President Donald Trump on Thursday explicitly demanded that Senate Judiciary Committee chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) haul former President Barack Obama in to testify, but Graham’s not so sure that’s a good idea — for Trump.
On Thursday morning, Trump claimed via Twitter that his predecessor “knew EVERYTHING” about the “biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA,” a baseless conspiracy theory that Obama was somehow involved in Michael Flynn’s criminal case (Trump has yet to actually explain in detail what the “crime” was or provide any evidence of its existence, let alone Obama’s supposed involvement in it).
Saying that Obama would be “the first person” to call in to testify, the President tried to order Graham to do exactly that.
“Do it @LindseyGrahamSC, just do it,” Trump tweeted. “No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more talk!”
However, Mr. Nice Guy doesn’t plan on playing ball.
“I don’t think now’s the time for me to do that,” Graham told Politico. “I don’t know if that’s even possible. I have grave concerns about the role of executive privilege and all kinds of issues.”
“I understand President Trump’s frustration, but be careful what you wish for. Just be careful what you wish for,” the senator warned.
Graham noted that forcing the former president to testify would be unprecedented and emphasized again that “presidentially, I’d be careful what I wish for.”
After all, Democrats have been pursuing multiple threads of Trump’s alleged wrongdoing for years, such as using his office to boost profits at his real estate properties and his refusal to hand over his tax returns. Thus setting a precedent of having former presidents testify would clearly backfire on Trump.
Graham had already distanced himself from Trump’s bogus “Obamagate” conspiracy theory on Monday.
“I’m not anticipating calling President Obama,” he said during a separate interview with Politico.
Oh pretty please with sugar on top!
That would be a great precedent to set. I have no doubt Obama would handle it with erudite aplomb.
Then let’s call Trump and see how he holds up under questioning from Kamala Harris.
The President and his minions will undoubtedly try to redirect the narrative because of the increasing death toll in the US and information now leaking out about how unprepared the President and his team were/are. Now is the time to keep pressure on all fronts, from his corruption to his inability to lead, his causing unnecessary deaths in the US, to his Russian fascination, etc. The press needs to keep many balls in the air, and to due full investigations. Too many people have forgotten all of his challenges to the rule of law, and must be made to remember them all.
Donald, what is O-gate? What questions is Lindsey supposed to ask?
[waiting]
And he would’ve got away with it too, if not for stable genius Trump!