WASHINGTON _ U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham delivered unequivocal support for President Donald Trump less than an hour after the White House released the rough transcript of a phone call congressional Democrats say could be grounds for impeachment.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning, the South Carolina Republican announced that he had read the five-page transcript between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25 _ and saw no evidence of misconduct.
"From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane," said Graham, who also shared that he had spoken to Trump earlier in the day to "applaud" him for releasing the document.
"I told him, 'Mr. President, the desire to get you is unending,'" Graham recalled of his conversation. "(Democrats) were calling for your impeachment before they even knew what was in the phone call."
Graham also reiterated his interest in pursuing another investigation, not into Trump but into former Vice President Joe Biden.
Democrats insist the phone call between Trump and Zelensky constitutes a potentially impeachable offense: Trump, a sitting president, clearly asked a foreign leader to look into the circumstances under which Biden, his potential political rival for reelection, advocated for the firing of a prosecutor who happened to be looking into corruption of a business in which his son, Hunter Biden, had a stake.
As vice president, Biden urged Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor for not sufficiently pursuing corruption cases broadly. He has maintained his actions had nothing to do with helping his son.
Democrats are also looking into a whistleblower's allegation that Trump tried to withhold foreign aid to Ukraine in exchange for Zelensky's assistance in investigating the Bidens.
Graham said Wednesday there was no evidence that Trump threatened to cut off aid if Zelensky didn't look into the Biden allegations. If there was no effort to extract a quid pro quo, Graham continued, it was not inappropriate for Trump to ask Zelensky to look into an "obvious conflict" involving Joe Biden.
"The aura around the phone call was disturbing: Did the president of the United States take money that was going to the Ukraine and threaten to withhold it if he did not get help in his reelection? The answer is no," Graham said. "Did Joe Biden threaten to withhold money if you don't fire somebody in the Ukraine? Yes."
Graham's response Wednesday was not surprising; he has emerged as one of the president's fiercest defenders and most dependable allies. It did, however, cement the White House's understanding that Trump will be protected by his loyal foot soldiers in Congress no matter what.
In a sign of confidence that Trump has truly done nothing untoward, Graham said he welcomed the whistleblower to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.
"If you want to tell the story about what bothers you, come to this committee and I'll dare everybody in the Senate to stop me," he said, "because I believe the phone call speaks for itself. The accusations leveled by certain people before they read the phone call has fallen flat on its face."
