Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) predicted no GOP senators would vote to compel testimony in President Trump’s impeachment trial from current and former White House officials for whom the administration has invoked executive privilege.
“The president is invoking executive privilege around [acting chief of staff] Mick Mulvaney, [former national security adviser] John Bolton and others,” Graham told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “They’ve impeached him because he wanted to go to court.”
{mosads}Asked by Bartiromo whether he thought any senators would vote to compel testimony from those witnesses, Graham responded, “No, I don’t.”
“If you call these witnesses who work for the president after he’s invoked executive privilege … if you deny him his day in court, then you’re abusing the constitutional rights of Donald Trump as president and you’re putting the entire presidency at risk,” Graham said.
“I can’t imagine any senator doing this to the presidency. I hope senators will not vote to compel witnesses before the court determines whether or not there’s executive privilege,” he added.
A spokesperson for Graham later clarified that the senator meant no Republican senators would vote to compel testimony.
Asked about the next steps in the Senate’s impeachment trial, Graham, who served as one of the House’s impeachment managers during former President Clinton’s impeachment, predicted this one would proceed similarly.
In 1998, “they argued the facts accumulated by the House. Witnesses were requested. They were denied along party lines. There were no witnesses. Then we voted,” Graham said. “[Senate Minority Leader Charles] Schumer [D-N.Y.] says he wants a process like Clinton. That’s exactly what he wants to get.”
Updated: 4:02 p.m.