Sen. Lindsey Graham said that if Democrats move to impeach President Trump over Wednesday’s breach of the U.S. Capitol building by Trump supporters, the move would be unsuccessful in the Republican-controlled Senate.
“Any attempt to impeach President Trump would not only be unsuccessful in the Senate but would be a dangerous precedent for the future of the presidency,” the Republican senator from South Carolina said in a tweet on Friday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a press conference on Thursday that if Vice President Mike Pence and the president’s Cabinet do not move to remove Trump immediately through the 25th Amendment process, “Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.”
With just 12 days left in Trump’s term before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20, Democrats are on a tight timeline to proceed with any impeachment effort. When Trump was impeached in 2019, the process took months.
Assistant Speaker and Democratic Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said on CNN Friday morning that impeachment proceedings might begin “as early as mid next week.” House Democrats will hold a call on Friday that will include a discussion of how to move forward with any removal effort.
“If Speaker Pelosi pushes impeachm ent [sic] in the last days of the Trump presidency it will do more harm than good,” Graham said in a tweet. “I’m hopeful President-elect Biden sees the damage that would be done from such action.”
In a Thursday press conference, Graham said that he does not support the push to move forward with Trump’s removal by the 25th Amendment.
At least one Senate Republican is open to removing Trump. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse on Friday declined to rule it out.
“I think that there are a lot of questions that we need to get to the bottom of about why the National Guard was deployed. Why was it delayed?” Sasse told conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt on Friday.
Any attempt to impeach President Trump would not only be unsuccessful in the Senate but would be a dangerous precedent for the future of the presidency.
It will take both parties to heal the nation.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 8, 2021
