Lindsey Graham puts the Dems on notice and ends their neat little fantasy that John Bolton will testify and save their doomed impeachment trial.
Sen. Graham, who says he would like to see Bolton’s book manuscript in a secure setting, just slammed Schiff’s dream of calling Bolton and Bolton alone.
“I’m just telling everybody who thinks you can surgically deal with this: it’s not going to happen,” Sen. Lindsey said before dropping the hammer.
“I’ll make a prediction. There’ll be 51 Republican votes to call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, the whistle-blower and the DNC staffer at a very minimum.”
“I’ll make a prediction: There will be 51 Republican votes to call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, the whistle-blower and the DNC staffer at a minimum,” Graham told reporters.
The Hill reported that Sen. Graham’s comments come as former national security adviser John Bolton’s claim in his forthcoming memoir that President Trump tied Ukraine aid to the country opening up investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
GOP leadership had hoped to end the trial with no witnesses, but Bolton’s accusation, reported by The New York Times, has thrown the ability of the caucus to quickly end the trial into question.
Conservatives are warning that if 4 GOP senators side with the Dems to call Bolton, then President Trump’s legal team should get as many witnesses. Since the Democrats would not support calling the Bidens or the whistle-blower, Republicans would have to provide the 51 votes from their 53 members.
USA Today also reported that Sen. Lindsey Graham said if the Dems are going to try to bring John Bolton as a witness at the Senate impeachment trial then Democrats should be prepared to see former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and other key Democrats hauled in as well.
“If we’re going to open this up to additional inquiry, we’re going to go down the road,” the Republican South Carolina senator told reporters in the Capitol Tuesday. “Was it legitimate for the president to believe there was corruption and conflicts of interest on the Bidens’ part in the Ukraine? We’ll explore that and whether or not there’s any credibility to the idea that he (Democratic National Committee) may have been working with Ukraine.”
Sen. Graham said he does not need to hear from more witnesses, saying he was “comfortable” with what he’s already heard.
But Graham added, “I’m just telling everybody who thinks you can surgically deal with this: it’s not going to happen,” he said. “I’ll make a prediction. There’ll be 51 Republican votes to call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, the whistleblower and the DNC staffer at a very minimum.”
