On Sunday, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo and discussed the Mueller Report and upcoming senate investigations and hearings.
Senator Graham said he was planing to call in all of the officials who signed the controversial Carter Page FISA warrants.
Former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former Attorney General Sally Yates were all required to sign off on the FISC warrant application before it was reviewed and approved.
Senator Graham said he is going to investigate how the DOJ could use a document to spy on President Trump’s officials that has not been certified to this very day.
“I know Bill Barr and he’s pretty upset about how all of this was handled… I hope there is a special counsel appointed to look at DOJ corruption and political bias… I think it’s important to understand that political bias probably drove the Clinton outcome and not the facts…” said Graham.
“I just want the American people to know that the standards used against Clinton is an outlier. It’s not the way business is done. And why did they choose that path? I think they had a political bias. They wanted Clinton to win, Trump to lose…” he continued.
“Well May 1st, Barr is going to bring the Mueller Report over… I’m going to turn looking toward the counter-intelligence investigation. How the Clinton email investigation was handled and FISA abuse.” he added.
This Monday, Senator Lindsey Graham held a press conference and announced that he will be seeking an official investigation into the FBI’s handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s misuse of classified email, and the Obama-era directive that allowed the FBI to obtain secret FISA warrants.
The Hill reported that, following revelations in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, Senator Graham has concerns that the Obama Administration allowed blatant abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and that the so-called “Steele Dossier” was actually used to obtain FISA warrants to wiretap key Trump aides like Carter Page and Paul Manafort, who, as Mueller’s report says, did not attempt to collude with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.
“When it comes to the FISA warrant, the Clinton campaign, the counterintelligence investigation, it’s pretty much been swept under the rug. … Those days are over,” Graham said on Monday during his presser.
“The FISA warrant issued against Carter Page based on a dossier prepared by Christopher Steele is at a minimum disturbing,” Graham added. “Whether or not it’s illegal, I don’t yet know, so I’m going to get answers to this.”
Senator Lindsey Graham sure as a lot to work with. As (the decidedly not conservative) Matt Taibbi pointed out during the weekend, in a piece taking the media to task for failing to report accurately on the Russia collusion story, perhaps one of the strangest developments of the Mueller investigation is the media’s lack of attention to the malfeasance on the part of both the FBI and CIA.
According to Taibbi, the Steele dossier was sent to multiple news outlets, who ultimately gave the report credence, occasionally with input from current and former intelligence officials.
Once the allegations from the dossier made it into print, it appears the FBI used the stories to demonstrate the dossier’s credibility to the FISA court, even though Christopher Steele, who compiled the report, was very far from a reliable source.
The Wall Street Journal also noted the suspicious chain of evidence that led to the FISA court issuing warrants, including a green light to wiretap Manafort, which may have unintentionally led to the FBI listening in on conversations Manafort had with then-candidate Donald Trump.
“The FBI unleashed its powers on a candidate for the office of the U.S. presidency, an astonishing first. It did so on the incredible grounds that the campaign had conspired to aid a foreign government. And it used the most aggressive tools in its arsenal—surveillance of U.S. citizens, secret subpoenas of phone records and documents, even human informants.” the WSJ’s Kim Strassel reported.
The “circular reporting” story is certainly unproven, but as Senator Graham noted this Monday, it is very odd that it deserves a second look from Congress.
“I believe there was more there and I intend to get to there,” Graham said.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who is the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, could use his power to directly question certain officials, but he also mentioned speaking to Attorney General William Barr about appointing a second Special Counsel — “somebody like a Mr. Mueller” — to continue the investigation independent of Congress.
This Tuesday, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham slammed the Dems on Twitter Tuesday, claiming that the reason Democrats are backing the abolishment of the Electoral College is that they “want rural America to go away politically.”
Chairman of the Senate Committee Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) took to Twitter to go after the Democrats following the Monday CNN Town Hall where Senator Elizabeth Warren declared that she wanted to “get rid of the Electoral College,” becoming the latest Democratic presidential candidate to endorse the idea.
In his tweet, Senator Lindsey Graham claimed that the Dems’ “desire to abolish the Electoral College” is being “driven by the idea Democrats want rural America to go away politically.”
Then he posted a link from Fox News covering Warren’s remarks on the subject during the town hall.
The desire to abolish the Electoral College is driven by the idea Democrats want rural America to go away politically. https://t.co/ntMBY1bKcw
Massachusetts Senator and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee candidate Elizabeth Warren called for the removal of the Electoral College during a CNN town hall in Mississippi, saying that most presidential candidates spend more time in swing states such as Florida than non-swing states.
“Every vote matters. And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College.” said Warren.
However, Elizabeth Warren’s plan of an Electoral exodus brings its own share of problems. One of the problems is the theory that a presidential candidate could take the White House riding on the support from the nine most populous states in the union should the Electoral College be removed from the equation.
Former President George W. Bush defeated former Vice President Al Gore through the Electoral College while losing the popular vote back in the 2000. President Trump did the same in the 2016 presidential election.
Democratic presidential nominee candidates, such as Warren, Southbend and Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have called for the abolishment of the Electoral College, which is laid out in the Constitution. Buttigieg has been quoted as saying that the institution “less and less democratic.”
Senator Lindsey Graham responded to the Thursday passage of a resolution to block President Trump’s national emergency declaration by making it clear that he believes the President will win this fight.
After it was previously passed in the Democrat-controlled House, 12 Republicans joined Senate Democrats in voting for the resolution of disapproval.
Senator Graham stated that the President Trump’s plan will go through despite the vote, as it now heads to the Oval Office where the president is expected to veto it.
"The president will prevail. I don't think for a moment they're not sincere, I just disagree with their analysis. We're gonna' keep building the wall." pic.twitter.com/ZaR14mMBZp
“The process to reject his decision, that process is happening right now,” said Graham. “The president will prevail. I don’t think for a moment they’re not sincere, I just disagree with their analysis. We’re gonna keep building the wall.”
The President is planning to use the first veto of his presidency in order to kill the resolution and to move forward with building the southern border wall.
I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspired Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country. I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!
“I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspired Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country,” President Trump tweeted. “I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!”
Greenville News has reported that Senator Graham is standing strong in his support of building a wall to increase border security.
“There is an emergency at our southern border. Military construction funds can be used by President Trump to create barriers to protect our nation from the scourge of illegal immigration,” said Graham. “While I respect those who disagree, it is time to build the wall.”
On the other hand, Republicans that voted to block the president’s national emergency believe that the national emergency was an overreach of power. Senator Susan Collins explained that many Republicans felt the national emergency declaration gave President Trump too much power.
“What this debate is about is whether the president of the United States can take billions of dollars that have been appropriated that he has signed into law and then repurpose them for other projects,” Collins said.
It’s very unlikely that Congress has enough bipartisan support to override the veto.
