House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who is one of the impeachment managers in Donald Trump’s trial, used the words of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to prove why Trump committed an impeachable offense by asking a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political opponent while threatening to withhold military aid.
Speaking to the Senate on Thursday about whether Trump had committed an impeachable offense, Nadler showed a clip of Graham from 1999 during the Clinton impeachment trial asking, “What’s a high crime? How about if an important person hurt somebody of low means? It’s not very scholarly, but I think it’s the truth. I think that’s what they meant by high crimes.”
Graham added, “Doesn’t have to be a crime. It’s just when you start using your office and you’re acting in a way that hurts people, you’ll have committed a high crime.”
Nadler went on to argue that “there are many reasons why high crimes and misdemeanors are not and cannot be limited to violations of the criminal code. We address them at length in the briefs we have filed and the report of the House Judiciary Committee respecting these articles of impeachment.”
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Graham has no intention of holding a fair trial. In fact, he has already publicly announced that he has made up his mind and won’t convict Trump.
He told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “I am clearly made up my mind. I’m not trying to hide the fact that I have disdain for the accusations in the process, so I don’t need any witnesses. The president can make a request to call witnesses. They can make a request or call [Vice President] Mike Pence, and [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo, and [former Vice President] Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. I am ready to vote on the underlying articles. I don’t really need to hear a lot of witnesses.”
Graham told CNN International’s Becky Anderson earlier this month during an interview at the Doha Forum in Qatar that “I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here. What I see coming — happening today — is just a partisan nonsense.”
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