Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested that the focus could be shifted to Vice President Kamala Harris at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, if prolonged, saying to Democratic lawmakers: “Watch what you want.”
Graham repeatedly insisted that witnesses should not be called, saying that if this is done by Democrats, Republicans, for their part, will want to call theirs.
This could take the process to drag on for weeks or even months, Graham said earlier, adding that, in his opinion, the process should be carried out as quickly as possible.
Speaking with Sean Hannity on Fox News, he made those same points on Tuesday before returning his comments to Harris.
“If you are going to pursue this, and you want to start calling witnesses, and you want to drag this thing out, it would be fair to have the Kamala Harris tape on which she bailed people out of prison,” he said.
“What more could you do to incite violence in the future, than to pay the bail of the people who broke into the stores and beat the police.
“How is this not inciting violence in the future? Watch what you want for my fellow Democrats, watch what you want.”
It is not clear what Graham specifically refers to when he mentions letting the “tape play”.
However, Harris shared a link to a bail fund last June amid protests, encouraging people to “contribute” to “help pay bail for those protesting in Minnesota”.
Newsweek contacted Graham’s office for further comments. The White House was also contacted to comment on Graham’s comments.
Graham has repeatedly said he thinks Trump’s Senate trial should take only a few days, but the timeframe depends on Democrats’ actions.
“If there is an effort by Democrats to call a single witness in the United States Senate, they have no record in the House, there will be a postponement of this trial, there will be a Pandora’s box being opened,” Graham told Fox earlier. “We are going to want witnesses and this will last for weeks, if not months.”
He previously suggested that Republicans “would like the FBI to come” if witnesses were called in to outline details of the attack on the Capitol – the event that caused Trump’s impeachment. “Bring the FBI” then started to be a trend on Twitter.
Trump representatives released details of his defense for the impeachment trial on Tuesday, which is largely focused on an argument that the Senate does not have the power to take action against him because he is no longer in office.
A previous vote on the constitutionality of the trial indicated that Republican Party senators are unlikely to vote against Trump for him to be convicted.
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