Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that any impeachment trial that does not include access to the whistleblower would be “dead on arrival in the Senate.”
Graham made the comments during an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo. (RELATED: ‘You’ve Heard Of The Constitution?’ Rand Paul Fires Back At Reporter Who Asks Whether Whistleblower Can Be Unmasked)
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Bartiromo began by asking Graham about the list of witnesses the House had planned to call in the coming weeks. “You’ve said on the program not too long ago that Hunter Biden needs to answer questions, what is your reaction to this list that your colleagues in the house have prepared as far as those they would like to hear from?” she asked.
“They could care less about getting to the truth, what really did happen, why was the prosecutor fired, the John Solomon FOIA request is stunning, you can see efforts in the State Department where they were worried about the conflict of interest between Hunter Biden and the company being investigated,” Graham responded. (RELATED: ‘They Have Denied President Trump Basic Due Process’: McConnell Rips Latest Impeachment Push)
“We will look at that,” the South Carolina Senator continued. “I consider any impeachment in the House that doesn’t allow us to know who the whistleblower is to be invalid because without the whistleblower complaint we wouldn’t be talking about any of this. And I also see the need for Hunter Biden to be called to adequately defend the president and if you don’t do those two things it’s a complete joke.”
Graham went on to address the reasons he felt Hunter Biden needed to be called before the Senate, saying that there were questions not only about the people who were involved but also about the timeline of the investigation.
“But back to the whistleblower,” he continued. “It’s impossible to bring this case forward in my view fairly without us knowing who the whistleblower is and having a chance to cross examine them about any advice they may have, if they don’t call the whistleblower in the house, this thing is dead on arrival on the Senate.”
Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” told host Jake Tapper that she didn’t see any need to talk to Hunter Biden and referred to any further investigation into his connections with Ukraine a “sham.”