Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham explained Thursday why he’s not in a rush to call witnesses to rebut the claims made in the House’s impeachment hearings.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Graham said that he had no interest in legitimizing the House Democrats’ push to impeach President Donald Trump, saying that it would set “a dangerous precedent” for both the country and future presidents of either party.
Graham began by saying that proceeding with impeachment hearings without giving Republicans any opportunity to examine the whistleblower was “fundamentally unfair.”
“I don’t want to legitimize this,” Graham continued. “Democrats may like this today but if there’s a Democratic president, and you got a small majority of Republicans in the House, you’re basically going to destroy the presidency over time if you continue this.”
“How would you as a member of Congress like to be on the receiving end of this?” Graham asked. “Somebody said you did something wrong, the whistle-blower complaint, but you can’t find out who they are and all the accusations against you are based on hearsay. This is a dangerous precedent set for the country.” (RELATED: Lindsey Graham: Impeachment Not Happening If Senate Doesn’t Talk To Whistleblower)
Graham had previously told Maria Bartiromo that unless the Republicans were allowed to examine the whistleblower, the entire impeachment process would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.