Sen. Lindsey Graham issued a warning to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that his attempt to regain “control” of the chamber before the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump begins next week will cost him.
“We lost five seats as Republicans when we impeached Clinton. People thought we went too far,” Graham told Fox News on Wednesday. “I think 2020 is going to be a blowout.”
Schumer, the leading Democrat in the Republican-controlled Senate, has demanded the body hear testimony from witnesses not called during the House impeachment process.
The New York lawmaker and his colleagues in the House have said if Republicans in the Senate do not comply with their demands for additional testimony, they are complicit in the crimes the Congress has accused Trump of committing.
“Given that Mr. Bolton’s lawyers have stated he has new relevant information to share, if any Senate Republican opposes issuing subpoenas to the four witnesses and documents we have requested, they would make absolutely clear they are participating in a cover-up,” Schumer said this week.
Rep. Jerry Nadler echoed Schumer’s sentiment.
“The Senate is on trial,” Nadler said.
The top witness Democrats have cited is former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton, who is said to have first-hand accounts of the president’s knowledge of a shadow diplomacy campaign seeking to undermine a domestic political rival.
Trump’s impeachment centers on what Democrats allege to be a quid pro quo between associates of Trump and top government officials in Ukraine.
Vital military aide and a White House visit for the Ukrainian president were briefly held up as the Trump administration waged a pressure campaign against the country’s government. A government watchdog found Thursday that the hold broke the law.
Trump and his associates, including Rudy Giuliani, wanted an investigation from Ukraine into corruption allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Bolton, according to several testimonies from U.S. diplomats to Ukraine, expressed his discomfort with the pressure campaign, calling it a “drug deal.”
Bolton has indicated he is willing to testify before the Senate if he is issued a subpoena.
It probably goes without saying, that our country’s commitment to our national security priorities is under attack from within. America is distracted. Our enemies are not. We need to make U.S. national security a priority. #JohnBolton
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) November 26, 2019
Democratic cries for more witnesses were emboldened late Wednesday night following a cable news interview given by Lev Parnas, an associate of Giuliani who said Trump knew of the shadow diplomacy campaign.
Parnas, who has been indicted on unrelated federal fraud charges, has indicated he is willing to comply with congressional oversight and law enforcement authorities.
The White House and Trump’s Republican allies are hoping for a speedy trial that would put an end to what they say is a “sham” impeachment at the hands of Democrats who lack a serious case.
“They just hate this guy so much,” Graham said of Congressional Democrats. “It’s been an unending effort to destroy his presidency.”
Some Republicans have floated the idea of witness reciprocity, which would allow the president’s legal team to call key witnesses like Hunter Biden or the intelligence agency whistleblower whose report sparked Trump’s impeachment.
I tell my colleagues on the Republican side: Chuck Schumer is not seeking the truth.
If you think that Chuck Schumer is trying to find out what happened here you’re missing a lot.
Chuck Schumer is trying to take back the Senate.https://t.co/4rH3Lt0G75
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 16, 2020
Graham, who has helped shape Trump’s impeachment defense strategy, said calling witnesses so close to the president has no legal ground to stand on.
“Chuck Schumer is not seeking the truth,” he said. “Chuck Schumer is trying to take back the Senate. He’s willing to destroy executive privilege. I can only imagine what he would be saying if this was a Democratic president.”
