Graham Signals That He Will Grant Dems’ Mueller Testimony Request

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) attends the State of the Union address in the chamber of the House of Representatives on February 4, 2020. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday said that he plans to grant Democrats’ request for former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee after he blasted President Trump for commuting Roger Stone’s prison sentence in a Washington Post op-ed.

On Saturday night, Mueller issued a rare public rebuke in his op-ed that argued that Stone “remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.” Trump’s move to commute Stone’s sentence came after Mueller’s two-year investigation found evidence of correspondence between Stone and WikiLeaks regarding the release of hacked Democratic party emails during the 2016 presidential election cycle.

In a statement on Sunday, Graham directly responded to Mueller’s op-ed by saying that it shows how the former special counsel is “willing — and also capable — of defending” the Russia probe he conducted.

Graham then acknowledged Democrats’ renewed calls for Mueller to testify after Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted last month to give the South Carolina senator broad subpoena authority as part of his investigation into the Russia probe that he’s expressed skepticism of.

“Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation,” Graham said in a statement. “That request will be granted.”

Shortly before Graham signaled that he will give the green light to Democrats’ request for Mueller to testify, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) railed against Republicans for refusing to “stand up for the rule of law” in response to Trump’s move to commute Stone’s prison sentence during an interview on ABC News on Sunday morning.

“It shouldn’t matter, but this was a Republican-led investigation that Roger Stone lied to, the committee was then chaired by a Republican,” Schiff said on ABC News. “And here you have no more than a couple of Republicans willing to say a single word about someone who came before Congress and lied to them, intimidated witnesses and obstructed them. And why? Because he did it to cover for a president of their party.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jouzu jouzu says:

    Graham is distancing himself from Trump. Rats, ship etc etc etc.

  2. Somebody is going to miss kissing the fat Rump. There will be twits galore. Meltdown proceeding as scheduled.

    Having said that, what good will it do? I’m naturally suspicious of Graham.

  3. I don’t think it matters anymore.

    The Mueller report is old news and so much other stuff has happened, I just don’t know what purpose this serves.

    Barr will discredit anything Mueller says and onward we go.

  4. I hope Mueller preps well for this hearing. The last time I saw him testify he seemed a little off kilter.

    He should be less concerned about revealing information and more concerned about defending his investigation.

  5. Maybe the ‘coulda, woulda, shouldas’ will kick in - as in, I should’ve said things this way or done things that way…

    Again, I’m not sure if this will make any difference to anyone.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

244 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for becca656 Avatar for inversion Avatar for johncrandell Avatar for gr Avatar for darrtown Avatar for pshah Avatar for tena Avatar for texastwostep Avatar for bodie1 Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for timorwig Avatar for jouzu Avatar for coffae Avatar for zillacop Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for gargoyle Avatar for rucleare Avatar for rockitttla Avatar for entrada Avatar for visionseeker Avatar for kovie

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: