Graham: Immediate dismissal of impeachment articles ‘dead for practical purposes’

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) conceded Sunday that the House-passed articles of impeachment against President Trump would not be dismissed without a trial in the Senate despite the near certainty that the upper chamber will vote to acquit the president.

“Have you given up on the idea that the majority will vote to dismiss case right away?” host Chris Wallace asked Graham on “Fox News Sunday.”

“That’s dead for practical purposes,” Graham told Wallace. “There are a lot of senators who I think will wind up acquitting the president but believe we need to hear the House’s case [and] the president’s case in answer to the House’s case.”

“The idea of dismissing the case early on is not going to happen,” he added. “We don’t have the votes for that.”

Graham also said he intends to vote against hearing from witnesses desired by Democrats — including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mike Mulvaney — as well as those Republicans have called for — including 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and the whistleblower whose complaint sparked the House’s impeachment inquiry.

“If we call one witness, we’re going to call all the witnesses. There’s not going to be a process where the Democrats get their witnesses and the president gets shut out,” he added. “I want this trial to get over as quick as possible. I want the people of the United States to pick the next president.”