Senator Lindsey Graham can’t seem to think of anything more important to the U.S. right now than discrediting the origins of the Russia investigation which supposedly has already exonerated Trump. Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with lifting sanctions on Russia or distracting from impeachment.
Graham appeared on the Hannity show last night where he clutched his pearls over a New York Times article about Trump’s efforts to pressure Australia to cooperate with Attorney General William Barr’s inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation. Never mind that the point of the article was that Trump has been pressuring another foreign country, in addition to Ukraine, to do his personal bidding – and then tried to keep t secret.
In March, Graham announced, “The cloud hanging over President Trump has been removed” by the Mueller report. “Now is the time to move on.” Apparently, he forgot to add, "unless Trump wants me to do otherwise."
If you thought Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, might have some concerns about Trump blatantly seeking help from Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political opponent – after the Mueller report showed that his campaign sought dirt from Russia about his last political opponent – well, think again.
After announcing, “We’ll look at all things Biden,” Graham said this on behalf of Trump (the guy Graham said would destroy the Republican party if he was the 2016 nominee “and we will deserve it.”):
GRAHAM: But here's what bothers me tonight. This New York Times article about Barr talking to Australia is the beginning of an effort to shut down Barr's investigation to find out how this whole thing started and let me tell you why.
I want to say on national television, Barr should be talking to Australia. He should be talking to Italy. He should be talking to the U.K. to find out if their intelligence services worked with our intelligence services improperly to open up a counterintelligence investigation of Trump's campaign. If he's not doing that, he's not doing his job.
So I'm going to write a letter to all three countries and asking them to cooperate with Barr. This is a letter sent by my Democratic colleagues in May of 2018 to the Ukrainians saying that if you don't cooperate with the Mueller investigation, we’re going to stop our aid. So here's what I want American people to know. It's okay to cooperate with Mueller to get Trump but it's not okay to cooperate with Barr to find out ifTrump was a victim of an out of control intelligence operation? We're not going to have the country like that.
FACT CHECK: We already know the origins of the Russia investigation. More importantly, we know that Russia interfered in our 2016 election and the Mueller Report found the Trump campaign welcomed the help and repeatedly lied about it. And now we know Trump used his power of office to try to get Ukraine to do it, while withholding Congressionally-authorized aid to help that country defend itself against Russian aggression.
So, why the heck is a U.S. attorney general globetrotting to dig up dirt on the investigation? Rachel Maddow persuasively suggested last night that Trump wants to discredit the investigation to justify lifting sanctions on Russia. But Fox News’ Dana Perino suggested today that Trump and Consiglieri Barr will use this to combat the impeachment inquiry.
Whatever the purpose, it surely will do nothing to stop Russia from further interfering in our election and may even embolden it. Meanwhile, Trump's aid antics have weakened Ukraine in its fight against Russia. #LeningradLindsey Graham not only couldn’t care less, he’s acting like discrediting the Russia investigation is a top national concern.
Sean Hannity was licking his chops.
Watch Graham prove he’s just as corrupt as the guy he once called “a jackass” below, from the September 30, 2019 Hannity. Underneath is Maddow’s discussion from MSNBC’s September 30, 2019 The Rachel Maddow Show.