Graham: Senate trial ‘must expose the whistleblower’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Wednesday that a Senate trial must reveal the identity of the whistleblower at the center of the House impeachment inquiry.
Graham told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that a Senate trial needed to “expose the whistleblower,” so that President Trump could “confront his accuser.”
{mosads}”I will not accept a trial in the Senate until I know who the whistleblower is,” Graham said.
Trump and his allies for weeks have been clamoring for the disclosure of the whistleblower’s identity. Trump, and some GOP lawmakers, have even called for the media to disclose the person’s name.
The whistleblower’s claim, which is tied to Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, has driven the weeks-long impeachment inquiry, though House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has signaled that the individual does not need to testify.
Graham, during the Fox News interview, questioned if the whistleblower was “connected to Joe Biden in any way.”
Several Senate Republicans, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), have spoken out against revealing the whistleblower’s identity, noting that the individual is protected under federal law.
Graham’s call for the whistleblower to be named as part of any Senate impeachment trial comes after House Democrats rejected an effort by House Republicans to call the whistleblower and Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, as witnesses in the public House impeachment inquiry hearings taking place this week and next.
The Senate passed a resolution 100-0 back during the Clinton impeachment trial that established the procedure for filing motions, how long senators would have to ask questions and how witnesses would be called.
But a second resolution specifying which individuals would be called as witnesses faltered along party lines.
Neither Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) nor Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has indicated who they believe should be called as witnesses. They also haven’t started negotiating on a potential deal for the rules of the impeachment trial.
The House is investigating whether or not Trump withheld aid to Ukraine in an effort to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into Joe Biden and his son.
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