Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced Wednesday he would oppose Democrats’ latest effort to impeach President Trump, arguing that removing the president “could invite further violence at a time the president is calling for calm.”
“The process being used in the House to impeach President Trump is an affront to any concept of due process and will further divide the country. The President, who will be leaving office in less than a week, has committed to an orderly transfer of power, encouraging calm and rejecting violence,” Graham said in a statement.
Rushing through the impeachment process and forcing a vote when Trump has a little more than one week left in office defies the constitutional standard for impeachment, Graham argued.
“The House impeachment process seeks to legitimize a snap impeachment totally void of due process. No hearings. No witnesses. It is a rushed process that, over time, will become a threat to future presidents. As to Senate leadership, I fear they are making the problem worse, not better,” he said.
Democrats have already proved they do not take impeachment seriously, Graham argued, since they tried to remove Trump once before over his phone call to Ukrainian leaders.
Now, they hope this second impeachment will “wash for history the fact that the first impeachment was based on the thinnest of pretenses,” he said.
“Impeachment should never be a ‘do-over,’ but that is what Democrats are seeking to do today,” he continued.
Graham urged his Republican colleagues to oppose impeachment as well, warning that they would do “great damage not only to the country, the future of the presidency, but also to the party.”
His comments follow a report from the New York Times that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is considering supporting Democrats’ impeachment efforts.
At least five House Republicans, including Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., have already vowed to vote in favor of impeaching Trump.
