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- Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday called on Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer in a letter to hold a vote in the Senate to reject President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
- Graham, a close ally of the president, briefly broke with the president after the Jan.6 uprising, but has since returned to his defense.
- In the letter to Schumer, Graham argued that if the lawsuit is not dismissed “we will indefinitely, if not forever, delay the healing of this great nation.”
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday asked Senator Chuck Schumer in a letter to hold a Senate vote rejecting President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
“The Senate is expected to vote to reject the impeachment article once it is received in the Senate,” said Graham, a Republican from South Carolina. said in the letter. “We will delay the healing of this great nation indefinitely, if not forever, if we do otherwise.”
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives last week for “incitement to insurgency” over his role in the Jan.6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when his supporters attempted to stop certification of results of 2020 elections. Five people were left dead.
The Senate must hold a trial and vote on whether to convict the president. Current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said the trial would likely not begin until after inauguration day, when Schumer, a Democrat from New York, will be the new leader. of the majority.
Read more: Mitch McConnell tells GOP senators his ruling on Trump impeachment trial conviction is a ‘vote of conscience’
Graham, a frequent ally of the president, briefly broke with Trump after the Capitol siege and admitted that President-elect Joe Biden won the election.
However, in the letter to Schumer, he argued that the impeachment was “unconstitutional” because Trump will already be removed from office when the trial begins.
He also praised Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to answer calls, including from the president, to break with the Constitution by trying to overturn the election results. Graham compared this decision to that of Schumer.
“But now, in your first act as a majority leader, rather than starting the national healing that the country so desperately longs for, you are seeking revenge and political retaliation instead,” he said.
Graham also said Senate Republicans “reject unconstitutional actions” regarding voter certification.
“Almost all of us have rejected new challenges for the 2020 elections,” he said.
However, in the days leading up to certification, a dozen GOP senators said they would oppose certification of some constituency votes, with some only turning the tide after the violence on Capitol Hill.
Eight of them ended up being opposed, including the Meaning. Josh Hawley from Missouri and Ted Cruz from Texas.
Graham himself has also pressured Georgia’s top election official to largely cast Democratic mail-in ballots.
Days before the letter to Schumer, Graham spoke out against impeachment and suggested that McConnell, who has said he would wait to hear evidence presented at trial, “is making the problem worse.”
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