss security preparations before the Jan. 6 Capitol siege.
Graham, along with four other Republican senators, joined all 50 Democrats to allow for witnesses to be called at Trump’s impeachment trial after House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said he wanted to subpoena Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington Republican. Weeks ago, she revealed a contentious phone conversation between Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy late on the afternoon of Jan. 6.
Graham previously threatened that Republicans would call for the FBI to testify about the security issues around the Capitol.
On Saturday, he repeated his call for Pelosi to testify.
“We can start with Speaker Pelosi to answer the question as to whether or not there was credible evidence of pre-planned violence before President Trump spoke?” Graham tweeted.
