Sen. Lindsey Graham said: "My goal is to start this trial in the next coming days, not let Nancy Pelosi take over the Senate,"
Graham speaking on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures : "If we don't get the articles this week, then we need to take matters in our own hands and change the rules."
"Deem them to be delivered to the Senate," he continued, adding, "My goal is to start this trial in the next coming days, not let [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi take over the Senate."
Changing such rules would require a simple 51-vote majority.
The code word used by people who hate Israel is “disproportionate.” They use this term, so subjective as to be meaningless, as a shoehorn to turn any action that involves the nation into an indictment against it, and a paean to its enemies. Which are usually terrorists.
Ask Ilhan Omar about it, she’s a huge practitioner of the “disproportionate response” ploy.
Nancy Pelosi, who is somehow Speaker of the House again at age 203, used the phrase this morning as her fig leaf for supporting Iran against the United States, even though she doesn’t even work for CNN.
American leaders’ highest priority is to protect American lives and interests. But we cannot put the lives of American servicemembers, diplomats and others further at risk by engaging in provocative and disproportionate actions. https://t.co/o0R8YVJMNW
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 3, 2020
You know who else says “disproportionate” about anything Israel or the United States does? These guys.
And so, in this two-pronged attack by the allied Mullahs and Democrats, it has been days of accusing our troops, our government, and the president of everything from incompetence and pettiness to outright WAR CRIMES.
So we come to President Trump, who responded to both of our wartime foes in a single tweet.
These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020
By “media posts” he’s apparently referring to his own tweets about retribution. We talked about some of them last night, if you remember.
America’s enemies should really start listening. It’s obvious Pelosi isn’t pulling any levers of power here. The White House is on a path and some wimpy hand-wringing statement from the Hate Israel caucus isn’t going to do a darn thing to stop it.
Graham gives Pelosi ultimatum, proposes Senate rule change to remove her from impeachment process
ReplyDeleteSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., insisted Sunday that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not deliver articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate by the end of the week, the Senate should "take matters in our own hands."
Graham accused Pelosi of playing political games and trying to exert control over the Senate trial by keeping it from starting. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized Friday on the Senate floor the chamber's rules prevented him from doing anything until Pelosi does her part, but Graham proposed a solution that could remove what McConnell has called an "impasse" in the process.
"What I would do, if she continues to refuse to send the articles as required by the Constitution, I would work with Senator McConnell to change the rules of the Senate so we could start the trial without her, if necessary," Graham proposed on "Sunday Morning Futures."
When asked how long he would wait before taking this step, Graham replied, "Days, not weeks."
Graham justified this by claiming that Pelosi was engaging in a "political stunt" by holding off on sending the impeachment articles to the Senate, weeks after they were approved by a House vote. He said McConnell would not let her dictate how events unfold.
"Well, we’re not going to let Nancy Pelosi use the rules of the Senate to her advantage. This is dangerous to the presidency as an institution," Graham said. "They impeached the president, but the speaker of the House is holding the articles back, trying to extort from the majority leader of the Senate a trial to her liking. They’re trying to hold these articles over the head of the president."
Graham laid out how he would expect the trial to go, allowing both sides to present arguments before determining whether witnesses were needed.
"We’ll use the Clinton model, where you take the record established in the House, let the House managers appointed by Pelosi make the argument, let the president make his argument why the two articles are flawed, and then we’ll decide whether we want witnesses. But this should be done in a couple of weeks," he said.
Graham expressed hope that the Senate could conclude the impeachment trial before the end of January, but reiterated that this may require the Senate to push Pelosi out of the equation.
"If we don’t get the articles this week, then we need to take matters in our own hands and change the rules, deem them to be delivered to the Senate so we can start the trial, invite the House over to participate if they would like," he said. "If they don’t come, dismiss the case and get on with governing the country."