Sen. Lindsey Graham on impeachment delay: Nancy Pelosi has buyer's remorse

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Sen. Lindsey Graham on impeachment delay: Nancy Pelosi has buyer's remorse

Democrats are denying President Trump his day in court because 'they know their case sucks,' says South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," December 19, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Bret Baier, anchor: For more on this and the impeachment story, joining me from the White House tonight, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Republican Lindsey Graham from South Carolina. Senator, thanks for being here.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.: Thank you.

Bret Baier: Chilly night there.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Yeah [LAUGHS].

Bret Baier: Thanks for standing outside.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: It's okay.

Bret Baier: Let me ask you about the Speaker holding back these articles and what that means in your eyes, and what do you think's next?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Well, the most obvious explanation is that is the dog that caught the car, buyer's remorse. They don't know what to do. Their assumption was that impeachment would sell with the American people. It's falling apart. They have no case. And now they don't know what to do next. And this is a political stunt that's very dangerous. So, I just met with the president. And he is demanding his day in court. Every American accused of a crime or wrongdoing gets their day in court, apparently, except Donald Trump. And if you believe the Clinton impeachment trial was fair, that's exactly the same type trial that will happen in the Senate with President Trump. But I just left President Trump. He's mad as hell that they would do this to him and now deny him his day in court. The reason they're denying his day -- him his day in court is they know their case sucks.

Bret Baier: So, what is the next step? You're saying he wants his day in court. How does that happen if the articles don't move over immediately at the beginning of January?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Have everybody in America who believes in the rule of law -- it's often used by my Democratic colleagues, is the rule of law in America in place for Donald Trump? Everybody including Donald Trump should have their day in court. So, I'm going to do everything I can to talk about this constitutional outrage, denying the president the constitutional roadmap laid out to dispose of impeachment. I think the political pressure on these 31 Democrats are going to be enormous. No one's ever done this before. The reason she doesn't want to send the case over, because the case is falling apart before the American people's eyes. And it's unfair to the president to hold this over his head. And it's unfair to tell Mitch McConnell how to conduct the trial. It's not Nancy Pelosi's job to conduct the trial, it is Mitch McConnell's working with Chuck Schumer. I don't think Chuck Schumer's interested in a fair trial for Donald Trump. But what will happen is a trial very similar to what President Clinton experienced.

Bret Baier: So, let's just assume that the Speaker sends over the articles on January 7.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Right.

Bret Baier: It does move forward. What does that Senate trial look like? If you're saying the president is mad as hell and he wants his day in court, does that include calling witnesses? Does that include calling --

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Right.

Bret Baier: -- Hunter Biden?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Right.

Bret Baier: What does that look like?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Well, I think what will happen is that the House managers will present the case that was established on the record in the House. They've got a lousy case. I have no desire to try to perfect it for them. So, what happened in the Clinton case is you took the record of trial from the House. The House managers, of which I was one, argued it was an impeachable conduct. The president's lawyers got to argue otherwise. Then there was a request for witnesses that was denied. There was not bipartisan support for witnesses in the Clinton trial. And we moved to a vote on the articles of impeachment. I think what's going to happen here is that they will bring over the impeachment articles, I hope. If they don't, it would be a constitutional outrage. We'll listen to the House's case. The president will weigh in on his side of the story. And witnesses will be denied because I think most senators are ready to get this over with.

Bret Baier: I'm not going to play the sound bytes from your time as House manager.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Yeah. That's right. You can.

Bret Baier: Well, I had a list of them.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Yeah.

Bret Baier: But I'm not going to play them now --

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Sure.

Bret Baier: -- because we've been around this bush.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Yeah.

Bret Baier: But now do you close that circle with what you said back then and what you're saying right now?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Every other impeachment has been conducted by outside counsel. In the Clinton case, Clinton's lawyer was allowed to be present. Ken Starr spent years making a case against the president. Mueller spent years investigating President Trump. If Mueller had found something, I would have treated it differently. This is the first time in American history that impeachment was started in the Intel Committee. The president's lawyers were denied access to those hearings. He couldn't call witnesses. This thing is a sham. It's unlike anything known to the rule of law. You can't get a parking ticket based on what they did to President Trump. They're denying him rights to confront his accusers, to call witnesses -- on his behalf, to have counsel. This whole thing is a sham. I want it to end. But we will listen to the House's case. The president will be allowed to weigh in. Then we're going to vote. The one thing I'm not going to do is make a -- support a motion to dismiss. I want this president to be acquitted. I think he will get every Republican's vote for acquittal. And I think he'll pick up some Democratic votes for acquittal.

Bret Baier: Here's Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, it's the second one, guys in the booth, from today about the House case.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: If the House case is so weak, why is Leader McConnell so afraid of witnesses and documents? We believe the House case is strong, very strong.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Bret Baier: So --

Sen. Lindsey Graham: That's right.

Bret Baier: -- are you worried at all about moderate Republicans that they may be targeting to change the rules if they get to 51, to call witnesses like Mick Mulvaney and John Bolton and others?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Here's what I would say. If they were called, the president would claim executive privilege. I can't imagine any president in the future, or in the past, allowing the chief of staff or the national security advisor to be called in atmosphere -- as a witness in an atmosphere like this. So, he was denied his ability to invoke executive privilege. Instead of letting the courts decide whether or not it was a meritorious claim, they put an artificial time limit on this and charged him with obstruction of Congress. I don't think there's any appetite in the United States Senate to call a bunch of witnesses that would violate executive privilege. In my view, Chuck Schumer is not trying to be fair to the president. He's trying to put four or five senators in a political box. This is blowing up in their face. Nancy Pelosi's refusing to send this over to the Senate because the case is falling apart. If you had a strong case, wouldn't you want to present it? And here's the thing I want to end on. If you were accused of something you didn't do, wouldn't you want to demand your day in court? So, the president of the United States told me tonight that he's demanding his day in court. And what Nancy Pelosi is doing is denying his day in court. In the House proceedings, they denied him the right to counsel; they denied him the ability to confront his accuser; they denied him the ability to call witnesses on his behalf; and now they've made the accusation they're denying him his day in court. Other than that, this has been a good proceeding for America.

Bret Baier: [LAUGHS] I get your point. From what you're saying and from what I'm hearing from the White House, he believes that politically, he has the wind at his back when talking about impeachment and other things, the economy and other points. But when he goes to Michigan and goes after Representative John Dingell and Debbie Dingell, the --

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Right.

Bret Baier: -- current Congresswoman, what do you think that says and did you talk to him about it?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Well, number one, this joke is not funny. As to John Dingell the person, President Trump made sure he got the respect he deserved from a lifetime of service. President Trump made sure that he got all the privileges that go with being a member of Congress. He called up his wife and said, “I'm sorry with the passing of John Dingell.” Now he made a joke last night. He said the same joke -- made the same joke about John McCain. It is not funny. There's nothing funny about this, Mr. President.

Bret Baier: And did you tell him that today?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Yeah. Now, I like the president. But I think his sense of humor doesn't play well here. When it comes to John Dingell, he made sure he was honored appropriately. He did admire John Dingell's service. But this joke last night, he's made it several times. It's just not funny. You know, we're in a country really divided right now. Mr. President, you've been a -- you're doing a heck of a good job for the American people. You're making it safer. You're making us more prosperous. You've been on the receiving end of one outrage after another. I understand your frustration. But this doesn't help the cause.

Bret Baier: Senator Lindsey Graham from the White House tonight. Senator, thanks.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Thank you.

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