Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) feuded with CBS anchor Margaret Brennan over the veracity of the Trump whistleblower complaint. The complainant alleges that President Trump asked Ukrainian President Zelensky to interfere in the 2020 presidential election by investigating former Vice President Joe Biden.
The phone transcript, however, "does not match" the complaint, Graham said. It is "hearsay," he noted. And it should be treated as such.
“You can’t get a parking ticket based on hearsay,” Graham argued. “The whistleblower didn’t hear the phone call.”
The real scandal, Graham continued, was Joe Biden and Hunter Biden's ties to Ukraine. Hunter was sitting on the board of a Ukrainian gas company being investigated by the inspector general, and the former vice president reportedly asked for that IG to be fired. Graham "loves" Joe Biden, but he said something is fishy.
.@LindseyGrahamSC suggests appointing a special investigator to look into Joe Biden’s role in the firing of Ukranian Prosecutor Viktor Shokin. https://t.co/68SQluCwQL pic.twitter.com/ZUPIqQZtRr
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 29, 2019
Brennan took the complaint a little more seriously, noting how the complainant mentions he or she heard about the phone call from multiple White House officials.
"I'm laying out the facts here," Brennan said.
To which Graham replied, "No - no you're not."
The frustrated senator told Brennan she had her opinion, and he had his. And in his opinion, the complaint, and the Democrats' impeachment inquiry is a "sham." He dared Brennan to answer his long list of questions.
"I can't believe we're talking about impeaching the president based on an accusation based on hearsay," he said. "Who is this whistleblower? What bias do they have? Why did they pick this whistleblower to tell a hearsay story? The transcript does not match the complaint. What's going on here? Why did they change the rules about a whistleblower you can use hearsay when you could not just weeks before the complaint?"
He asked a few more questions on his Twitter page Monday, reiterating what a joke the Democrats' impeachment campaign is.
We can’t have process designed to destroy the presidency that relies on anonymous accusers or hearsay accusations.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 30, 2019
If the transcript of the phone call is the only basis for impeachment – what a joke.