Evangelical leader Franklin Graham is urging the public to pray for President Trump as the House impeachment inquiry moves into a new phase.
Graham, an outspoken Trump ally, took to Twitter on Thursday, calling it a “sad day for America” after the House passed a resolution laying out the procedures for the next phase of its impeachment inquiry.
“Our politics in this country has hit a new low,” he said, asserting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic lawmakers had “weaponized the impeachment process.”
“This is just another attempt to tarnish and embarrass @POTUS @realDonaldTrump before the next election,” he wrote. “Pray for President Trump today, for God to give him wisdom, protection, & that God would guide each & every step he takes.”
{mosads}The House resolution, which passed mostly along party lines on Thursday, established rules for open hearings and the questioning of witnesses by committee members and staff in the impeachment inquiry. Its passage comes as the impeachment inquiry is expected to move from behind-closed-doors depositions to open, televised hearings within weeks.
The vote came more than a month after Democrats launched their formal inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine following revelations that he urged the country to open politically charged investigations, including a probe into former Vice President Joe Biden, a top political rival, and his son Hunter Biden.
Trump and GOP lawmakers have repeatedly decried the impeachment inquiry as a “sham” investigation, arguing that it is an attempt to reverse the results of the 2016 election.
Graham, the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham and president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has stood firmly by Trump throughout his nearly three years in the White House.
He and a group of more than 250 evangelical leaders in March called for a “Special Day of Prayer” to protect Trump from his “enemies” who “continue to try everything to destroy him, his family, and the presidency.”
Graham also warned in early October that the U.S. “could begin to unravel if an elected president is thrown out of office because of lies and the media.”