‘I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A liberal activist group asked the Senate Ethics Committee to launch an ethics probe into Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-SC, because of his remarks defending President Donald Trump against the Democrats’ impeachment efforts.
In a Dec. 17 letter to the committee, the American Democracy Legal Fund said that Graham’s public comments on impeachment reveal that he has already “made up” his mind and that he is “not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.”
“In Senator Graham’s own words—he is not even going to pretend to follow his constitutionally required oath of impartiality,” ADLF President Brad Woodhouse wrote in the letter.
“This statement not only indicates Senator Graham’s clear intention to violate a sworn oath, but further calls into question the integrity of any impeachment trial that is held in the U.S. Senate.”
Democrats filed the long-sought articles of impeachment in December but did not charge Trump with any unlawful or demonstrably improper conduct—opting instead for a vague “abuse of power” charge, along with “contempt of Congress.”
No Republicans supported the politically motivated impeachment measures in the House, although four Democrats refused to vote for them. One Democratic congressman, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, immediately switched parties as a result.
Late last year, Graham predicted that the Democrats’ impeachment case would “die quickly” in the Senate and that most Senate Republicans would vote to acquit Trump.
“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” he told CNN.
When asked if it was appropriate for him to be voicing his opinion before the articles of impeachment reach the Senate, Graham said: “Well, I must think so because I’m doing it.”
Graham said the partisan spectacle advanced by the House warranted a partisan response and nothing more.
“I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here,” Graham continued. “What I see coming, happening today is just a partisan nonsense.”
Thus far, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to validate the impeachment by submitting the articles to the Senate. But that didn’t stop leftists from working the refs by trying to attack one of the Senate’s leading critics.
Graham’s comments were proof that he is “clearly incapable of following Senate rules or complying with his ethical duties as a member of the U.S. Senate,” Woodhouse claimed in a statement.
“We are therefore demanding a thorough investigation into his misconduct by the Senate Ethics Committee,” Woodhouse said.
It is unlikely that the Ethics Committee, chaired by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., will consider an investigation of Graham based on the activists’ complaint.