CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Lindsey Graham

Interview

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Good morning and welcome to FACE THE NATION. We begin today with the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham. He joins us from Doha, Qatar. Senator, good morning to you. The President has said he's heard you out on the merits of a short Senate trial, but he's going to do whatever he wants, he says. Should Republicans in the Senate really be taking their marching orders from the person being investigated?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-South Carolina/@LindseyGrahamSC/Judiciary Committee Chairman): You know, I understand the President's frustration, but I think what's best for the country is to get-- get this thing over with. 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 req-- a request or call Mike Pence and Pompeo and 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.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But the President says he wants-- he would love those individuals to testify. He says he wants evidence. He wants to make his case. Why are you opposed?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, I'd tell the President, if somebody is ready to acquit you, I'd sort of get out of the way. If you start calling the witnesses the President wants and they're are going to start calling Mike Pence and, you know, the Secretary of State Pompeo, I don't think that's good for the country. I don't think it's good for the Senate. You need fifty-one votes to get a witness approved. I want to make my decision based on the trial record established in the House as a basis for impeachment. That's just me, one senator. But I think there's a general desire by a lot of senators to not turn this thing into a circus. I understand the President's frustration by being shut out of the House but I need to do what I think is best for the country.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, back when you were in the House, during the Clinton impeachment, you were an impeachment manager. And I want to play a clip from what you said on FACE THE NATION back then in 1999.

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SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (January 1999): All I ask for is a chance to do it meaningful if you have one day and you're-- you're stuck with a judiciary report, I don't think history will judge the Senate well. If they decide to acquit the-- the President, there needs to be a record well developed where both sides had a chance to prove their case. So I hope we have a trial that is meaningful, that will withstand historical scrutiny, that will follow the precedents of the past. I've never known an impeachment trial without a witness and just lasting one day to present the case for the House. That's frankly not fair.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: Why have your standards for Senate trial changed?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, Ken Starr investigated President Clinton for years, spent millions of dollars. He was an outside counsel. Bob Mueller investigated Donald Trump for two years, spent twenty-five million dollars. I supported the Mueller investigation because I think he would be fair. It was not a witch hunt in my view. This is the first impeachment trial being driven by partisan politicians conducted behind closed doors. The testimony was selectively leaked. The President was denied the ability to participate meaningful in the House hearing. And I want to end it. I have nothing but disdain for this. I'm trying to make myself clear. What you're doing in the House is bad for the presidency. You're impeaching the President of the United States in a matter of weeks, not months. You had a two-year investigation, that wasn't enough. I think this whole thing is a crock. You're shutting the President out. The process in the House, any partisan group could do this in the future.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: You're weaponizing impeachment. And I want to end it. I don't want to legitimize it. I hate what they are doing.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Rudy Giuliani spoke to our Paula Reid and said when he was in Ukraine just in the past few days, he had to go buy a whole separate suitcase because he came back with so many documents for this report he wants to make. He was at the White House on Friday. Do you plan to look at the information he gathered? Is he credible?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, I don't know what he found, but if he wants to come to the Judiciary Committee--Rudy, if you want to come and tell us what you found, I'll be glad to talk to you. When it comes to impeachment, I want to base my decision on the record assembled in the House. We can look at what Rudy's got and Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and anything else you want to look at after impeachment. But if Rudy wants to come to the Judiciary Committee and testify about what he found, he is welcome to do so.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. We'll look for that. You have, though, announced a separate investigation into your friend, Joe Biden. And you said that-- that you love him, but you want to pursue this investigation. He was asked about this on CNN--

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I did. I did, very much so.

MARGARET BRENNAN: He was asked about this on CNN recently and I want to play that bite.

JOE BIDEN (November 22): I am disappointed. And, quite frankly, I'm angered by the fact. He knows me. He knows my son. He knows there's nothing to this. Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn't yield to. And Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he is going to regret his whole life.

MARGARET BRENNAN: He says you're going to regret this your whole life. Is there anything that you've done with this Ukraine investigation that-- that gives you pause?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Oh. No, not at all. Joe Biden is a-- is a friend. He is one of the most decent people I've ever met in my life. But here's the deal, this whole process around the Ukraine is--reeks with politics. They've done everything but take a wrecking ball to Donald Trump and his family. We're not going to live in a world where only Republicans get looked at. As much as I love Joe Biden and I am sincere when I say that, now that you want to talk about Ukraine, it's pretty hard for me to go home and tell my constituents to ignore the fact that Hunter Biden received fifty thousand dollars a month from a gas company in the Ukraine, run by the most corrupt person in the Ukraine. And two months after the gas company was investigated, the prosecutor got fired. I don't know if there is anything to this. I hope not. I hope I can look at the transcripts of the phone call between Biden in the Ukraine--Joe Biden after the investigation began and say there is no there there. These are legitimate concerns about what happened in the Ukraine. I love Joe Biden, but none of us are above scrutiny. I'd like to knock all this off and get back on governing the country.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the Supreme Court is also going to take a look at whether or not the President can block his financial records from being released to the public. It's pretty significant ruling on presidential-- on precedent here. Do you think any President should be--

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah.

MARGARET BRENNAN: --able to block this from Congress?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: If the Supreme Court rules he has to release his financial information, he would be bound to do so. I personally think he should release his tax-- tax returns. I think anybody running for President going forward should release their tax turns-- tax returns. But the President has legal rights. He is an American. We can't have laws for everybody but Donald Trump.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Graham, thank you for joining us.

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